Today's Schedule

Today, we'll be seeing all of the 1st round (I refuse to call it the 2nd round -- what a fucking idiotic concept) action in the Southeast region, along with half of the West, and a smidge of the East and Southwest.

Because I've been mindlessly watching college basketball for three months, and because I'm so incredibly good at picking upsets, I offer you these pearls of wisdom for today:

• Penn State over Temple -- Talor Battle is kind of on fire, and Temple hasn't won a Tourney game in the last decade.
• Richmond over Vandy (but every talking head is already shrilling this one) -- Vanderbilt plays zero defense.
• Northern Colorado over SDSU -- I don't actually think this will happen, I just have a slight gut feeling it will.
• Wofford over BYU -- One-man shows don't usually last very long in the Dance.
• Belmont over Wisconsin (another popular pick designed to make "experts" look like experts) -- Belmont has a bunch of deadly shooters, and the Badgers are kind of trundling into this tournament.
• Michigan State over UCLA -- Can you rightfully even call this one an upset?  I suspect Izzo might have been sandbagging this entire season, so he can be the first coach to win the tournament with a double-digit seed.
• Gonzaga over St. John's -- Steve Lavin is a terrible tournament coach, and the Johnnies are missing a key big man.  Meanwhile, Gonzaga sort of has a history of winning these games in the tournament.
• Missouri over Cincy -- Not impressed with the Bearcats (who I think were a bit propped up by the Big East RPI), and I think Mizzou played well below its potential all season long.
• Utah State over K-State -- I love Jacob Pullen, but USU had a freaking .900 record this season.  You don't often see many 12-seeds with 30 wins.

The schedule for today, including the networks upon which the games will be featured:
#5 West Virginia vs #12 Clemson - Tampa - TH, March 17 @ 12:15 pm ET - CBS
#8 Butler vs #9 Old Dominion - Washington DC - TH, March 17 @ 12:40 pm ET - truTV
#4 Louisville vs #13 Morehead State - Denver - TH, March 17 @ 1:40 pm ET - TBS
#7 Temple vs #10 Penn State - Tucson - TH, March 17 @ 2:10 pm ET - TNT
#4 Kentucky vs #13 Princeton - Tampa - TH, March 17 @ 2:45 pm ET - CBS
#1 Pittsburgh vs #16 UNC-Asheville - Washington DC - TH, March 17 @ 3:10 pm ET - truTV
#5 Vanderbilt vs #12 Richmond - Denver - TH, March 17 @ 4:10 pm ET - TBS
#2 San Diego State vs #15 Northern Colorado - Tucson - TH, March 17 @ 4:40 pm ET - TNT
#2 Florida vs #15 UC-Santa Barbara - Tampa - TH, March 17 @ 6:50 pm ET - TBS
#3 BYU vs #14 Wofford - Denver - TH, March 17 @ 7:15 pm ET - CBS
#3 UConn vs #14 Bucknell - Washington DC - TH, March 17 @ 7:20 pm ET - TNT
#4 Wisconsin vs #13 Belmont - Tucson - TH, March 17 @ 7:27 pm ET - truTV
#7 UCLA vs #10 Michigan State - Tampa - TH, March 17 @ 9:20 pm ET - TBS
#6 St. John's vs #11 Gonzaga - Denver - TH, March 17 @ 9:45 pm ET - CBS
#6 Cincinnati vs #11 Missouri - Washington DC - TH, March 17 @ 9:50 pm ET - TN
#5 Kansas State vs #12 Utah State - Tucson - TH, March 17 @ 9:57 pm ET - truTV


Good luck to everyone today!  Once again, THANK YOU to Nathan for doing the scoring and setting up this blog (and granting me access to post).