Sorry for the lack of action in yesterday's thread. I'll be offline for the early games, but should be around for the Purdue and Notre Dame games. Here is the list of today's games of interest:
(1) Duke v. (8) Michigan, 2:45, CBS: Michigan rebounded nicely after a rough start to the season. Duke earned a one seed without Kyrie Irving, and probably is now the championship favorite because of his return. All of the recent coverage of the Fab Five has rekindled my hatred of Michigan to the point where I may be rooting for Duke today, even though the Fab Five, their enablers, and their bankrollers are all gone. Screw Michigan in the ear. But it would be a nice win for the conference.
(1) Ohio State v. (8) George Mason, 5:15, CBS: The top-ranked Buckeyes have had an excellent season, but ever since advancing to the title game in 2007, the Buckeyes have lost earlier than they should have in the 2009 and 2010 tournaments (OSU won the NIT in 2008). George Mason knocked off Villanova in round one, but can GMU recapture te 2006 magic?
(3) Purdue v. (11) Virginia Commonwealth, 7:10, TBS: VCU is the only team that played in the First Four that remains standing. 48 hours after upsetting USC, VCU thrashed 6 seed Georgetown in the first round. Will three games in 5 days be too much for VCU, or are the on a roll? A Purdue win would get the Boilermakers to their third consecutive Sweet 16 (that would tie a school record) and would set up an intrastrate meeting next Friday with Notre Dame, if the Fighting Irish hold up their end of the bargain.
(1) Kansas v. (9) Illinois, 8:40, TNT: The Illini, like Michigan, were left for dead just a few weeks ago, but Illinois slaughtered former coach Lon Kruger and UNLV in the first round. Now, Bruce Weber can thank Bill Self in person for assembling the team that provided Weber his only success when the Illini play #1 seed Kansas. I actually picked Illinois in this game in my bracket, although I think it is a long shot. The Jayhawks will be trying to get deeper into this tournament than last year, when they lost to Northern Iowa in the second round.
(2) Notre Dame v. (10) Florida State, 9:40, TBS: Yes, you read that time correctly, and if previous games are any indication, this game actually will not tip off until well after 10:00. The Irish have been to the Sweet 16 only once under Mike Brey, in 2003, but a win will set up the Purdue-ND matchup that the Committee had in mind.