DENVER, Colo. - It took six games, but we finally got a competitive one. Michigan St beat Pitt 65-54 to move on to the South Regional in Texas where they will face the winner of Memphis and Mississippi St.

Neitzel led the Spartans with 21 points and hit 5 of 8 from three point range. Kalin Lucas also had a great game with 19.

Pitt got 19 from Levance Fields, who shot 6-12 from the floor. The rest of the team was ice cold, shooting a combined 11-42. Sam Young did mange to squeeze out 15 points though.

So much for me being Pitt's lucky charm. I hadn't seen them in person all year before the Big East tournament, but they had won five straight in my presence.

Meanwhile, our attention turns to UCLA and Texas A&M. UCLA came back to win, much to the head-shaking relief of Dan Guerrero. I caught up with him after the game and asked if he got to see much of the game here. He told me he watched each game with one eye. He also wasn't surprised to see UCLA come back to win. They have done a lot of that kind of thing this year.

Also, our attention turns to the regionals in Detroit, where I will be next week. But first, tomorrow I'll have my bests and worsts of Denver.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Drew Neitzel has scored the last eight Michigan St points and the Spartans are now up 55-50 with 3:38 to go.

Dixon got into it with the referees when two of them called fouls on different guys when two ran into each other. After a conference, the call went against Pitt and Dixon, not surprisingly, got hot.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

DENVER, Colo. - The Spartans have pulled back ahead by three at the 8-minute timeout.

On press row, the attention is on the UCLA game. No place does that seem to be more true than across the way from us, where UCLA AD and committee member Dan Guerrero seems engrossed in something on a monitor in front of him. I'm guessing he's not watching Dancing with the Stars.

A couple of minutes ago, Neitzel tried to take credit (is that the right word) a foul that was on Morgan. The ref blew the whistle, and Neitzel's hand went up in the air immeidately, yelling after the ref, "that's on me!" It wasn't.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Pitt has gone on a 10-2 run to cut the Spartans lead to two at 42-40. Levance Fields had four points during the run.

Despite the run, Pitt fans are sitting on their hands, while Michigan State's fans behind us are up and active. They should have plenty of energy since they didn't use any up on Thursday.

We have Texas A&M-UCLA on the monitor next to us as pretty much everyone hopes for their brackets' sake that UCLA makes a comeback.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Jamie Dixon's timeout after Michigan St scored the first four points didn't work. The Panthers turned the ball over again, and the Spartan run got to 8-0 before Blair pounded home a couple of layups.

Goran Suton has a couple of baskets for Michigan St inside. He's been very effective today, but he's out of the game right now.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 10:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St has scored the first four points of the second half. The first few possessions were empty for each team, but Suton cleaned up some garbage and Morgan went baseline for a dunk to put the Spartans up six.

Here's a picture of Neitzel and Lucas making a plan right before inbounding the ball to start the half. Whatever it was, it didn't work.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - MSU sent six players onto the floor coming out of a time out right before the break, then promptly threw the ball away for a game-tying layup by Fields. However, Kalin Lucas went coast to coast right after that to give the Spartans a 30-28 lead at the half.

Pitt has hung in there in spite of pretty miserable shooting. They are 9-31 from the floor for 29%. The Spartans are shooting 50% even. Pitt still has an 8-point lead at the free throw line though.

Lucas has 10 points to lead MSU, while Fields' 11 leads the Panthers.

Our halftime entertainment was the Michigan St band. MSU has a dance team, but they didn't perform. Pitt had a dance team on Thursday, but they haven't been seen tonight.

For a while, I didn't think I'd make it back for the second half. I had to wait quite a long time to wash my hands in our small bathroom as the sinks were occupied by one guy scrubbing for surgery and another guy fixing his makeup. Someone fixing their face is something you don't see much in a men's room. He said he was a TV guy. Yeah, right.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Neitzel just hit his third three-ball of the half to put Michigan St five and Jamie Dixon has called timeout.

