Iron Bowl o' Hoops Liveblog

War Eagle. Beat 'Bama.

Oh, and click below.

BracketBusters liveblog, third shift: Utah St.-St. Mary's

Aggies!

5:19 And we pick it up with St. Mary's up two, 10-8, at the first media timeout. I don't think the Gaels can snag an at-large under any circumstances--they really had to win one of those shots at Gonzaga--but this is a massive game for Utah St. Their nonconference schedule is so, so weak, but their record is so, so good. Beat a team as stout in the RPI as St. Mary's is and it's hard to see how the Aggies get left out. They'd just have too many wins ... if they can win today.

5:22 Easy to see right off the bat that Utah St. deserves their reputation for the kind of XTREME offensive efficiency that's probably a little too efficient to feel comfortable with an adjective like XTREME. Their jumpers are crazy smooth, their sets are run with nutzoid precision. They're down 17-12, pretty much just because Omar Samhan and Diamon Simpson are so freaking good. Early returns are still that Utah St. should pull this out with Mills sidelined.

5:28: OK, this finally looks like the game we've been waiting for all day. Utah St.'s nailed two difficult shots the last two possessions (the second a hook over Samhan!), but St. Mary's is answering with Simpsonness. Excellent stuff on both ends. Please, please be a close game. Please.

5:32: St. Mary's backup PG McConnell commits what PBP guy Bob Wichusen calls an "unintelligent" foul, and he's not wrong. A wild slap at the ball 40 feet from the basket for your second foul when you have no one behind you on the depth chart = less than wise. The game has progressed apace: great interior passing gets USU an and-one in response to Samhan bulling his way to a hoop on the other end. St. Mary's by 3.

5:37: Patty Mills is on the mic, and both his Dapper Dan-quality suit and Aussie accent are fantastic. I do not believe that Mills lacks for female companionship during his time at his American college. Exchange of threes leaves the score at 27-24 Gaels.

5:45: After I brag on them, of course USU has a couple of seriously sloppy possessions and despite a couple of their usually productive possessions, they're down 31-26 with just under 3 minutes remaining. It's not often a team shoots 52.4 percent from the floor and trails by five, but thanks to McConnell's surprising 4-for-4 from the floor and Simpson and Samhan--who've combined for 10 rebounds and 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting already--that's what the Ags are looking at.

5:47 A big part of trailing by 7, now, when you're shooting as well as USU is is obviously turning the ball over--I don't know how many they've got, but it's a lot, and the last one (an ugly pass Simpson cut off) turned into two quick points at the other end. They've got to be more careful. On the plus side, Stew Morrill hasn't aged in like 15 years, so they've got that going for them.

5:50: Oops. With a chance for the Ags to take the last shot of the half, Wilkinson takes a three on one end--as good as he is, I think that's a little out of his range--and then fails to rotate on the other end as the Gaels drive for a lay-up at the buzzer. SMC heads into the locker room with a nine-point lead. That whole "Eh, Utah St. will come back eventually" prediction's not looking quite as hot at the moment.

6:01: Stupid Maryland. Stupid Carolina. The Terps shouldn't be on the Bubble.

6:11: Less than productive start for Utah St. to the second half: Wilkinson fumbles an easy rebound out of bounds, then leaves a hook over Samhan short, then flops to give Samhan an easy lay-up. SMC by 11. For a team that doesn't particularly like playing an up-tempo game, USU's going to have start making some headway. C'mon guys. Bid's on the line.

6:16: Ugh. Aggie airball. Next trip: turnover, run out, foul on USU. This looks more and more like an SMC win.

6:20: Quayle, the USU point guard, trips over his own feet and travels. Under-16 timeout and it's still SMC by 11. Come on guys, all I want is one halfway-close game that's in doubt at the last media timeout. I don't think that's too much to ask, is it?

6:26: Dude, Wilkinson's clearly a pretty good player, but Samhan is obliterating him. Both ends. I'm pretty sure I saw a lawyer on the Gael sideline writing out a contract on Samhan's terms of Wilkinson's ownership. As much as the Aggies clearly like running their offense through Wilkinson, they haven't figured out a way to make up for the mismatch between those two players.

6:33: There's no good way to spin this Utah St. performance. This is the same bunch of Gaels that got blown apart by Portland, got disemboweled by Santa Clara. And right now the Ags are barely even staying in the game with them. You can see the Aggies' potential, but they just aren't executing on offense and they're not playing good enough defense. It kills me, but this hasn't been an NCAA Tournament performance.

6:42: Signs of life? After falling behind by 13 (!) after Simpson hit two free throws at the seven-minute mark, Wilkinson drew a foul on Simpson and hit a hook over Samhan. It's not much, but hey, single digits.

6:44: Looking at the box score, you can see just how badly USU's defense has failed--sure, SMC's 3-of-14 from 3, but that means they've gone 21-of-35 from 2. And SMC's offensive rebound percentage is up over 30. Rough estimate of SMC's points-per-possession has got to be up around 1.25. Hard to win that way.

6:47: But not impossible? A three brings USU within five after a 9-1 run. An utterly brainless touch foul ruins the momentum by sending McConnell to the lien for two freebies. Come on, drama!

6:50: Everybody say it with me: That's the way this game has gone. On one end, USU's Tai Wesley makes a great drive and chokes the layup. On the other, Simpson gets caught and sort of volleyballs the ball up towards the rim. It goes in. It is not the day of Utah St. SMC by seven at the under-4 timeout.

6:55: Sometimes, the ball really don't lie, as the saying goes. Wilkinson takes a total walkabout--does he have his pedometer on?--and throws up a hook that rolls out. A missed one-and-one and exchange of turnovers means SMC is up six ... until a three! By Quayle! GAME ON! GAME ON!

6:58: Samhan bowls over Wesley, no call, goes to the line after Wilkinson has to maul him. First one ...no good! Second ... good. SMC by 4, 1:39 to play.

7:01: Game over. A great pass inside catches Wesley off-balance and he can't convert, leaving Quayle to take an off-balance J. No good, SMC the other way, McConnell finds a wide open Hunter for a 3. Gaels by 7. Will take an Ag miracle at this point.

7:02: Nice plus-two exchange for USU as they get an and-one from Quayle and McConnell misses one on the other end. Game on? Next trip ... oops. Quayle hits the side of the backboard on the runner. Game off.

7:04: Samhan blocks Wilkinson one more time for good measure, two more free throws, and it really is over. SMC crowd busts out the "overrated" cheer, which has never, ever made any sense: don't you want your opponent to have been appropriately rated? Aren't you degrading your own team's accomplishment?

7:06: 75-64 is your final. So, is USU an at-large? I think if they run the table between now and the WAC final, that answer is yes, but the margin is razor thin. I do think the Aggies are an exceedingly dangerous team given their precision and shooting ability--here's to hoping they win the WAC tourney and make it a moot point.

And, of course, ditto for SMC. If Mills can come back at anything close to full health, Samhan and Simpson should outright terrify any power-conference team they met. But even with today's result, they've got to claim the auto-bid or they're off to the NIT.

7:11 Well, I hope the none of you who followed along enjoyed the second annual JCCW liveblog. Without a good way of getting my laptop and ESPNU in the same location, this is the end of this year's edition. Thanks for (not?) reading. See you Monday.

BracketBusters liveblog, second shift: Buffalo-Vermont, Northern Iowa-Siena

That's the current View from the JCCW's Window, but even if the weather outside is frightful, BracketBusters Saturday remains, as the song goes, so delightful. Thanks to the glory of DVR, we're starting at the start of the second half of Vermont-Buffalo. We'll be caught up live soon.

2:16: I was surprised to see a highlight during the BU-Davidson halftime that showed Buffalo leading scorer Rodney Pierce having hit 5-of-6 or something like it. Pierce (to my knowledge) is a "volume scorer," that wonderful euphemism that means "takes a lot of shots and misses a good many." Guess he's coming back to earth--he finished the half 6-of-10 and bricks a three to start the second. Vermont up 45-41 with 18:25 left.

2:19: I'll cop to being surprised any game with Buffalo involved was 41-39 at halftime; the second half to this point has been a little more at the defensive-grind speed I was expecting ... despite a couple of buckets, Vermont's gone under the 7-second mark on the shot clock on two of three possessions.

2:22: Seriously, how the hell did Marqus Blakely wind up in Burlington freaking Vermont? He's got crazy hops, by all accounts he's a good kid, and as he just showed he's got real ball skills, too ... the up-and-under post move was positively old-school-centeresque. And hey, he nearly just finished a wild alley-oop. This guy has power-conference miss written all over him.

2:28: This game is already about 30 times better than either of the two previous ones we've seen today. The crowd's on fire, Mike Trimboli (like Blakely) is a joy to watch--check out first the slice-and-dice into the lane, then the rainbow 3 to put UVM up 55-46--and Buffalo's clearly playing hard if they just don't really have any guys who have the skills to match the Vermont stars. Ah, mid-majordom, how much I love you.

2:33: Of course, just after I brag on him, Blakely blows a bunny. I'll take this opportunity to make the uniform note that Buffalo's road blues are freaking awesome--Duke's, Kentucky's etc. can seriously step off compared to these. Too bad the Bulls are really starting to press on the offensive end--they're down 11 at the under-12 timeout.

2:39: For the MAC's (and the Hoops Junkie's) pride, the Bulls had best at least make this thing close. They're lucky to be down just 11 with 9:45 to play--the Catamounts have screwed up three straight easy fast-break opportunities. This is the current MAC leader and they're not even hanging with the current de facto America East runner-up. (Of course, right after I say that Pierce rains in a three.)

2:47: The Bulls have got to play smarter late in the shot clock--this is the third time this half they've played good D for 35 seconds and then bailed UVM out with a dumb-assed foul. This most recent one (triggering the under-8 timeout) also sent the home team to the line. Vermont by 9, 7:20 to play.

2:52: Hey, whaddya know, an official called the block on a stationary guy standing underneath the basket as UVM's Colin Macintosh rocks an awesome shot fake-and-drive move for the and-one. Buffalo's shooting around 4-for-18 or so this half, Catamounts up 65-51 with 6:11 remaining. This one's just about over. Come on, BB Saturday, at least give us some drama.

