Tournament Time

Even though the Big Dance doesn't start until next Thursday, March Madness has begun. Mid-majors finished up their conference tournaments last weekend and the big schools are going at it right now.

Every team is fighting for seeding in the tourney, whose field will be announced Sunday afternoon.

Thursday produced some good games, give or take what side you were rooting for.

Arguably the Big 12 Tourney had the best upsets of the afternoon, while the Big East had the best overall day of any conference.

In the Big 12, the Baylor upset #11 ranked Kansas, the #1 seed for the conference tourny. Kansas, the defending national champion, became only the second Big 12 top seed to lose in the opening round.

Staying in the Big 12, #7 Oklahoma took on Oklahoma State. Always a good battle between the two, this one also proved to be. It didn't hurt that the tournament is being played in Oklahoma City which helped draw the crowd in for Thursday action.

A foul by star Blake Griffin of OU with 2.3 seconds left put a 81% free throw shooter on the line for Oklahoma State. OSU knocked two down to go up one. And then things got interesting.

I guess the guy working the clock wanted Oklahoma to win. Griffin had cought the inbounds, shot, missed, and another OU player put up a missed shot before the clock started. The officials conferred and decided the 2.3 had run off, giving OSU the win.

Sportscenter clocked it this morning, and got over five seconds of play before the whistles blew. Good job by the officials. But Big 12 teams should watch that clock operator for the rest of the weekend. Let's hope it doesn't come up again.

Off to New York City, where Madison Square Garden hosted the Big East tourny.

Marquette came back from 16 down at halftime before losing on a layup at the buzzer to Villanova. The comeback would have been the largest come-from-behind win in Big East Tourny history.

But what happened to the Marquette defender that fell asleep as the Nova player drove to the hoop with under ten seconds to go? He lost his man, who made a back-door cut and recieved a bounce pass that he laid in for the win.

Big East #1 seed Lousville (#5 AP Poll) moved past Providence to meet Villanova tonight.

Pitt, the #2 seed in the Big East tourny, and the #2 team nationally, fell to West Virgina 74-60.

But the game of the night, if not the year so far, was UConn (#3 Big East tourny, #3 AP) and Syracuse (#7 Big East).

The game went six overtimes (yes, six!) and I doubt many people stayed up to watch it. I was personally glued to it and couldn't turn it off as the OT's progressed.

After UConn tied the game with seconds remaining in regulation, it appeared Syracuse got off a game winning three at the buzzer. But replay concluded that the ball was still on the fingertips as the lights went off.

Six overtimes later, Syracuse prevails, 127-117.

Johnny Flynn of Syracuse played a total of 67 minutes and led the team in scoring with 34 points. Let's commend all these guys for a great game, as well as the officials. Many of the bench players for each teams played major roles I doubt they thought they would going into the start of the game.

What a game, and what a day of games. And the weekend is only heating up.