Goran Suton also has six points for MSU.

Ronald Ramon is still having trouble finding the hole, as are his teammates. They are only 5-19 from the floor, but have hit eight free throws.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - I think you can tell that the PA guy may not watch a lot of college hoops. He just mispronounced Drew Neitzel's name as "NEET-zel" instead of "NEYET-zel'

Raymar Morgan already has two foul for Michigan St, and Pitt already has six points at the line.

Young got a break away dunk, and was still whooping it up when he got back down the floor to play defense.

Michigan St is ahead though 13-12 with 10:20 left in the half. The Spartans have two shot clock buzzer-beating baskets.

It looks like the Michigan St coaching staff got together and decided on pastel ties. Izzo is sporting a light blue, while two of his assistants opted for lavender.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - It's taken a lot of shots, but both teams are finally on the board here. MSU leads 4-2 at the first TV timeout. Neitzel and Morgan have tried and failed from the floor for MSU, and Ramon is 0-3 for Pitt.

At least it's not a blowout. Yet.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - We have the lineups for the Michigan St-Pitt game.

The Spartans start
G Drew Neitzel , Kalin Lucas
F Raymar Morgan, Goran Suton
C Drew Naymick

Pitt counters with
G Levance Fields, Ronald Ramon
F Keith Benjamin, Sam Young
C DeJuan Blair

On Thursday, Ramon was listed as a forward in the lineup, and Benjamin was a guard.

Our refs are Dick Cartmell, Scott Thornley and Michael Eades.

Meanwhile, we're all transfixed on the Stanford-Marquette game, which is in OT. We never did get the CBS feed, but the local affiliate switched to it. They also inform us that a local highway is closed due to heavy smoke from a haystack fire. We don't even have that in Indiana.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Washington St advances to the East regional in Charlotte with a win over Notre Dame. The Cougars will very likely face top seed North Carolina. That might be a better matchup than you think.

WSU held Notre Dame to its lowest output of the season. The Irish only shot 24% from the floor. It seems like every game we've had here, one team doesn't quite make it to 30%. McAlarney has 12 for ND and Harangody had 10.

Wash St was led by Low's 18 and Weaver's 15.

Michigan St came out for warmups while Low was finishing up a radio interview and MSU G Drew Neitzel gave Low a warm greeting as he passed by.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - When Catholics are trying to sell a house, they'll sometimes bury a St. Christopher's medal upside down in the yard. When Notre Dame's trying to change their luck on the basketball floor, they try this...

It's not working so far. Harangody just got stripped from behind trying to dribble end to end. I guess he'll never be a point center.

Notre Dame still trails by 19, and we are now 0-5 trying to get a good game in Denver.

Meanwhile, I'm seeing a lot of this...

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - A few plays ago, Weaver missed a layup, ended up in the WSU cheerleader section and picks up a megaphone in disgust.. He was fouled on the play by McAlarney, and it was ruled intentional.

Weaver hit those free throws, then one more on the ensuing possession, then stole a pass that led to a Low three ball and the Cougars are back up 17 at 52-35.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - After Derrick Low scored four straight to stop the Notre Dame run, the Washington State fans got on their feet and cheered on the defense. It didn't work though. Rob Kurz got a layup and WSU's lead is down to 9 with 10:55 left.

The WSU dance team is on the floor again. It seems like every time I look up, there they are. None of them look like Derrick Low though, so I must just have their image burned into my eyes.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The Irish offense has finally found some life. They are on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 38-31 with 13:49 left.

The ND fans behind me are getting louder now also. They've been sitting on their hands for a while.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - This are getting worse instead of better for ND with the lead now up to 16 and 16:06 left. Washington St is getting just about any shot they want, and Notre Dame is missing about every shot they take.

Notre Dame's points in this half came on a three-pointer by McAlarney, and he was fouled on the shot, but indicitive of how this day is going for the Irish, he clanked the freebie.