2:58: Bob Valvano's always done solid work as one of ESPN's deep-on-the-bench color guys, and he had a great sequence there. Buffalo drives inside and throws up a prayer amongst the threes. "He's trying," Valvano says," but that's just not a good shot." Right then Trimboli throws a great pass to a wide-open post player inside for an easy two. "That's a good shot," Valvano deadpans. Sweet. Vermont up 14, 4:20 left. Game's over.

3:03: Hey, there's some life from the Bulls. A steal of an inbounds pass for a lay-up, a powerful inside post move from that Boudreaux guy who looked so good against Toledo on ESPN2 a few weeks ago, and another run-out from a missed Vermont three gives UB a little momentum. Too bad the officials bailed the Catamounts out on a promising-looking backcourt trap that led to two Vermont free throws--otherwise maybe Buffalo would be making some actual headway. As is, they're still down 10.

3:11: With this game essentially finished, here's the question: has Vermont looked like the sort of team that could do some NCAA Tournament damage? Yeah, honestly, I think they could. Trimboli's a terrific point guard, Blakley can play with anyone, and this MacIntosh guy has looked like a real threat on the offensive end. There are definitely going to be less dangerous 13/14/15 seeds if the Catamounts do make the tournament.

3:13: So, the flipside: what's in Buffalo's future? This is the second team I've seen the Bulls and I just don't see the offensive chops necessary to scare a high seed in a tight, slow March contest. I'll be a little on the surprised side if they survive Cleveland, given that Akron and Kent seem to be playing much better at the moment, but who knows--the Bulls did take UConn into the final seconds, so I could be totally wrong.

3:15: Hmmm, three straight UVM turnovers and it's an eight-point game with around 90 seconds left. Surely Buffalo can't make a real game of this.

3:18: Wow, after a score, Buffalo's down six and have Vermont out of timeouts. The press has caused Vermont all sorts of issues--given that one of Buffalo's few advantages was definitely athleticism and some full-court speed, should they have gone to it earlier? Trimboli's absence (he walked off with what looked like a cramp a few minutes ago) probably had something to do with it.

3:21: Holy crap, Vermont. Another turnover on the inbounds, an offensive rebound after a missed three, and a pass inside for what looks like a sure dunk ... and Blakely comes out of nowhere to stuff him! There's a foul called with the body, UB hits one of two, but what an awesome play that was. This game has suddenly turned into a nail-biter: Vermont up five, 52 seconds left.

3:24: Vermont turns it over! UB ball! Pierce tries to create, Trimboli's all over him ... obvious shuffle of the feet and a travel. Catamounts get it over the timeline, Trimboli cans two free throws, and the entire gym exhales a bit. About time we had something really interesting happen.

3:27: Trimboli hits a couple more free throws, Buffalo misses three or four shots on their final possession, and it's over! I guess the Bulls salvaged some measure of meager pride by not getting totally run out of the gym there ... but yeah, it's not a sterling year for the MAC when their leader falls by eight at Vermont. Not that that's news, I guess.

3:30: Onto Albany! Siena's blitzing Northern Iowa--17-7 when we switch over, and Siena gets an and-one just after. This is an awful matchup for UNI--a team with Siena's athleticism should give them fits, and Fran Fraschilla (man, they pulled out the big guns for this one) notes that UNI hasn't even been hitting threes of late. There's a reason this game is already in the double digits.

3:33 Siena's Clarence Jackson drains a 3 and UNI bricks one over the backboard as we go to the under-8 timeout. Ron Franklin is telling us that's pretty much how it's gone the whole game, and oh man I'm reminded how much I love this man. I could listen to him read ... I mean, not even the phone book. Like, the phone book as written by Thomas Pynchon in Czech, or something.

3:38: Shot clock violation on UNI. Siena responds with another 3 by Jackson. That's ... that's not good. We may not get much drama out of this one, either.

3:43: We're at the under-4 timeout (though with only 2:53 left in the half) and Siena is doing their Siena thing: they take a lot of weird, not entirely advisable shots in the halfcourt, but they also have length out the wazoo and every time they get a chance to run, they do it and they do it right. Edwin Ubiles just went basically one-on-three and drained a six-foot jumper. UNI is going to be nearly perfect from deep to get back into this game, and with Siena's defense that's going to be tough. One the plus side for UNI, post dude Eglseder is seriously scary-looking. I wouldn't mess with him.

3:48: UNI doesn't have any answer for Edwin Ubiles. Sure, he probably walked on that last possession--where he took a couple of those looooooooong Ginobili-esque strides before laying it up, prompting Ben Jacobson to hold his head in disbelief--but they clearly can't keep him in front of them. After yet another short jumper in the lane, Siena's up 20. It's an obliteration is what it is.

3:51: UNI misses a free throw with like 5 seconds left, Siena immediately pushes up floor, and with a second left in the half their PG Moore hits a sweet little runner from six feet. The Saints march into the locker room up 21. You do not want this team across from you in your NCAA bracket. I mean that.

3:55: I could start blogging the Marquette-G'town game, I guess--the Utah St.'s and Sienas of the world are rooting for MU big-time--but screw that, it's BracketBusters. Back in a few.

4:08: Halftime stats are up, and good gracious: UNI shot 5-of-22 from the field. On the road, against a good defensive team, yadda yadda yadda: however you slice it, that's just awful. Give them a modicum of credit, though: they've gotten it inside on their first two possessions and scored both times.

4:15: "That fella is not supposed to be that open," Franklin says as Hasbrouck nails a three from the corner. After UNI's initial "surge" (scare-quotes most definitely needed when you're talking about trimming a lead from 21 to 17) Siena pushed it twice back up over 20. This game is going nowhere.

4:20: There's a brief ray of sunshine on the court for UNI ... but I mean that literally, as someone's opened a door or a curtain or something and sending a streak of light across the gym floor. UNI would have preferred it be a metaphorical ray, I reckon.

4:30: Seriously, folks, Ron Franklin, coming out of commercial describing a made half-court shot by a kid for 25 grand: "He got nothing but cord and floor." If there's not a college basketball blog named "Cord and Floor" by the end of the week, the Internet's not doing its job. Franklin and Fraschilla have been on fire describing Siena's, um, heavyset post player Josh Duell and his future life as a lunchtime YMCA warrior. It might be a little mean-spirited if they weren't so right: because of both his girth and particularly his oversized white t-shirt, Duell is totally going to rock someone's local pickup games for years to come. These guys are the best. Saints still up 18.

4:32: You do have to give Eglseder some credit. His teammates haven't been much, but every time he's touched it down low he's converted ... which he does again here. Panthers down 15.

4:39: Don't look now, but UNI's within 11 after Siena gave into their always just-barely-suppressed impulse to jack up 20-foot jumpers. Guess you can only keep the Saints' freelancing in control for so long. In the meantime, Fran needs to be careful as he says Lucas O'Rear "looks like a Valley player." I love him, but I have to wonder if he'd say the same thing about O'Rear's fellow Panthers Kwadzo Ahelegbe or Ali Farokhmanesh.

4:44: As Ryan Rossiter hits a couple of free throws, I have to wonder if any particularly geeky Saints fans have tried to give him the nickname "Inter." UNI's hanging around, but they haven't been able to get it into single digits yet despite a couple of chances.

4:48: Johnny Moran throws up an airball on a three that would have cut it to 9, and Moore dashes downcourt and finds Rossiter for a lay-up with a sharp, sharp cutting pass. 5-point swing, and this one's just about in the books as UNI calls their last timeout.

4:56: So UNI lines up to apply some full-court pressure, and I think to myself "This is going to end badly," because UNI is just not the sort of team that should apply full-court pressure to a the sort of team that Siena is. And I end up being right before the ball's even inbounded, as a Panther player grabs a streaking Saint's jersey for an intentional foul. Moran misses a three--I honestly don't see any way UNI can beat a good team if Moran's going to be as off as he's been today--and Rossiter hits one of two to put Siena up 13. How long 'til Utah St.-St. Mary's tips.

4:58: UNI's next adventure with the press ends with an and-one for Franklin and Cook fouled out. I think if you're the Panthers and you're down double-digits against Siena with less than three to play ... I don't know what you do, but surely there's something more dignified than the hara-kiri of Saints tearing through a press left and right.

5:03 It's entirely too bad that Northern Iowa's and Creighton's performances through the first half of the Valley slate were both so misleading, because if this game had been between the Saints and Bluejays a) it would have made for a much, much better game b) the winner would have emerged with a much more legit shot at an at-large. Siena can still do it if the bubble stays as soft as it appears and they run the table all the way to the MAAC final--they'd dominated the other mids on their schedule, and it would be a shame if they missed out because they lost by two at a good Rider team. But it's going to be splitting hairs all the way, and if you ask me today, I think the lack of a single signature nonconference upset means Siena has to take the MAAC auto-bid.

5:07: UNI shaves the lead to six with the help of a couple of missed Saints FTs, but it's nothing but sound and fury, man, sound and fury.

5:11: 81-75 is the final. Siena remains as wild, unpredictable, and dangerous as ever. Somewhere, the good side of Rasheed Wallace has a favorite college team it probably doesn't even know about. Now, if they'll only get into the Tournament.

Back in just a sec with the third and final shift.

BracketBusters Liveblog, first shift: Northeastern-Wright St., Butler-Davidson

10:47: Welcome to the second annual JCCW BB LB! Stretched out, that means the Joe Cribbs Car Wash BracketBusters Liveblog. We'll get underway with Northeastern and Wright St. at the top of the hour, or the bottom of the hour. I forget which is the right term. Until then, enjoy the beautiful reminder of glories gone by above. See you in a few.

11:00: Aaaaaaand here we go. Got my coffee, finished my oatmeal, put my pants on, let's do this. As with most of the weekend's BB games, not a ton on the line between Northeastern and Wright St.--the Huskies' recent slide removed any faint, twinkling hope of getting the CAA a second bid. But I have this suspicion that the Horizon has surpassed the CAA as a league, and a big win by Wright today would cement that suspicion. Love that ESPN's giving us the national anthem to start the day. BRING IT.

