NCAA Tournament Day One Open Thread:

Keep posting on this blog throughout the day, with your thoughts, surprises and support for your team?

Today’s Games:

12 Clemson vs 5 WVU- Final

WVU won 84-76.

Clemson started off hot but WVU proved to be too much. They closed the first half with a great run to tie it, and then dominated the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. Clemson battled back, but you have got to give that kid Pepper from WVU credit, three straight steals turned a 1 point game to a 9 point game. Honestly it looked as though Clemson got tired in the game and really couldn’t put WVU away.

9 Old Dominion vs 8 Butler

Butler wins 60-58

What an incredible end to this game, Matt Howard got the rebound and released the ball with .1 left on the clock. ODU really lost this game by not exploiting their advantage inside. They got both of Butler’s big’s in early foul trouble but really didn’t keep them off the floor. Howard and Smith accounted for 26 points (including the game winner) and 14 rebounds. While ODU was known as a rebounding team (and took care of business on the offensive end) they ended up getting out rebounded overall, gave Butler way too many 2nd chances and it cost them.

13 Morehead St. vs 4 Louisville

Morehead State won 62-61

In the first David versus Goliath upset of the tournament the Morehead State Eagles proved to be too much for the Louisville Cardinals. Despite out shooting the Eagles by 10%, the Cardinals got destroyed underneath. The Eagles out rebounded Louisville by 9, as center Kenneth Faried had 17 to go along with his 12 points.

10 Penn State vs 7 Temple

Temple wins 66-64

The Owls held off a pesky Nittany Lions team that matched them shot for shot, until the final seconds.

13 Princeton vs 4 Kentucky

Kentucky won 59-57

Kentucky was thought to be able to dominate this game and win by as many as 20 points, but the Princeton Tigers simply wouldn’t go away. Although uber-freshman Brandon Knight was held scoreless for 39 minutes and 57 seconds, but he came through when it mattered most, with a last second drive to the basket that kept Kentucky’s hopes alive.

16 UNC Ashville vs 1 Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh won 74-51

Pitt played a little sloppy in the first half, and had just a 5 point lead at the break. They came out hot in the 2nd half and ended any hopes for Ashville to be the first 16 seed to upset a number 1. While the Panthers were sloppy at times, their tough defense and superior shooting won the day. Thus far they have had the easiest start to this tournament, and overall looked pretty good.

12 Richmond vs Vanderbilt

15 Northern Colorado vs 2 San Diego State

15 UC Santa Barbra vs 2 Florida

14 Wofford vs 3 BYU

14 Bucknell vs 3 Connecticut

13 Belmont vs 4 Wisconsin

10 Michigan State vs 7 UCLA

11 Gonzaga vs 6 St. Johns

11. Missouri vs  6 Cincinnati

12 Utah State vs 5 Kansas State