Still can't see Stanford-Marquette on our little TV, but we have four views of this brick-fest.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Here's some of the numbers that tell the tale of the first half.

ND shot 25% from the floor, and looked every bit like a team that didn't know how to get a shot off. Washington St shot 13-28 for 46%. Neither team did much from long range, with ND 1-8 and WSU 2-10.

Wazzu won the turnover battle 6-1, but the Irish have a four rebound lead.

It will be interesting to see what adjustments Mike Brey made at halftime. The second half will start here in a few minutes.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - This was expected to be a battle of styles, and the Cougars are imposing their will on the Irish. Notre Dame only has 19 points at the half, the last two of which came from Kurz as the clock wound down. That was right after Low drained a rainbow three with the shot clock expiring.

Washington St is frustrating ND in every way imaginable on the defensive end. Notre Dame leads the rebounding battle, but still isn't getting a lot of second chances. They also have turned it over half a dozen times.

At halftime, we're trying to figure out how to get Stanford and Marquette on our little TV at courtside while the Wash St dance team performs. We've had every CBS channel before so we could watch whatever we wanted, but once the Purdue game ended (and it seemed like it never would), we tried to find Stanford-Marquette, but instead we have the game we are watching on three channels.

We heard that Trent Johnson, the Stanford coach, was ejected.

More stats and stuff in a bit.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Kyle Weaver just made what I'm sure will be the steal of the day, even though we have a little more than 60 minutes of basketball left. Tory Jackson tried to throw a pass, and Weaver jumped and blocked it with his right hand, and ended up cupping the ball and coming down with it.

WSU maintains an 8-point lead with 3:44 left.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Washington State's defense has been smothering during a 10-0 run, which was just stopped by a Harangody layup. Wazzu is getting hands on just about every pass and shot attempt. They are making it very uncomfortable for ND to run their offense.

The Cougars lead 17-9 a the 12-minute timeout, which comes with 8:34 left, so we'll be due for another one real quick.

All five WSU starters are on the scoreboard, led by Low with 6.

Dick Bennett, Tony's dad, is in the house tonight seated about four rows behind the WSU bench.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Notre Dame scored the first five points on a Tory Jackson three and a layup by McAlarney, but WSU responded inside with Baynes and outside with Rochistie.

Derrick Low is on the board as well, as we're tied at 7 at the first timeout.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 06:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The CBS guy in front of me just let the radio folks know that the tip of our first game has been pushed back 10 minutes, so we'll tip at 6:50 ET instead of 6:40.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - With the Purdue-Xavier at the half, I thought I'd take this opportunity to give you a little pregame info on our first game, which is still a half an hour away.

Once again, it looks like a late arriving crowd, although a section of WSU fans is mostly here already.

We already have the starting lineups, and they are the same for each team as they were on Thursday.

Notre Dame is going with
G Tory Jackson, Kyle McAlarney
C Luke Harangody
F Rob Kurz, Zach Hillesland

Washington St counters with
G Derrick Low, Taylor Rochestie
C Aron Baynes
F Kyle Weaver, Robbie Cowgill

Our refs are Mark Whitehead, John Hughes, and TV Teddy Valentine.

The bands and cheerleaders are already in place, and while the Irish and Wazzu band do a good job, we're going to miss this guy today.

I don't know if they do this, but I think the Wazzu band should have a song where they play Kazoos.

I got a chance to meet Xavier AD Mike Bobinksi, who is here as part of his orientation for going on the men's basketball committee next season. Naturally, a fight broke out over the Purdue-Xavier game. No, I'm kidding of course. UCLA AD Dan Guerrero is the official committee rep at this site. Tom O'Connor, I believe, has headed back to Indy, which is where the chair usually stays for the tournament.

Also, the Fonz is in the house. No, not Henry Winkler. LaPhonso Ellis, the former Notre Dame star, is part of the Irish radio team, and the tallest guy on press row, edging out CBS announcer Len Elmore.