11:08: The announcers are trying to sell the "if you LOOOOOOOOVE great defense, you're in for a treat!" line, even though I've never, ever met either a hoops or football fan who's actually said "screw offense and points-scoring, I want to see a grind-it-out slog!" Wright and NU don't look too offensively challenged in the early-going: Wright's up 3-2 3 minutes in.

11:12: Actually, to this point both teams look perfectly competent running their sets--they just don't appear to be particularly sharp shooters. Speaking as someone who actually watched the second half of that Penn St.-Illinois tragedy the other night (there was nothing else on! I swear!), things could be so much worse. Wright's up 7-4. Not surprisingly, the home team seems to have a little more pep for the early tipoff.

11:17: In the wide shots, you can tell Wright's Nutter Center (that's their gym, not a British asylum) is awfully, depressingly empty. Quite a shift from the certifiably-bonkers Niagara gym we saw last night. You can blame the weather, if you like: assuming the weather two hours down the road is similar to the weather outside my window here in the A2, it's colder than colderson and the snow's almost blizzard-esque. Bleah. NU up 11-10 at the second TV timeout.

11:22: Typical: NU runs a neat little backdoor play for Matt Janning, he gets the slip pass, goes up ... and both watches the ball slide off the rim from two feet and gets called for the charge. After our color guy's insistent harping that Wright can't shoot threes, they've of course started 3-for-4 for outside. Irony rules the world, I'm telling you. Tied 15-15.

11:32: Gotta say, Wright's supposed to be the favorite in this game--they rank higher in both Kenpom and BBstate--but I like the way NU's playing a little bit better. Wright hasn't figured out how to get the ball inside against the Huskies--in fact, they've somewhat comically turned the ball over with a couple of ill-advised interior passes--and they probably will cool off from outside sooner rather than later. They'll go to the line to tie the game at 19 after the under-8 timeout, but if I was scoring this one, I'd give the first round to NU.

11:35: Just as I start to throw some praise Manny ADAKO!'s way for his defense (ADAKO! because, come on, doesn't it seem like when you say ADAKO! [pronounced uh-DOCK-o] it comes in all-caps and an exclamation point?), he rather dumbly runs over someone on the offensive end for his second foul. Despite ADAKO's foul issues, NU continues to look the smoother, smarter offensive team--Wright doesn't look like they've got players like Janning or Eugene Spates, both of whose confidence with their shots stands out like a beautiful thumb in a game like this. NU's got an and-one to push their lead to four after the commercial.

11:44 Nice for NU to sort of make me look good--they force a turnover and some good ball movement leads to a wide-open three for Spates, which he drills. Timeout, Raiders. They're down 31-22, and the legitimately tortoise-esque pace means that lead's a little more intimidating than it otherwise would be.

11:50 Halftime, and NU's pushed the lead to 13. Wright's got about as many answers for the Huskie D as I've got for providing stability to Southeast Asian commodity markets. What's sad for those Raider Rowdies in those bright yellow shirts is that Wright punched above their weight from outside--they shoot less than 30 percent as a team, but they hit 4-of-9 in the first half. If they'd shot their average or slightly less, they'd be even further behind.

11:57: Time to switch over to the Butler-Davidson game on regular ESPN. Viva la headliner! If it's half as good as last year's Drake-Butler classic in Hinkle, we'll be lucky.

12:01: I'm hardly the first person to comment on Steph Curry's, uh, youthful appearance, but his voice is seriously about three octaves below where you'd expect it to be based on his middle-school countenance. It's all part of why he's awesome.

12:05: Tip-off! Over/under on shots of Dell Curry in the crowd: 47.5.

12:06: For the record, I like Butler in this game. I don't think Lovedale can handle Howard and if Curry's worried about his ankle--and how isn't he?--he's not going to be able to carry them the way he might be able to otherwise. 5-5 after some excellent inside passing from both teams.

12:10: This has been the problem for Davidson in every game I've seen from them this year: Curry trying just a little too hard, deciding to do a little too much. He's put up a couple of seriously questionable shots, and his ankle makes what was a bad idea to start with an even worse one today. He's got to tone it down. BU up 7-5 at the first media timeout.

12:13: Ugh. Weak offensive foul call on Lovedale is his second. That should really hurt the home team. A pretty game over the first few minutes has gotten a little helter-skelter and less precise.

12:15: Good Lord, the official is up in Bob McKillop's face screaming at him. Shut up and do your job, zebra.

12:18 Just I start to mention how the game's been stuck at "Butler 7, Davidson 5" for what seems like ages, both sides get great looks inside for lay-ups. That's what we're here for, fellas. Calm down a bit.

12:23: Curry's got nothing. He's not confident in his shot, he doesn't look comfortable going up, he's clearly not interested in getting to the rim at all. On the other end, with Lovedale sitting Davidson predictably has no answer for Howard. BU's up 6 with Howard going to the line to finish an and-one. This kind of--no, really--sucks, but I think this game is already mostly over. Sorry, Davidson fans.

12:27: Honestly, Davidson's lucky they're not down further than 17-7. Curry's 0-for-7 from the field, they've turned it over left and right, and Butler's missed multiple great looks from 3. (Gordon Hayward, where's your shot, buddy?) Jimmy Dykes just said Curry's ankle looks fine. I think he's just flat wrong.

12:30: You know how I know Bob McKillop doesn't suck? He just brought Lovedale back into the game with his two fouls--if you fall behind by 20, what's the point in having him available in the second half?--and he immediately drew a foul and blocked Butcher at the rim on the other end. A three by Barr--Curry is at least showing off as much vision as ever--and Davidson's within four.

12:33: Curry finally goes to the rack, and whaddya know, he gets an and-one out of it. Meanwhile, on ESPN2, Northeastern's up 50-45, 7 minutes left. I switched over just in time to see ADAKO! step back and hit a jumper after a Wright St. brick. Nice to see nothing's changed over there.

12:37: Wow, full credit to Davidson third-string inside dude Ben Allison, who just went up-and-under and drew a foul on Howard. That was ... unexpected. Hayward's finally figured his shot out, though. He's hit a couple of threes and Butler's up 23-17, 5:45 left first half.

12:41: Butler's up 10 at the under-4 timeout after Hayward got a transition bucket, but the game's bogged down again. I wanted aesthetically-pleasing basketball, damn it. I'll try not to hold it against them.

12:46: As Ratt once so sagely told us, what goes around comes around. After the ticky-tack offensive foul call on Lovedale early in the game, he just got away with a blatant push-off before hitting a banked-in J. Butler by six.

12:47: As Jimmy Dykes explains to us who his "most valuable" players are--does anybody care? Anyone? Bueller?--ESPN gives us a giant graphic that completely obscures the court as the broadcast completely misses a Butler basket. Nice job, idiots.

12:56: Kraaaaaaaaaazy sequence there: both teams turned it over in transition multiple times and Butler finally got a lay-up out of it. Curry wrapped up the half with a short little J to get Davidson within 34-27, but he's still 2-of-12 from the field. I swear, this feels like the eighth time this year I've watched Davdison and at the half the announcers are saying things like "He's not shooting well, but Curry could get hot at any time" or "Curry really struggling from outside, the opposing defense is doing a really good job of keeping him off-balance, etc." I think he misses Richards's ball-handling more than anyone's letting on.

1:01: Northeastern finishes up their warm-and-comfy win in Dayton, downing Wright 69-57. Colonial repreSENT. (Or whatever.) In the ESPN2 studio, Tom Brennan not surprisingly says what everybody else is afraid to: Curry took some genuinely awful shots in that first half. Brennan is far-and-away the WWL's best studio analyst, which is why he's like their sixth-string guy, of course.

1:09: We get a snack-size helping of Buffalo at Vermont while the other game's at the break. Frankly I'd expect the Catamounts (Catamounts!) to hold serve against the offensively-challenged Bulls at home, but it's the visitors who are up 6-2 early. Another lively crowd reminds me of how somnabulant the Wright St. arena was. I thought Dayton was a hive of mid-major basketball fandom--what happened, Raiders?

1:10 Aaaaaand we're back at DU's Belk Arena ... and, hey, Curry starts the half with a three. He was going to hit one eventually, I guess. Law of averages and all. Hayward answers with a trey of his own.

1:14: This drives me utterly and totally insane: BU's Veazley drives to the rim, Curry's standing approximately an inch outside of "directly under the basket," and Veazley gets called for the charge. I don't know if NBA-style semi-circles under the rim are the answer, but officials have got to let those calls go when the defender isn't even trying to stop the offensive player from reaching the basket. Bleccccch.

1:23: Davidson's picked up their play a little bit--three from Archambault, better D inside--but Butler's started raining threes (Hayward's now 4-for-6 after missing two wide-open ones to start the game) and has gone up by 13. So of course as ESPN goes to commercial they talk about Curry. I guess that's the way of the world. Dykes or Nessler (don't remember which) said that McKillop looks like Mark Few's older brother. That's ... kind of a good call, actually.

1:30: I'm not sure I've ever seen that before: Davidson just committed four fouls on a single Butler possession. Three in a row as they tried to keep Howard under wraps and then another on Hayward as he dribbled around the perimeter. The game itself is the same-ol', same-ol' at the under-12 timeout: Davidson looking more lost than Matthew Fox (ZING!) on offense, Butler getting enough offensive rebounds and jumpers to keep the lead in double digits, Curry popping up every now and then but mostly turning the ball over. His line 5-17, 15 points, 7 TOs. Yipes stripes, Stephen.

1:34: As much as I've blithered about how bad Curry has been, he's spent the last couple of possessions on the bench and Davidson looks even more rudderless, even more toothless without him. Butler now pulling away: 60-44, 8:45 left.

1:39: Under-8 timeout, BU still well in control. Dykes was just gibbering about "fistfighters" vs. "wrestlers" and why one was more likely to win a basketball game than the other. What about mixed martial-artists? Where do they fit in? Superheroes? Politicians?

