The year of the 11 seed?

GLORIOUS.

1. Oregon 58, Miami 56.
Our hometown number three seeded Ducks advanced to the second round, despite the RedskinsHawks making the only half-court buzzer beater in 32 first round NCAA tournament games.  Fortunately for us, their buzzer beater only made them lose by 2, instead of 5.  Well played, Miami.  Go home.  You lost to the eventual champions.  Aaron Brooks played extremely well, and demonstrated great poise and leadership down the stretch.  With the Ducks up by one and under a minute to play, Brooks drove the lane, got fouled, and swished two free throws to give the team a three point lead.  It still took Maarty Leunen's two more free throws with 2.8 seconds left to seal the deal.  If he missed one or both free throws, the game would have gone to overtime on the aforementioned buzzer beater.  If Tajuan Porter shoots better than 2-for-7 in the next game, which seems likely, the Ducks will be in good shape to win.

 
2. VCU 79, Duke 77.
This is Eric Maynor, a sophomore at Virginia Commonwealth University.  When this shot went through the hoop, it put his team ahead by two points over Duke University with about 2 seconds remaining.  Christian Laettner watched helplessly from the sidelines, and Duke lost.  I love it when Duke loses. (maybe that makes me a "racist black panther"... Huh?). 

3. March Madness On Demand.
Live streaming video on the internet of every game as it happens, subject only to the blackout of your regional affiliate game.  This let me see more first round tournament action than i've seen in years.  And it also keeps the games available for viewing in full after they end, which let me relive the glory of the Duck victory.  The internet era is all about instant nostalgia.

4. Number 11 seeds.
12 seeds have gotten all the glamour for too long.  Between VCU and Winthrop, the tournament strikes a blow for prime numbers.

DUBIOUS

1. Stanford being in the tournament.
If you look at the score (Louisville 78, Stanford 58) you'd think that this was a sound beating.  You'd be wrong.  It was a humiliation.  The Cardinals of Louisville undressed the Cardinal of Stanford, proving what anyone who watches the Pac 10 regularly knew all along: Stanford had no business being in this tournament.  I love the Pac 10, but Stanford is just not a good team this year.  I'm a pacifist, but this should have been Air Force.

2. Number 12 seeds.
Illinois, Long Beach State, Old Dominion, Arkansas.  You let me down.  Especially you Long Beach State. I had you sneaking into the sweet 16 out of fealty to my California cousins, and you embarrassed yourselves against Tennessee.  Tennessee is not that good.  You also let down all the number 12 seeds from years past, who had managed to win at least one game for the last several years.

3. CBS.
You really hit it right with March Madness on Demand, so why did you ruin it by failing to broadcast only one game on Friday: Oregon v. Miami.    I understand that west coast audiences were subjected to Price is Right reruns in its stead.  Just for that, I will NOT get my pet spayed OR neutered and I will NOT control the pet population.

4. Non-Tournament Bonus: U.S. Attorney firings.
"Mistakes were made."  Who are you kidding?  You did this totally on purpose.  My favorite news bit about this so far is that Arlen Specter reported to NPR that he was upset that Patrick Leahy chose to subpoena Department of Justice officials because a subpoena "implies guilt."  No.  A subpoena "implies" that you have to testify whether you want to or not. 

That's all for now. 

Go Ducks Go. 
Fight Ducks Fight. 
Go. 
Fight. 
Win Ducks Win.

-ALEXANDER

Comments

[JSR]

Tonight's the night we send UNLV back to Sin City. Oregon will prevail.

[DGB]

Hmm, even Vegas has the Ducks by 3:
http://www.vegas.com/gaming/index.html
Go Ducks!

[other Heidi]

Ernie Kent agreed to a 5 year contract extension today. $200,000 raise, which
sets him up to make 1 million a year through the 2011-12 season. Incentives should put the number closer to 1.3 million. Considering that Mark Few's name was kicked around most recently as a possible replacement, I have found a reason to be happy that Kent will remain the coach. A Gonzaga hand-me-down? No thanks.
I still wish we were moving away from Kent, though. More half-court offense would be good. 3 pointers are great, but not consistent. I like plays. How about some plays next year?

[cbg]

Posting an entry every two months: dubious

[aufschub]

The lack of updates is not glorious.