ND has broken out some new warmups and unis for this game. The warmup has a clover on the chest, and the uniforms are black. You might be able to see that here.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 06:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Today has been a day of rest at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Well, not for the teams. They had closed practices and press conferences.

At other sites today, we've had riveting basketball. We had exactly the opposite of that here on Thursday, and we're hoping for better tomorrow.

Our first game, which starts at 4:40 Mountain time, features #4 seed Pittsburgh and #5 seed Michigan St. There are a lot of similarities between these teams. Both are pretty physical teams, rebound well, and get good play from their guards.

Pitt happens to be on fire at the moment. The Panthers won the Big East tournament, then stomped Oral Roberts on Thursday.

Michigan St has generally not played well away from home this year, but you wouldn't know that judging from the pounding they gave Temple.

Both teams play essentially three guards, although Michigan State's Raymar Morgan is a little big for a guard. That is the matchup that will likely be key for Michgan St. They need production from the guards, but Morgan in partcular.

Drew Neitzel did not have a particularly good game against Temple, but he wasn't needed. He will be be tomorrow.

Levance Fields of Pitt had a huge game against ORU with 23 points. It's probably not reasonable to expect that again, but if the team has the balance that they had the other night, with five players in double figures, that will be the omen of a good night.

The matchup that might be the toughest for MSU is Sam Young. Young had a quiet 14 against the Eagles, but his size and ability to play inside and out could cause problems for the Spartans.

Say what you want about MSU, they will be prepared. They toughened themselves up by, "beating ourselves up with game film," according to coach Tom Izzo. That has to hurt.

I like the hot Panthers in this game.

Game two will have another Big East team, Notre Dame taking on Washington St from the Pac 10.

WSU shut Winthrop down completely in the second half of their game on Thursday, which is befitting their top 5 ranking in scoring defense.

Notre Dame will provide some challenges. It will be up to Aron Baynes to try to contain Luke Harangody, while Derrick Low and company on the perimeter try to slow down Kyle McAlarney.

Notre Dame averages about 80 points a game, but WSU gives up less than 55 and only gave up 80 once all year.

On the other end, Low needs to find a way to get his offense going before the halftime break. He was 0-5 against Winthrop in the first half, but 4-5 in the second.

Good offense vs good defense. I'll take good defense and the Cougars.

Tonight, I am watching games from the Blake St Tavern, just north of Coors Field in Denver.

There have been a lot of competing interests here today. I've seen shirts from Purdue, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio St, Kansas, UCLA, Georgetown, Oklahoma and Oregon, Everybody has a dog in the fight. Except Ohio St.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Notre Dame cruised through the second half to a 68-50 win over George Mason.

Coach Jim Larranaga gave his senior starters, Will Thomas and Folarin Campbell a curtain call late in the game. They were key players in the Final Four run of two years ago.

Thomas went down swinging, leading the Patriots with 25 points. He was the only Mason player in double figures.

Notre Dame was led by Harangody's 18 and McAlarney's 15.

Barring something noteworthy in the press conference, that's a wrap from Denver for today. Tomorrow, I'll have at least a preview of Saturday's games.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The final timeout of George Mason's season has arrived, and some fans are headed for the exits. with 2:41 to go, ND still leads by 17.

Game times for Saturday have been announced. Notre Dame will face Washington St at 4:40 local time (Mountain), followed by Pitt and Michigan St at roughly 7:10.

Hopefully those games will be closer than what we had today.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - A Mason fan behind me just called Patriot player Jordan Carter, "Eraser." I assume that's because that big 'fro on his head looks like one.

Nine minutes to go, the Irish are still up 16, so Mason is having no luck erasing the lead.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Notre Dame is keeping Mason at bay. The lead is 14 at the second media timeout of the half.