1:41: Bulldogs by 16, 6:14 to play, you can go ahead and put this one in the books for Butler. Huge win for them, and for the Horizon--with a road win like this one on the books, BU would have to totally collapse to miss the NCAAs. If one of the many Horizon lurkers can pick BU off in Hinkle at the conference tourney (a tall hill to climb, but still) this'll be a two-bid league. w00t.

1:45: Wow, there's a Davidson student in a costume Nessler refers to as a "white lobster." Good for that kid. He surely lives a more interesting life than most of us. (I mean that sincerely.)

1:54: Under-4 timeout, and this is officially a beatdown. Can't say I think too highly at the moment of Davidson's chances of making any kind of repeat NCAA run--assuming they get in, there's plenty of teams out there that can corral Curry the same way Butler has today. He's got to trust his teammates just a little bit more, his teammates have to do just a little bit more to deserve that trust. If they don't, they'll still win the SoCon auto-bid, but with their mid-major cover obviously blown long ago, it's just awfully hard to see them beating a half-decent power conference team. Man, do I hope I'm wrong.

1:59: Gosselin hits a jumper over Howard with a hand in its face, but even on a successful possession you can see how hard Davidson's had to work for their points. That's a statement that's as cliched as cliches get, but it's true: with Curry unable to create for himself, they haven't come close to figuring out how to get open looks. Everything's been pulled teeth.

2:04: Attention power-conference teams who will face Butler in the NCAAs: the Bulldogs crushed Davidson beneath their heels despite the fact that Matt Howard's been totally MIA in the second half. Consider yourselves warned.

2:06: Well, it's been good for Butler, but this game didn't close close to being good for theater. Maybe Vermont-Buffalo (two-point game at the half) and especially UNI-Siena will give us some drama. I'll be back with a new post to cover those games after a break.

JCCW Signing Day Liveblog Extravaganza

Merry Pervy Christmas, everyone! Before you hit up the liveblog, let's get you up to speed:

--Apparently Chizik and crew cling to desperate hope just as tightly as we fans do, because it's pretty obvious by the fact that Taikown Paige had his offer in hand and committed within minutes of Greg Reid committing to Florida St. That brought Auburn to 26 official commitments, 23 by the JCCW's unofficial tally. Supasurprise DT commit Josh Jackson might be 24, but with the grayshort talk already surrounding him it's likely he's only a part of this fall's 25 if more guys fail to qualify than expected. I'm not counting him for now.

--Some very bad news for Auburn: Aubrey Phillips is off to Florida St. as expected. I wonder if, despite his connections to Rocker, Jackson is o-line insurance or DT insurance so someone like Fairley can switch over to offense.

--A bunch of faxes are in already; I'll let you scan the Auburn Beat to find them all. That Lutzenkirchen's was the very first into the office makes me happier than it should.

--All right, liveblog, let's do this. Ground rules: no bad-mouthing recruits who go elsewhere, no bad-mouthing your humble Auburn blogger when he struggles with the administrative portion of the liveblog, and of course we all know that any recruits who don't sign with Alabama weren't wanted by Alabama anyway.

Come on in:

Liveblog!

The people have spoken: the JCCW will host its second-ever* liveblog tomorrow, starting at 9 central or possibly sooner if I feel like I've got a handle on the CoverItLive software thingamajigs before then. Final post on what we'll be tracking during said liveblog this afternoon.

All topics will be open to discussion and all are encouraged to attend, except for anyone who responds to a recruit signing elsewhere with some version of "We didn't want that guy anyway" or similar bile. If you cannot help but react that way, the comment threads at al.com are ready when you are.

*You almost certainly missed it--actually, I know you missed it--but the JCCW also liveblogged the 2008 BracketBusters. Ratio of hours spent typing that day to reader comments: 8.5-to-1. A smashing success! So of course I'm doing the same thing this year.

BB liveblog: Miami (OH) at Valpo

Announcement: I said the past two days I'd plow through the Kent St.-St. Mary's game tonight, too, but ... no one's reading. I seriously doubt I'll come up with anything interesting to add to the straight play-by-play, given that the well is already dangerously close to dry and that the game won't start for another three hours. And I'd like to watch a game that should be as good as that one without having to look down every few seconds to type something. So I'm bailing. I've got a brief wrap post planned for tomorrow and if I have anything to say about the Kent-St. Mary's game, I'll say it then. G'night.

Tim Pollitz: a star in a just world.

We're picking up this one on ESPN Classic and this one's for nothing more than the pure joy of watching basketball, and specifically, Miami's wonderful 6-5 power forward Tim Pollitz, one of those guys who makes up for his height deficit with a stunning overabundance of smarts and guile. He got them to the NCAAs almost single-handed last March (with the help of a buzzer-beating, banked-in three) and then carved up Oregon in the first round.

So, yeah, even after four other games already today, I'm looking forward to the last, let's see ... 13 minutes or so of this game.

7:24 p.m. And on cue, Pollitz pulls down a rebound, starts a fast break, and finds his brother Eric. Eric winds up on the line and makes two, and the RedHawks go up 46-42 after seeing a big lead sorta disappear over the last minute or two.

7:26 p.m. Valpo has their goofy Crusader logo painted in giant size across the middle of the floor, and let me tell you, having it 10 feet across does nothing to reduce the goofy. I'll give them credit for not following the sort of nationwide trend of picking out the most initimidating, bad-ass and ultimately corporate-looking logo possible, but ... seriously, the guy in this logo looks like he wandered in from a half-assed Nickelodeon version of Don Quixote. The switch to the Horizon means Valpo's going to be taking on Butler, UW-Milwaukee, Wright St., etc., and now they select a logo that looks like he's ready to take on windmills instead? I don't get it.

7:31 p.m. Jake Diebler hits a pair of free throws to bring Valpo within one, 50-49, despite his Phantom of the Opera mask. Somewhere, Rip Hamilton is asking his lawyer about the trademark infringement possibilities. (Yes, I know I should be above mask jokes, but I've been at this for eight hours now. Whaddya want from me? Besides, I know they're necessary and all, but they look silly and there's no arguing that.)

7:36 p.m. The last several minutes (the game's got 7:55 remaining)have followed the following pattern: 1) Miami turnover 2) Valpo score 3) crowd goes nuts 4) timeout 5) Miami turnover. I swear this cycle seems to have happened three times, minimum. Valpo's gone up six. And now Jarryd Lloyd hits a three for a nine-point lead. Too bad Miami's probably out of timeouts by now.

7:43 p.m. Wow, Diebler's got the Hamilton mask and it turns out Urule Igbavboa has the Ben Wallace 'fro. Now if they can find someone with some variety of baldspot, they can recreate the champion Pistons in their entirety. As is, they're at least doing a good job of mimicking the Pistons' tendency to win: they're still up seven, with six to play.

7:45 p.m. Pollitz hits a couple of free throws to bring the RedHawks within three. But he's got a knee injury and isn't moving quite as well as I recall. And as our color guy (apparently he's named "Cedric") points out, the Valpo dude he's covering on D (Shawn Huff) has sorta noticed. Huff hits a three as Pollitz gives him too much room in an effort to stuff the dribble. Valpo by six, 67-61, 4:17 to play.

7:49 p.m. In an explanation of some of Valpo's struggles this season, Cedric mentions the move to the Horizon, which is 10th in the RPI as of now. If you haven't noticed, that's higher up the RPI than 1. C-USA 2. the Colonial 3. the WAC. Quite an accomplishment for a conference for whom most casual hoop fans would say "Oh yeah, that's the league with Butler and ... uh, Butler."

7:54 p.m. Pollitz abuses the larger Igbavboa, so they switch Huff on him and he gets around him to draw a foul. So, so crafty--like the basketball Iago. Too bad he bricks both free throws. Just three minutes left. That hurts. Huff's basket hurts even worse. This one's just about done.

7:59 p.m. Yeah, you thought I was kidding when I said Miami had taken a whole bunch of timeouts. Well, they just took their final one with 2:20 to play. That's the earliest I've seen in quite a while. They're down five after a three-point play, but making it all the way back without a TO ... that's a rocky road to travel.

8:02 p.m. Oh, ye fickle three-pointer. Valpo used it to roar back and take their lead, but now Miami's used it to come within four, and Valpo's attempted three bounced over the backboard. Pollitz mind-warps Igbavboa into leaving him a clear path to the basket on the slip-screen and suddenly it's 73-71. This is three straight one-possession games. That'll do, Bracketbusters Saturday. That'll do.

8:06 p.m. Huff drives and scores--he's been cash money since I turned the game on. Miami's Kenny Hayes hits two free throws to bring the RedHawks within two, but there's only 34.7 left. It's foul or bust.

8:07 p.m. Or not! Huff finds whatever the opposite of redemption is by first letting himself getting tied up and then throwing the ball directly to Miami's Alex Moosman. Moosman's got a wide-open layup .. but he misses! But Pollitz is there! Tie game! Valpo back the other way, shot, no good, Igbavboa a fadeaway, it sits on the rim ... NO! Overtime! Man, oh man, BB is bringing it this year.

8:14 p.m. Huff finds actual redemption, draining a sweet, sweet step-back three to put Valpo up five. Pollitz pivots all over the lane but finds a way to get the ball up and in in his delightful Pollitz-esque fashion, though. It's 80-77, three to play.

8:19 p.m. Whoa, the Pollitzes' dad went to Valpo Awkward.

8:21 p.m. Valpo again looks to maybe have things sewn up, up six with two to play, and again Hayes earns a trip to the line for two. He hits them and Miami gets a stop, but Pollitz tosses the ball out of the bounds. On the replay it's pretty obvious Valpo deflected it, but hey, the call in Hayes's favor (a foul on Igbavboa for what sure looked like a clean block) was more than a little questionable, too. So the karmic officiating scales always even out.

8:23 p.m. Hayes blocks a Valpo three at the shot clock buzzer, Pollitz scoops up the loose ball and finds him streaking downcourt ... Hayes converts the and-1! It's a one-point game again. 40 seconds to play.

8:24 p.m. Igbavboa misses a dunk! But somehow--seriously, how?--it squirms right back into his hands and he puts it up and in. Hayes draws a foul, though, and hits both. 85-84, 24 seconds left.