The Green Machine is in the process of setting the record for the fastest version ever played of "Living on a Prayer." It sounds like a 78 RPM version. If you don't know what that is, go ask your mother. I don't want to hear it.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The George Mason pep band played for us at halftime. Their band director, Doc Nix, is a bald, black man with a beard that is about 4" long and sticks straight out about 4" from his chin. He's wearing white pants, a long white coat, a green shirt, gold tie and gold, mirrored sunglasses. He directs with a long cane with a green door-knob shaped handle. "Directs" is putting it loosely. He gets them going, then dances up in front of the band, occasionally waving an arm or pointing at the band to get what he wants. This is a guy who is INTO his job.

I saw Tom O'Connor again asked if he was in fact the director, and he told me that he was, and that the guy has a Ph. D. from Michigan.

He is easily the most flamboyant pep band director I've ever seen. You gotta love a guy who digs his gig this much.

Here's a link to some picks of Doc Nix and the Green Machine Pep Band

Posted by Jerry Palm at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Mason cut four points off of the Irish lead going into the break and now trail 33-21. Poor shooting has hurt them, like it has all of the lower seeds here today. GMU is 9-27 for 33%, while the Irish are at 12-29 for 41%. Notre Dame has four more three pointers though.

Despite this little run, I haven't seen anything from the Patriots to lead me to believe this will be anything but the fourth blowout of the day.

It also looks like this halftime period will be devoid of entertainment. That's a shame, because the game isn't holding up its end of the bargain.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - At the 6:40 mark of the first half, the Irish have a 16-point lead over Mason. At one point in this half, GMU missed six straight shots.

Later, Harangody took a couple of bad shots and was chastising himself for it coming back down the floor.

Larranaga has a loud, piercing whistle, and when he does it, every guy in yellow turns to the bench to see the play he's calling.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Another game, another blowout. George Mason can't buy a bucket, and Notre Dame has three pointers from five different guys. The Irish are, by my count, in the middle of a 17-0 run and lead 23-7 with 11:11 left in the first half.

The ND Leprechaun is different than the guy I saw during football season.

Mason's crowd behind me doesn't look too happy.

Most coaches during full timeouts don't sit, or if they do, they sit on the same chair as the team. Jim Larranaga sits on a mini bar stool (for, I presume, use at a hotel mini bar).

Posted by Jerry Palm at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The Irish have built an early 11-7 lead with five points from Harangody and three each from Jackson and McAlarney.

Will Thomas is holding his own against Harangody with four points. He's also had a quick rest already, but the offense looks like its designed to go through him.

On the Mason bench, Darryl Monroe, a senior sitting out this year with an injury, was telling one of his teammates that the back door is open on ND. We'll see if they go there now.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Notre Dame and George Mason are next. Tom O'Connor has taken off his committee chairman hat and put on his athletic director hat and is sitting in the stands behind me with the other Mason fans. I asked him if he was nervous about the game and he said, "No, I can't do anything about it anyway."

This is our last chance for a good game here. We've had three blowouts, so anything competitive would be nice.

The starters for Notre Dame are Kyle McAlarney and Tory Jackson at Guard, Zach Hillesland and Rob Kurz at forward, and center Luke Harangody.

Mason starts Dre Smith and John Vaughan in the back court, with Louis Birdsong, Folarin Campbell and Will Thomas up front.

Our refs are Scott Thornely, john Hughes and Antonio Petty.

We'll be underway in a few minutes.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - I'm not sure I ever witnessed a worse half of basketball in the NCAA tournament that what Winthrop just gave us. How bad were they? Let us count the ways.

The Eagles shot 4-24 from the floor, for 16.7%. They were 2-11 from long range, both in the last two minutes, which elicited cheers of sympathy from all in attendance. They were even 1-6 from the line.

Taj McCullough took 14 first half shots, but only got off three in the second. Chris Gaynor was 2-8. Michael Jenkins, the team's leading scorer on the season, was 1-9.

Washington St was led by Aron Baynes 19. Derrick Low hit 4-5 in the second half and finished with 11.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Winthrop finally hit a couple of shots to finish with an 11 point half in a 71-40 loss.

Meanwhile, the Brands, Andy Katz and I are crowded around a 12" TV with an hit-and-miss feed watching Belmont try to knock off Duke.

Back with stats in a minute.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - With 3:38 to go, Winthrop is still sitting on five points for the half. You can see the frustration and confusion on their faces. They have no idea what's happening to them.

They are 2-19 from the floor this half.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The Eagles finally scored with 13:15 to go on a McCullough dunk in transition, but other than that, it's been hard for them to even draw iron. Wazzu leads 54-33 with 7:35 to go. That's four points for the entire half for Winthrop.

It's been so bad that after an intentional foul on Weaver (not sure why, never got replay) McCullough bricked the freebies so badly that the second one almost airballed.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Brand is monitoring the other games next to me, which have suddenly become exciting.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Washington St has scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 36-29 lead. WSU started with what worked so well in the first half, a pass inside to Baynes for a layup. Cowgill added a jumper, and Low got on the board with his first three of the night. That caused Randy Peele to call timeout.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - We're all tied up at 29 at the half in Denver.

Taj McCullough had a monster half with 15 points on 7-14 shooting. Chris Gaynor had three long balls to give him 9. The rest of the team had four.

For Wazzu, it was all Kyle Weaver with 12 and Aron Baynes with 10. Derrick Low is lying low. He missed all five of his first half shots.

We are being entertained by the WSU dance team at halftime. As dance teams go, it's pretty small. There are only six girls. Maybe it's not the entire team.

Winthrop's dance team went out after that, and they have something I've never seen - a guy.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - This game has been dominated by three guys so far. Washington St has 10 points from Kyle Weaver and eight from Aron Baynes, mostly on dunks. Winthrop is being carried by Taj McCullough with 10 as well. WSU leads at the last timeout of the half 23-21.

I apologize for any errors in the previous paragraph. The Washington St cheerleaders just went flying past.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - We have our first "Airball!" chant of the day. Kyle Weaver of WSU just missed everything right before the timeout.

Taj Mccullough has six points to pace the Eagles to a 10-8 lead at the second timeout.

Supposedly, Dick Bennett, former Wisconsin coach and father of WSU coach Tony, is in the house, but we haven't found him yet.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - There hasn't been much scoring so far. Washington St is up 4-2 at the first timeout.

Cougar fans jumped out of their seats early when the team forced a shot clock violation. It's been tough going for both teams trying to get good looks at the basket.

The Eagle mascot is pretty limber and active for a guy in a big wool costume with a fiberglass head.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - We have half the crowd that we had for the morning sessions, although ND fans may not be here yet. Those that are hear are fired up for this game, especially the group of Winthrop backers behind me, which has already caught the attention of the CBS cameraman in front of me.

Our refs for tonight are Jeff Clark, Randy Heimerman and TV himself, Teddy Valentine.

The Eagle mascot wears a jersey with the name "Big Stuff"

The Cougar mascot has no name on his jersey, but neither does the players for WSU.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The game is still half an hour away, but the starting lineups are out for our first game tonight between Winthrop, the Big South champion, and Washington St of the Pac 10.

Winthrop starts three seniors, guards Chris Gaynor and Michael Jenkins, and forward Taj McCullough, along with sophomore forward Mantoris Robinson and freshman C Charles Corbin. The Eagles are coached by Randy Peele, who took over for Gregg Marshall, who left for Wichita St.

Wazzu starts three seniors as well, Robbie Cowgill (how much do you want to bet the kids in his neighborhood called him "cowgirl"), forward Kyle Weaver, and guard Derrick Low, from Hawai'i. The other starters are juniors Taylor Rochestie at guard and C Aron Baynes.