8:25 p.m. Miami nearly forces a TO, loose ball ... scoop to Igbavboa, dunk! He dunked it! 16 seconds! Hayes brings it up, launches from the parking lot ... GOOD! HE HIT IT! Valpo comes back, three by Lloyd at the buzzer ... NO! Double overtime! This thing has stretched more than 30 minutes later than I expected and I'm hungry! It's worth it! w00t!

8:33 p.m. The announcers are discussing the fatigue angle as Michael Rogers scores and draws the foul, but as we watch the Valpo fans celebrate ... how about the fatigue for the fans, huh? They've been cheering their lungs out for a long, long time. Hope they've got water.

8:36 p.m. Cedric has the line of the night as Miami's guard Michael Bramos shot fakes and just barely keeps his left foot planted before going on a drive and drawing the foul. "He must have taken ballet," says play-by-play guy, to which Ced replies, "Or he's got some long toes!" Heh. Both teams are two exhausted and foul-ridden to play D: they swap two layups each. Valpo's up 96-94, 1:15 to play.

8:41 p.m. Miami bricks a three, Lloyd scores on the drive! 15 seconds left, Valpo up four, Hayes with a three ... no! That should do it.

8:42 p.m. Bramos misses! No more miracles! OK, that is worth storming the floor for. Man, hell of a game ... again.

BB liveblog: Drake at Butler

This dude: good.

Here we are at the marquee match-up of the day, two-loss Drake at two-loss Butler in the (packed) gym so incalculably cool they had to film "Hoosiers" there. This is going to be awesome. We're picking things up with about 12:30 left in the first half, Butler up 12-10 and both teams struggling from outside.

5:20 p.m. Here's one of the funny misconceptions about Butler: they don't really shoot the lights out on a night-to-night basis. Oh, they're explosive, but Graves has been a bit off all season and Green's not quite a Korver, exactly. He shows hat here again, barely drawing iron on a three as we head into the under-12 timeout.

5:27 p.m. What do you get when you combine two teams who love threes the way Rick Majerus loves room service and clamp down like vises inside the arc? The three-a-palooza we're getting now, with both teams firing away from anywhere inside 30 feet. Drake's Leonard Houston has been the only guy showing any inclination to go inside and he's been rewarded with back-to-back baskets to put Drake up 14-12.

5:32 p.m. The difference so far has been Drake's ability to poke some holes into that Butler interior D. Some tricky interior passing (and a switch that leaves Graves on a Drake post dude twice his size) nets an Drake and-1 and a 19-14 lead. Jonathan Cox gets another lob a moment later for 21-17 with 6:45 left in the half.

5:35 p.m. He may not be quite as good a shooter as his rep suggests, but good gosh does A.J. Graves do everything else. He finds Matt Howard on a 25-foot cross-court pass for a lay-in. Somewhere Steve Nash is nodding in approval.

5:37 p.m. The jitters have worn off and both teams are looking like the clinical offensive juggernauts they've been for most of the season. The Bulldogs start raining threes and Josh Young hits a pair from the field. A game that was in the single digits it seems like the blink of an eye ago is 31-28 with three minutes and change to play.

5:41 p.m. In case you haven't heard: Josh Young is awesome. He's a good 24 feet out, has just the slightest bit of space, takes an innocuous-looking pass, and from the moment even before he takes the pass he's shooting. Rises up, perfect form, buries it. The very essence of confidence. Someone needs to send a clip of that to the guys hawking those "Better Basketball" DVDs on late-night NBATV.

5:46 p.m. Young should also be getting his "Actor's Equity" guild card soon after falling over from a Graves tap on the arm. He hits all three freebies and despite a rain of Butler threes it's Drake with the one-point lead in the final minute of the half.

5:50 p.m. Green misses a short jumper, a Drake nudge under the hoop goes unpunished, and the teams walk off the court for halftime. The officials are very, very unpopular at the moment, what with the no-call there following another foul call that sent Cox to the line for two that pushed Drake's lead to three. Ho MAN this second half is going to rock.

6:07 p.m. The corollary to the "Butler isn't a phenomenal shooting team, just really good" theory is that they win by simply never turning the ball over and burying you under total shots rather than percentage. Your latest piece of evidence: precisely one turnover in the first half. Of course, they commit two in the first minute of the second half, but still.

6:08 p.m. Young pulls up in Howard's face and drills a three. Ho-hum. Drake's now up six, their largest lead

6:10 p.m. Of course, anyone surprised that Butler scores the next eight with the most recent four by Graves has an exceedingly low threshold for surprise. There's just no way this game isn't going to be close in the final few minutes.

6:13 p.m. I'd forgotten that Butler has a guy named "Streicher," pronounced "Striker" ... Striker, striker, striker, Striker! *punch* ... I'm going to be thinking about that all night.

6:15 p.m. Houston cans a three. Honestly, is it that much a wonder Drake is this good when they've got two guys in Young and Houston who can either get to the rim or nail threes and can surround them with players as smart as Cox and Klayton Korver ... and as I type that, Korver pretends to shoot a long three and instead it's an alley-oop to Houston, who jumps out of the gym to bring it in. Freaking awesome.

6:17 p.m. Butler runs a lob of their own to perfection to retake the lead. If you think a game like this isn't worth watching because of the names of the schools on the jerseys, you hate America.

6:23 p.m. If there's been fewer announcing complaints this game, it's being called by Ron Franklin, quite possibly the world's finest play-by-play guy, and the very sensible Fran Fraschilla. On behalf of mid-major fans everywhere: thank you so much, ESPN, for dumping Vitale on the Memphis and Tennessee fans.

6:26 p.m. Adam Emmenecker of Drake tracks down a ball everyone in the gym thought was out off of Drake, flicks it to Houston, and Drake gets a layup. Tie game at 52. This is my first look at Drake, and it's really not that hard to see why this team has run away with the Valley--they're really, really good.

6:30 p.m. Honestly, the way these teams play D and protect the basketball, who'd have expected we'd already be at 52-52 with more than 10 minutes left? And that's after both teams have gone scoreless the last few trips. Bottom line is that this game has been even better than billed.

6:35 p.m. Man, tough foul call on Butler on a drive by Houston. In a game as tightly contested as this one, you want to see the players decide it even more than usual. Fraschilla had his first sort of awkward moment, saying that Drake had trailed and won lots of times. Seeing as their only down 57-54, I don't think anyone had exactly written them off yet, Fran.

6:40 p.m. Butler's up four, 58-54, with 7:31 to play when Emmenecker misses the front end of a one-and-one. Good as they may be, I don't think Drake wants to let that lead sneak out to seven or eight. When guys like Graves and Green are on the other side, they're probably going to be not-too-bad at milking clock if need be.

6:43 p.m. Man, nevermind, Cox's tip-in ties the game at 58, Graves misses a 3, Korver connects from NBA range. As I said, this game was probably foretold by Nostradamus to be tight all the way. It was never going to be otherwise.

6:49 p.m. Not the best pair of possessions for Green. First he turns it over and Emmenecker and Young turn it into two on the other end (63-58), then he bricks the front end of a one-and-one, and after Butler recovers he has a shot blocked by the increasingly pestilent Emmenecker. Rough with a capital R, there. Howard gets things going again with an and-1, though.

6:55 p.m. Howard tries to force a pass inside and fails (Butler's ninth TO of the half ... not surprising, then, they're behind, is it?) and Drake, up four with under three minutes, start stalling. But whoops, block, Graves drives and goes to the line, two-point game again. Time out Drake, 64-62, 1:47 to play, this is awesome.

7:02 p.m. Holy crap, Butler tips a pass, the ball starts to fly out of bounds, Young recovers, but has his foot on the line. Then Green charges (Emmenecker once again. And--holy crap, again--after running 33 seconds off the clock Young gets fouled by Green as he launches a last-gasp three. The crowd makes a complete hash of FCC regulations (yes, that's the term that rhymes with "full spit" you're hearing clearly) in response. But I think it's a good call--Green immediately throws up his hands, the sign of the guilty. Young hits all three. 67-62.

7:04 p.m. Butler hits two, one-possession game, but just 14.2 remaining when Drake calls a timeout. And Drake, Franklin explains, has gone 33-35 their last two games. Goodness. Could a stat scream "fundamentally sound" any louder?

7:05 p.m. Houston breaks free! Houston scores! That'll do it! Man, what a game. The fans boo lustily as of course they will--that call on Green pretty much decided the game, proper though I think it was--but I tend to agree with Fraschilla that it was a pretty well officiated game. Besides, if Butler doesn't turn the ball over quite so much in the second half, they win the game.

7:10 p.m. So where do these teams go from here? Six-seeds, maybe worse. Butler was a little bit ahead on the "dominant mid-major conference titlist without a genuine top-drawer victory" see-saw, but I think this result evens things up. But the committee's not really going to give sufficient credit to either one. Remember a couple years ago when George Washington had this same resume and got dumped all the way to an 8 seed? If the Bulldogs (both sets) can avoid more than one debilitating conference loss down the stretch, a 7-seed should be the floor. But add more than one L and who knows. Hell, who knows anyway; this is the NCAA Selection Committee we're talking about. They hate these teams the way I hate mosquitos.

None of that changes the fact that both these teams are clearly outstanding basketball teams and that surviving them come March is going to be like any variety of painful dental procedure you'd wish to name. This was an incredible game and I can't wait to see what either one will do in the NCAAs.

BB liveblog: Creighton at Oral Roberts

Posting on this one is going to be slightly less frantic than in the previous two, since 1. I'll be honest, the rapier wit is getting a bit dulled after getting so much use (yes, that's sarcasm. I guess I wasn't being honest) 2. there's just not as much at stake in this one. Neither Creighton nor ORU was ever a factor at-large wise.

But that's not to say it's pointless, particularly for ORU. Picking off a solid Missouri Valley team, even at home, is quite a feather in the cap of a team from the Summit. In concrete terms, it could mean the difference between a near-impossible challenge as a 14 seed and a more manageable game as a 13 or 12.

For the Bluejays ... yeah, I don't think there's a lot at stake.

3:20 p.m. We're picking this up with 14 and change left in the first half after wrapping up the previous post and writing the above. ORU started off sorta jumpy but have settled down on both ends--they scored eight straight to go up 8-6 before Creighton scored four in response.

3:23 p.m. The ORU fans have an impressive "white-out" going on in the stands--not just the student section but the entire crowd. It's almost intimidating, since it gives the impression that every fan is taking the game seriously enough to dress for (the) success (of the team). In reality, the ORU fans probably aren't any more int oit than, say, the Ohio fans were last go-round. But they look like they are, and that's probably even more important.

3:26 p.m. Well, there's only so much t-shirts can do. ORU is wobbly on defense again and the Bluejays have run off 10 in a row. They're up 16-8.

3:31 p.m. You have to give Scott Sutton and the rest of the staff at ORU credit: they've lost some tremendous players over the past couple of years (Caleb Green, Ken Tutt, et al) but they've basically just reloaded every step of the way. They certainly pass the "eye test" athletically, in their general feel for the game, etc. They're still down 18-13, but at a glance there's no difference between this team and the last few editions of the Eagles. Not easy to do at this level.

3:34 p.m. Creighton's Booker Woodfox has to have one of the best names in all of college hoop. Not to employ too gross a generalization, but the name almost sort of embodies the Bluejays' approach vis a vis the quicker Eagles: Creighton's going to have to be more cautious, stately, reserved, fundamental, perhaps even "smart" or "Woodfoxian" to counter ORU's athleticism. So far it's working: they've gotten several intelligent passes under the hoop for easy baskets and are up 22-18 with six left in the half.

3:40 p.m. Pace speeding up, which I would think would favor ORU, but it's Eagle PG Robert Jarvis (possessor of some awesome Marquis Daniels-esque hair) who slows things up. Possession ends with an ORU free throw and it's 22-21.

3:42 p.m. The announcer says that the slow pace favors ORU rather than Creighton ... I mean, am I nuts (or a shallow thinker) to think otherwise? ORU was one of the country's quickest-paced teams the last couple of years, right? Creighton plays in the we're-not-Ivies-but-hell-yeah-we'll-slow-it-down-wand--Southern-Illinois's-our-champion MoVal, right? Maybe I'll stop trying to pigeonhole these guys and just watch the game, I guess. In which Creighton's hit a couple of threes and lead by four.

3:48 p.m. Hmm, Creighton, I don't think you want this crowd involved, whatever the actual impact of the shirts are. So that steal, breakaway, blocking foul, three-point play wasn't so good. Jays still up one, though, and that's before Woodfox drains a three to shut the crowd up again.

3:50 p.m. Jarvis for three, good! And ORU has their first lead. I think it's generally a good idea to cover someone with Jarvis's hair: if he has the confidence to pull a look like that off, you know he's not going to be afraid to pull the trigger.

3:52 p.m. Eek, Blue Jays miss the front end of a one-and-one. All the momentum with ORU. So as they have every time that's been the case this half, Creighton quickl turns it around. This time it's P'Allen Stinnett who drives right to the basket on the iso to retake the lead at the half, 34-33. Pretty sweet game so far and without question the most entertaining of the three first halves we've seen.

4:15 p.m. Stinnett has been Creighton's best player to this point, so good that our color guy (whose name I should really be paying attention to at the broadcast's start) has compared him twice to Manu Ginobli, which seems ... appropriate? He's got all four of Creighton's points of the second half two minutes in. But CU starter Dane Watts has three fouls and ORU has continued to look sharp on the offensive end. They're down 38-36, 17:28 to play.

4:19 p.m. Both teams playing solid basketball at this point--great move inside by ORU's Marcus Lewis doesn't get him a deserved basket, followed by a tough leaner on the other end by Creighton's Josh Dotzler. Wish we'd seen a little more of this in the first two games. Of course, the announcer punches a clean hole through my "Hey, these teams are looking good!" theory by pointing out that ORU is 1-of-7 this half as we head to the under-16 timeout. Oh well.

4:25 p.m. Jarvis hits one from downtown Tulsa. 43-41 CU.

4:27 p.m. Creighton has apparently been taking lessons from James Shuler--after Dotzler's tough-as-nails banked leaner a moment ago, Watts banks in a similar shot from the left side of the lane after solid D from ORU. We all know God should be on ORU's side (right?) but between those shots and a half-dozen Eagle layups that have rolled out, I'm starting to wonder.

4:31 p.m. Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have made Creighton sound so Princetonesque a few items back. They just tried to hit a backdoor cut. It went out of bounds with the pass target still a good several feet away.

4:33 p.m. Not sure why Jarvis isn't a starter--he's been ORU's best player by a wide, wide margin. It's his drive-and-score that puts the Eagles up 48-47. But again, the Almighty may be taking a peculiar and contrary interest in this game: Watts answers with a three off the backboard. Our color man says that "somebody opened a window and the wind blew in." That's one theory.

4:37 p.m. Hoo boy, Bluejay frosh Kenny Lawson sticks it back with the proverbial authoritah after a missed transition layup. If this was in Omaha the roof would have come off the place, as they say. Another basket later Creighton has a six-point lead, largest of the half.

4:42 p.m. After a three-point play halves the lead, Stinnett lives up to the Ginobli comparison in the lesser-desirable fashion by taking a n extra step in the process of getting his shot up. Kelvin Sango hits a bunny and it's a one-point game.

4:46 p.m. Whoops, it's Creighton up four after one of those nasty six-point swings: ORU's Moses Ehambe continues a nightmare shooting performance (2-of-13) with a missed three while Casey Harriman buries one on the other end.

4:47 p.m.Scott Sutton takes a very quick timeout after the three. I'm not sure one hit three after you've had the momentum for the last minute or so is always worth it, but ORU shows why he's a well-paid professional basketball coach and I am a blogger by scoring the next four to tie the game at 58. Five minutes left.

4:51 p.m. Under-four-minute timeout arrives with the teams tied at 60, and I legitimately have no guess who's going to win the game. It's been fun.

4:56 p.m. Jarvis has started to get a little wild--he's now taken three or four Kobe-esque, off-balance jumpers--but who cares when beasts like Lewis can go fetch the rebound for an and-1? He misses the free throw, though, and we're tied again at 62.

5:05 p.m. The defenses reign for the next several possessions and it goes into the final minute still tied at 62. Lewis misses, and Creighton catches a break when it looks like Stinnett walks again and a verrrrrrry late whistle sends him to the line for the one-and-one. Then it's ORU who gets the break as Stinnett misses the front end and Jarvis gets fouled in the ensuing scramble. But Creighton also gets a break as Jarvis turns his ankle in drawing the foul. He hits the first but'll have to hit the second to get subbed off the floor and not expose that ankle on D ... he does. Clutch. Would love to see this Jarvis guy in the NCAAs--seems the sort who'd really rise to the occasion.

5:07 p.m. Woodfox for three... GOOD! Creighton by one! 21 seconds left! Definitely an exclamation-point worthy game we've got here.

5:10 p.m. Adam Liberty with the fallaway ... no! ORU board, three for the win ... No! Putback's too late! Creighton wins! They end up celebrating in one of those standard huddles at midcourt despite the fact that ... well, this didn't really eanr them a thing. But if you've just a won a game that hard-fought and that down-to-the-wire, hell, kids, celebrate your heart out.

5:12 p.m. As Butler and Drake fire it up, what did we learn from CU-ORU? That the Eagles are legit--they're going to be every bit the threat they were in the NCAAs the last couple of years (yes, they didn't win either of those games and weren't completely even in either game, but ... the potential remains there) and that Creighton ... well, if they survive the MoVal tourney, they're going to be dangerous. But we knew that already. As for their chances at Arch Madness, you know someone's going to knock off Drake. And I didn't see anything here to suggest they can't be that team. Stinnett's exciting, Watts and Woodfox are solid, and Josh Dotzler (while not having the biggest impact today) is still Josh Dotzler. They'll be heard from.

BB liveblog: George Mason at Ohio

He sings the songs that remind of the good times, he sings the songs that remind him of the best times...

So this is the second entry in today's miniature "MAC-Colonial Challenge," with the CAA having taken the opener. Even less on the line NCAAs-wise than in the BB opener--neither of these teams has an at-large prayer--but I'm stoked to see the George Mason heroes from two years ago again. It must be what it was like for hockey fans to see Eruzione and Craig take the ice in 1983 or something.

1:09 p.m. Away we go, and George Mason has broken out the retina-searing "gold" (or as I prefer to think of this color, "stale butter") jerseys for the occasion. I realize you can't really wear green in Ohio's gym since the Bobcats also wear green, but ... these jerseys were a mistake the day they were stitched. Sorry, Patriots.

1:13 p.m. The first few minutes fly by and GMU leads 9-2 at the first TV timeout. Patriots looking very smooth on offense. After the last game, it's a welcome change.

1:17 p.m. GMU really looking to push after Ohio misses. Fortunately for them, guys like Folarin Campbell and Will Thomas can throw a hell of an outlet pass. Hasn't led to much the last couple of attempts, though. Still, they're up 12-5 ... Ohio a touch cold to open.

1:20 p.m. Tough call on Vlad Moldoveanu as he tries to stop an Ohio break and gets whistled for a block. These are CAA refs (visiting team brings the officials), but calls like those will get rid of any accusations of bias toot sweet. Jordan Carter and his magnificent fro get called for a 10-second violation (Ewwww) and Ohio pulls within 12-11 on a three. Crowd making noise.

1:23 p.m. Because if there's one thing George Mason needed, it was another smooth-as-silk 3/4 who can glide to the basket and finish, sophomore Louis Birdsong drives and scores with what looks like less than a maximum amount of effort. It sparks a quick 5-0 spurt for Mason and they're back up six.

1:30 p.m. Hmm, haven;t mentioned any Ohio guys by name yet. So I'll point out that it was No. 6 Bubba Walther (his name is Bubba!) who throws a bullet pass to the fans sitting behind the Ohio stanchion to hand the ball back to the Patriots. Campbell steals the ball on the Bobcat's next possession and forces a foul to prevent the breakaway dunk. With the exception of that one two-minute stretch, Ohio has looked less than sharp on offense. 18-11 GMU.