As Winthrop took the floor to warm up, the smattering of Eagle fans behind me gave them a rousing cheer. Washington St has twice as many fans here as Winthrop does at the moment, which, by my math, makes it two smatterings. The building is virtually empty 30 minutes before the tip.

The Winthrop band is here and playing. They are sporting basketball jerseys over white t-shirts, and goofy maroon and yellow hats varying from court jester types to cat-in-the-hat top hats.

Washington State's band has yet to make an appearance, although I assume they will because they do the National Anthem.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 06:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - We couldn't get through the last two minutes without Jamie Dixon exhausting all of his timeouts, but his team advances with a comfortable 82-63 win over Oral Roberts. The Panthers will play Michigan St on Saturday.

Pitt was led in scoring by Levance Fields with 23, 16 of which came in the first half. Sam Young added 14 for the Panthers.

Oral Roberts leading scorer was Robert Jarvis with 16. Three other players were in double figures for the Golden Eagles.

If they players and coaches have anything interesting to say, I'll have that later. Failing that, I'll be back tonight with Washington St and Winthrop, followed by Notre Dame and George Mason.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 05:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Pitt still has most of tits starters in even though it leads by 21 with 3:30 left, and Jamie Dixon has just called another timeout.

I'm not really sure what his point is, but obviously, he feels they need to keep working. Still, I would have thought that with a tougher opponent coming in two days, he'd take the opportunity to rest some guys.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Dixon keeps calling timeout. I'm not sure what it is he doesn't like. Pitt's still up 20 at the eight minute timeout.

Pitt's cheerleaders need to work on some variety. Every cheer is a variation of "let's go Pitt." Of particular annoyance is the one that goes "LEEEEEEETS GOOOOOOOOOO PIIIIIIIIIIIIIT! lets-go-pitt-lets-go-pitt-lets-go-pitt!" Maybe it's just me. After all, I saw them for four straight days last week.

I just saw the Bryce Drew shot on the monitor next to me, which has the Purdue-Baylor game on. That is not a coincidence. Bryce's brother Scott coaches Baylor and was an assistant on that team. His Dad, Homer, the coach at Valpo was shown in the stands.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - It's more of the same here in Denver as Pitt still leads 61-37 with 14 minutes left.

As expected, the place is starting to empty out. Michigan St fans have seen enough. They'll probably have nightmares tonight.

There are three guys in the stands behind the Pitt band with t-shirts on that spell P-I-Pi. If they had one more, they could have spelled Pitt.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 04:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Jamie Dixon reached deep into his bench at the end of the first half for Gary McGhee, a freshman center from Anderson, Indiana (my wife's home town). He didn't play a minute at the Big East tournament last week.

He's on the board here though with a free throw.

Levance Fields has 16 to lead Pitt, and Moses Ehambe is doing all he can for Oral with 10.

I think the uninterested parties are on their way to a late lunch. It'll be a lot emptier in here for the second half.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Back to back threes by Ronald Ramon have help Pitt extend the lead to 39-18. I may beat Andy to declaring a winner this time, but that doesn't mean I'm leaving, even to watch Purdue.

Pitt is just having their way with the Eagles at both ends of the floor.

They just announced the attendance at 19,010. I thought that many people would breathe louder than they did in the first game.

The place is a little louder for game two, if only because Pitt's band is loud.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 03:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The Golden Eagles have gone cold and Pitt is out to a 12 point lead, 25-13. Fields hit a jumper and got fouled before the break, so he'll have a chance for a three point play.

ORU is only 4-17 from the floor so far, but the cheerleaders don't care. They're all very happy to be here. They do an ORU cheer where they make an O with their arms, and a U, but the thing in between doesn't look like much of an R. It looks more like a karate chop.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Robert Jarvis put Oral Roberts up three with a long three pointer right in front of us, but Fields answered that with a three of his own and a layup to put Pitt up 2 at the 12-minute timeout.