1:31 p.m. Mason makes four passes and never lets the ball touch the floor as they go from the backcourt to a layup. Pretty, pretty stuff. The announcers mention they're shooting 67 percent from the floor and on cue they drain a three. 23-11. It's been a clinic the last few possessions.

1:34 p.m. Ohio turns it over, it's a layup on the other end. And Will Thomas is owning the glass, they're one-and-done. Now Jerome Tillman misses a dunk. Not exactly going the home team's way at the moment, to put things mildly.

1:36 p.m. They've been running the newest DirecTV "movie character talks to the audience about DirecTV" advertisement on a continuous loop so far today. In this one, Kathy Bates's psycho from "Misery" takes a moment right before "hobbling" that actor whose name I can never remember to plug DirecTV. Look, I know it's a memorable moment from a memorable movie and all, but ... do you really want your product associated with one of the most grisly, hard-to-watch scenes I can think of? Do you really want it endorsed by a psychopath? I dunno, they probably have focus groups who loved it. Sigh.

1:39 p.m. Silly, out-of-control charge by Walther. Mason in total control, 28-11. Looks from the wide-angle shot like Ohio got a really, really nice crowd out for this one, and Mason has come in and icily shut them up completely. They're up 28-13 and John Vaughan (*the Auburn fan shudders*) is at the line.

1:42 p.m. Leon Williams (6-8 senior, probably Ohio's highest-profile player), gets a nice entry pass, turns, and scores. Campbell turns it over on the other end and I guess I should point out the game isn't exactly completely finished yet. I guess.

1:44 p.m. Wiiiiiiiiide open three for Ohio following a sweet Walther pass doesn't connect. That would have been nice.

1:46 p.m. Bleah. Campbell loses the ball trying for a reverse, it flies into the air as Campbell falls hard and stays down for a minute, and as he lies there the Ohio fans chant "airball." I know hoping for gentlemanly behavior from college student sections is always going to be more pointless than a brand-new pencil, but still, wait until the guy gets up, please.

1:50 p.m. Ohio's trimmed the lead a bit to 32-19 with less than a minute left in the half. Birdsong checks in and the play-by-play guy says "he's not a big guy, just 6-6, 230," which shows you that even at the mid-major level, the distorting effect of the game on players' heights is severe. Because I'm pretty sure that if you saw 6-6, 230 Louis Birdsong anywhere besides a basketball court, "not a big guy" is about the last thing you'd think.

1:52 p.m. 32-19 at the half, and on a personal note, it's time for lunch.

2:08 p.m. We're back!

2:10 p.m. In retrospect, my return from halftime wasn't really worth an exclamation point. Neither, to this point, has the teams' return: they come up emtpy for the first 1:30 of the half until Williams connects.

2:12 p.m. The little things that could really get Ohio back into this game (like that missed open three earlier) are still going against them. This time a Bobcat grabbed a rebound only to lose his footing after coming down for a travel. Still GMU by 11.

2:13 p.m. Bubba Walther (Bubba!) drills a long three and it's officially a game again ... another three by Walther! The crowd goes bonkers! Timeout GMU! His name is Bubba!

2:16 p.m. Not sure if it's a national ad or local, but we're getting a spot for "5-hour Energy," the hey-we're-better-than-Red-Bull-even-if-we-look-way-skeezier energy "shot" K-Dub admitted to using in his assault on the ESPN chat record yesterday. I'd just like to assure you that the JCCW all-day liveblog is running on perfectly legal coffee and any records broken will be completely legitimate.

2:20 p.m. Walther to Williams--those two have been Ohio's best players by a country mile--and it's 33-29. Mason not really running their offense--lots of jacked threes instead of getting Campbell and Thomas attacking the basket. Williams scores again and it's GMU by two. Looks like I might not have been the only person who basically thought this game was over late in the first half.

2:23 p.m. This is going to really stun you, but Larranaga was hella pissed after taking his second timeout in the space of a minute. Who'd have guessed? Big moment there--Bert Whittington (man, Ohio has some great names) missed a three that would have given them the lead and Campbell hits two freebies on the other end.

2:26 p.m. I suddenly realized I'm doing this game with the updates at the bottom of the post rather than the top, unlike the first one. Completely accidentally. Dammit.

2:30 p.m. Thomas finally gets GMU a second-half field goal after they started 0-12. Now both offenses are starting to heat up--Vaughan connects for GMU, Walther for Ohio. This has rather suddenly become a pretty gosh-darned exciting game. Still have to like GMU's experience down the stretch ... now that they've gotten the "Eh, we're up 12, I'll just launch this 25-footer rather than work it into the post" out of their system, you would think they'd be OK. You'd think.

2:32 p.m. The problem is that GMU refuses to take care of the basketball--a turnover leads to a Bobcat layup and they're down a point. Give credit to Ohio, they've been active and quick-handed, but the Patriots are also just being sloppy.

2:34 p.m. Campbell hits a three and freshman Cam Long hits a freebie to put GMU back up four. There's a shot of Larranaga and standing immediately behind him are a couple of GMU students. Um ... that's a heck of a road trip, fellas, for a non-conference game that's not really going to seal any bids the way the trip to Wichita did a couple of years ago. The JCCW salutes your dedication!

2:37 p.m. One of the cool things about springing for the cable company's "sports tier" is the wide array of regional networks who bring you random, wonderful mid-major games. For instance, the break in the GMU-Ohio game lets me check in on Northern Arizona hosting Wichita St. and old blog friend Gregg Marshall in their BracketBuster game. Wichita's up two, 29-27, in an effort to save the Missouri Valley the face they'd lose by seeing one of their highest-profile programs lose to a Big Sky also-ran. (Not that NAU is a bad team, and they have possibly the coolest nickname in all mid-majordom in "Lumberjacks.")

2:42 p.m. Back to ...wherever Ohio is (why don't I know this?) and a Thomas free throw is canceled out by Tillman slam from a Walther assist. Ohio up one again.

2:44 p.m. Vaughan scores, Mason by 1. Walther scores, Ohio by 1. We're due for a "X ties and X lead changes" comment from the crew any second now, I'd wager.

2:46 p.m. Walther and Whittington are breaking down GMU on the dribble--Tillman just got his second easy one and got the and-1 for his troubles as well. Thomas answers after another classic example of the "don't save the ball under your own basket" gaffe, getting his own and-1. 52-51 Ohio, 4:14 left.

2:48 p.m. What the hell got into Ohio in the halftime locker room? The team that jacked at will, didn't work the ball around, and generally missed even when open has been replaced by a different team that showed from tremendous, dare I say even San Antonio Spurs-esque "No, your shot is better" ball movement en route to a Whittington three. Then Walther comes up with a steal and drills a step-back transition three. Ohio's up seven!

2:51 p.m. Much as I respect the GMU seniors and shall treasure them always for their contributions to the miracle of 2006 ... yeah, Bubba "His Name is Bubba" Walther has been the best player on the court this game. Ohio doesn't score on this possession, but it's his sharp pass out of the corner that helps set up another wide-open look from three. GMU fumbles the rebound out-of-bounds. They're in more trouble than coaches whose name rhymes with "Melvin Trampson."

2:55 p.m. Williams hits his first three of the season at the shot clock buzzer. Yeah, methinks this game is over. Teams that lose don't hit Hands-of-Fate shots like that one.

2:57 p.m. Geez, that wasn't just Williams's first make, it was his first attempt from three of the year. Something tells me he's going to watch that one on film a few times. Mason responds through a Campbell three, though. They're down six.

3:01 p.m. Mason bricks a free throw and fouls Walther--who shatters no stereotypes as a scrawny white kid who is "not the guy you want to foul"--who hits both. Nine points, 65 seconds left. It's over.

3:04 p.m. The announcers are calling this a "great, great win" for Ohio, and hey, anytime you beat a team that still carries name recognition with Mr. and Mrs. Casual Fan on national television it's awfully nice and all, but ... they're not getting an at-large. The conference race is a bigger deal. The conference tourney is the only thing that really, really matters at this point. So yeah, it's awesome, but ...

3:06 p.m. ... now it's over and the students are storming the court and it's not that important. I'm super-glad BracketBusters creates this kind of atmosphere for these teams, but let's just keep it in perspective, shall we?

3:08 p.m. My final thoughts? Ohio looks precisely like the sort of team that could catch fire, win the MAC tourney, and snap into tiny pieces the NCAA hearts of Kent St. should the Golden Flashes lose to St. Mary tonight. Especially if Walther plays like that--he looked like a baller. If the Bobcats did make the NCAAs, eh, not sure. Not sure there's quite that much substance there aside from Walther and Williams.

As for GMU ... I dunno. Honestly, it seemed like Carter and Vaughan just weren't getting it done at the point--too many TOs, not enough clean sets, too much matador defense on on the other end. And it looked at times like maybe Campbell and Thomas were forcing things in response. It's weird--comparing them to VCU, you'd say GMU was the more polished and more talented team. But it was VCU that made the plays to win on the road today, and the Patriots didn't. We'll see if that's the case at the CAA tourney.

BB liveblog: VCU at Akron

Greetings and welcome to the First It Might be Annual JCCW Bracket Busters Saturday Liveblog. Sound the kazoos! I've got my "Basketball kicks ass!" Bally shirt on, a pot of coffee at the ready, and I'm going to be here all freaking day, covering the single biggest day in mid-major collge hoops. Schedule of games here--I'll probably start a new post with each game.

This being my first-ever liveblog, there are going to be hiccups--for instance, trying to figure out whether the updates should go at the top (under this little blurb) or at the bottom kept me up last night. (We're going to put them at the top.)

Hope you enjoy.

-------------------------------------------------------

1:01 p.m. The more important question: if VCU does make the NCAAs what are their odds of pulling the upset or two? My guess is that there's no way they get blown out, regardless of opponent: the kind of D they showed today will keep them in any game you choose. But boy, they made things hard on themselves on offense. If they get a team like last year's Duke with a point guard Maynor can harass into submission and he and Shuler both bring their "A" games, then yeah. But that's twice I've seen VCU in the last couple of weeks (watched their recent thriller against Old Dominion, too) and I just don't see them putting up the points necessary to hang with the 4- or 5-seed they'll probably face, not without forcing a crazy number of turnovers. Hope I'm wrong.

12:58 p.m. As VCU wraps things up the announcers mention again that Akron hasn't lost back-to-back home games (as they just have) since 2002, which should say something about what this win should mean for VCU. But it doesn't. Wins over mid-majors that aren't at-large candidates just aren't taken seriously, which is a shame. If VCU runs the table from here to the CAA title game, after this .... maaaaaaaaybe they get an at-large look. But Drexel had a substantially better resume last season (at least, if you ask me) and got the back of the committee's hand, so I'm not optimistic.

12:55 p.m. The misses kept Akron within a possession at 52-49, but Dials's three is off-balance and short. Rodriguez pulls in the rebound and manages to get across halfcourt without turning the ball over (quite an accomplishment for him based on the last few minutes) and the Rams call timeout. Akron fouls with 8.3 to play, Rodriguez at the line ... hits both. It's over.

12:54 p.m. Hmmmm, Rodriguez (what is he still doing out there?) sort of takes a bunny hop before VCU calls timeout, but it's close. Maynor goes to the line and misses both!

12:53 p.m. Holy crap! Wood gets position down low and lifts a hook over Sanders only for Michael Anderson comes flying out of the proverbial nowhere to make the block. Crowd wants goaltending, I don't see it.

12:51 p.m. Apparently the brain farts aren't limited to one team. Akron fouls Shuler 40 feet from the basket. 52-49 VCU, a minute left.

12:49 p.m. Wow, the only way for VCU to lose this game is to commit a turnover that leads to an easy basket or take an earthworm-level stupid three-pointer early in the shot clock. Rodriguez does both on back-to-back possessions.

12:47 p.m. Akron's getting desperate--they've heaved up multiple hideous-looking threes the last couple of minutes. Dials has hit one and they're still getting offensive rebounds, but teams don't win by panicking.

12:45 p.m. Man, Shuler doesn't make things easy for himself. At least every other shot is of the "Hmmmm, really?" variety. But he makes a reasonable number of them, at least today. VCU now up 49-41, three to play.

12:39 p.m. Nick Dials is apparently Akron's leading scorer, but his little drive to draw a foul on Sanders feels like the first time I've heard his name all day. Which probably goes a long way to explaining why Akron has 41 points in a fast-paced game with four minutes left.

12:37 p.m. Wood inexplicably passes up a layup to try a spin-move-and-hook which predictably misses, and Shuler answers with a three. VCU suddenly back in control, which is what happens when you get six points out of two possessions.

12:35 p.m. Cedrick Middleton drains a three to give Akron the lead, but Maynor does his Maynor thing and sinks a runner off the backboard for an and-1. 41-39 Rams and this should be an exciting finish.

12:33 p.m. What kind of game has this been? Akron has shot 28 percent and trails by two. Ye gods.

12:29 p.m. Maynor realizes the solution to this: get to the freaking rim. 38-34, 7:43 to play. This game's not getting out of the 50's.

12:25 p.m. The game's turned frantic and sloppy again. VCU's Joey Rodriguez tried to draw a foul by throwing up a wild shot in the middle of a 3-on-2 and the officials correctly don't bail him out. The Rams follow up by bricking a couple of threes and Akron scores to come within two. If VCU ever starts shooting straight they'll run away with this, but it doesn't look like they're really capable of that kind of hot streak.

12:21 p.m. Akron hung a banner for "Zippy," their kangaroo mascot, being named Capital One mascot of the year. Uh, guys? Doesn't hanging a banner for your mascot winning a credit card company's fabricated ad-driven contest sort of cheapen what it means to hang a banner for an actual (you know, conference titles and whatnot) accomplishment? Boo.

12:18 p.m. Wood looks smooth down on the block, but he's missed what seems like a dozen four-foot hooks over Sanders. He needs to start hitting those or Akron needs to look elsewhere.

12:16 p.m. Whoops, as soon as I type that they say the Sanders "writes a good sitcom," so at least they're aware. Ed Nixon (see how I've got their first names now that I've got a box score to look at? Why didn't I do that to start the game? Oh well, live and learn) gets a three-point play. VCU with their largest lead since the 7-0 start at 36-30.

12:15 p.m. Sanders makes yet another incredible block and somehow the announcers avoid screaming "It's Larry Sanders' show right now!", so that's a disappointment.

12:12 p.m. OK, so I was sort of guessing at "Kashelnikov"'s name based on what I was hearing from the broadcast team, which was always a bad idea. Quick open of the ESPN boxscore ... turns out it's actually "Pishchalnikov." First name "Kirill." Sounds like a Russian boxer and after he takes an elbow just below the eye and leaves with blood, he looks the part, too.

12:09 p.m. The Rams' Kashelnikov is all over the boards and Shuler connects for the second time already this half, but Akron answers. Both teams much sharper on offense thus far this half. VCU up 33-30.

12:07 p.m. VCU starts the second half the way they did the first: turnovers, quick O, six points, the lead. They're up 29-24.

12:03 p.m. Aaaaaand we're back. Maynor had just four points in the first half and the announcers squawk about how VCU "needs more from him," but Maynor's done his usual hounding job on defense ... the biggest reason the Rams trailed at halftime was their struggles on the offensive glass, which was hardly Maynor's fault. I feel like if we had some magic stat that showed how many points a player had prevented while playing defense, comments like this one would be skipped.

11:51 a.m. I take the opportunity at the break to flip over to Fox Soccer Channel to check on Fulham, the English Premier League squad with half the U.S. National team on the roster. They're in danger of relegation (i.e. being forced into a "lower division), which wouldn't be so great for all those Americans. I arrive just in time to see West Ham score a flukish goal on a deflected attempted clear by the Fulham 'keeper. I also find out they're down a man. Enjoy the Coca-Cola League, fellas.

11:46 a.m. Shuler misses a wide-open three--frankly, that's the kind of half it's been for VCU on that end when not in transition--and the half ends with Akron up one. You get the sense that VCU is the better team--the Rams should be in better shape defensively if they can just box out every once in a while and I would guess they won't shoot as poorly in the second half as they did in the first. If the crowd wakes up and Akron gets some momentum that could cancel that out, but my hypothetical money is on the Rams.

11:44 a.m. Nice, nice pass out of the double by Wood gets Akron a couple of free throws. The announcers talk about the guy going to the line (Milam) isn't a good free throw shooter, a sure-fire guarantee he's going to hit his first. He does.

11:40 a.m. VCU's D is tightening up--they've forced TOs the last couple of Zip possessions and Sanders just swatted another shot. But Wood got a shot up and they gave up yet another o-rebound. It leads to a third foul for Dixon. So that's bad, but Sanders gets a three-point play on the other end to tie the game at 23, so it's not all bad for the Rams.

11:33 a.m. Joe Lunardi is one of the very best things about ESPN, but the guy has never looked comfortable on camera and his quick take on VCU's at-large chances (in a nutshell: it ain't happening) has all the flexibility, warmth, and charisma of one of Jupiter's frozen moons, or something.

Cripes, that's a bad analogy. This thinking on the fly thing is something I'll have to get better at.

11:30 a.m. Akron's Cedric (I think) Middleton rains in a ridiculous three from 25 feet late in the shot clock. Even when the Rams play good D, they don't play good D. All Zips at the moment, 21-14.

11:29 a.m.Again Akron's Chris McKnight grabs an offensive rebound and the Zips convert it into three. They're up 18-12, an 18-5 run since the 7-0 VCU spurt to start the game. VCU just a little helter-skelter on both ends.

11:26 a.m. Clips of VCU's Larry Sanders swatting away various Zip shots to emphasize my last point. Akron's getting after it on the offensive glass right now, though--particularly with Sanders on the bench, I'm not sure VCU has a good answer for Wood.

11:26 a.m. Not the smoothest game offensively to this point. Lots of good interior defense from both teams and it's still 12-11 after 10-plus minutes.

11:23 a.m. Does anybody in college hoops have stickier fingers than Maynor? He just flat robbed an Akron player as he went up for a layup on the break. Great play. Brings back memories of last year's CAA title game.

11:21 a.m. Full credit to ESPN for helping even get BB ever off the ground, but isn't the occasional "countdown" ticker for Memphis-UT kind of a bit of a maybe sort of an ... insult? "Enjoy these meaningless teams while you wait for the behemoth battle later tonight!" kind of thing? I dunno, think I may be being too sensitive.

11:18 a.m. Shot of VCU coach Anthony Grant, who I suspect is leasing rather than buying ... that he hasn't already gotten snatched up by some BCS school is kind of surprising. The teams trade threes and the Zips are up 11-10.

11:13 a.m. Akron brings on injured big guy Jeremiah Wood, who is not in fact a minor character in an Elmore Leonard novel as his name suggests, but one of the alleged best big guys in the MAC. The Zips go to Wood on two straight possessions for four points and then Wood picks up a dime on a fast break. 6-0 since he came in and Akron's up 8-7.

11:10 a.m. James shuler hits a three and VCU goes up 7-0. As starts go, yeah, this one could have been better for the Zips--crowd looks out of it already. Can't think the 11 a.m. start on Saturday morning was good for the students .

11:05 a.m. And we're off! Maynor wastes no time living up to the "good in transition" tag by leading a nice break in the opening seconds.

11:00 a.m. Things are kicking off with VCU at Akron, CAA at the MAC. Not really a hell of a lot at stake bid-wise in this one--VCU's recent home loss to Old Dominion probably ended the at-large hopes for the CAA, and it's Kent St. who have the at-large dreams in the MAC--but it should be a fun to game to watch. You may remember VCU from last March, when Bill Simmons man-crushee Eric Maynor earned the gratitude of a nation when he shot Duke out of the tournament. Seriously: does anyone who's not Duke like Duke?