Both teams brought a full compliment of cheerleaders to the game. In the first game, it looked like MSU only brought half of theirs.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 03:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - That's two three pointers to one. Ehambe has two threes, one from pretty far out for the Golden Eagles. Sam Young answered the first one for Pitt, but Fields and Ramon have missed. So, it's 6-3 ORU at the first timeout.

The crowd is down some for this game because some of the Spartan fans are gone.

I have some ORU fans behind me, and they're kind of loud. Anything would be more than the last game.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - That's what it says on the back of one of the shirts worn by a Pitt manager. It has been so far for the Big East tournament champion and for the Summit league champs, Oral Roberts.

We've been handed the lineups for game two. so here they are.

Oral is going with Adam Liberty and Moses Ehambe at guard. Yemi, Ogunoye and Marcus Lewis at forward, and center Shawn King.

Pitt starts guards Levance Fields and Keith Benjamin, forwards Ronald Ramon, who's really a guard, and Sam Young, and DeJuan Blair at center.

Our officials are Dick Cartmell, Don Dailey and Bert Smith.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Heeding the words of their coach, MSU finished the job, winning 72-61. Press row must be on fire as everyone is trying to get out and watch the end of Xavier and Georgia.

Temple didn't quit, but just never found an answer for Michigan state's defense. Late in the game, after an over-and-back call on MSU, Inge comes over by us to pass the ball in, claps and says, "we still got life!" They didn't, but you have to like that optimism.

With 44 second to go, Michigan St fan finally get on their feet to salute the Spartans. Or maybe they were just stretching. It was hard to tell.

Izzo is doing the requisite CBS interview, while Drew Naymick is taking care of the folks at Westwood one.

Meanwhile, Pitt and Oral Roberts are warming up for game two. Back with that in a bit.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Drew Naymick, in an effort to draw a foul, made on of the worst flops of all time. He threw himself onto the floor face first and body surfed about five feet. Then, he had the gall to get up and complain. The refs got a good kick out of that.

I'm getting hungry already and I have another game to go. Fortunately, pretzels are the snack du moment in the press room.

Temple has cut the lead to 10 with 3:21 left on four straight run outs because MSU is just going through the motions on offense (as opposed to running a motion offense). Izzo just called a timeout to have a four-letter word with his charges on finishing the game.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St seems to have sucked the will out of Temple as they continue to lead 52-38. The Owls haven't quit, but they keep taking one step forward and two steps back.

Temple is now zone pressing full court, but Michigan St is breaking it with ease.

The teams for the next game have left the arena to go get dressed.

Andy Katz just got up and said, "I'm projecting a winner. I'm going to watch Georgia and Xavier in the press room." We may see a lot of that.

The Temple cheerleader girls are still positive and perky. The guys look like they have been watching the game. Maybe the want to go watch Georgia and Xavier also.

The crowd muttered when the Georgia-Xavier score was announced (now tied at 49). I don't think I've ever seen 18,000 more disinterested people at a basketball game. It's so quiet that I can hear almost everything the refs say, and even the coaches from across the way.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St has scored the first seven points of the half to run their lead to 16, and Temple was forced to call timeout.

Dionte Christmas is just trying to do too much. He's forced a shot that was an airball, then forced a pass that turned into points at the other end.

Temple's owl mascot has a strange looking head. It's flat, and I always thought owls had round heads. It has bright yellow eyes and a silver beak. It's like an alien owl.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St leads Temple 35-26 at the half. After struggling through most of the first part of the half, MSU finally got hot with about seven minutes to go.

Drew Neitzel has three points, which he picked up on a long ball with 51 seconds left. However, he committed his second foul with 0.8 seconds left, which earned him a lecture from coach Tom Izzo (looking sharp with his electric purple tie).

Temple could build one with the bricks they layed in ths first half. They shot 8-27 for just short of 30%, and few of those 19 misses were close. Christmas and Tyndale both airballed threes and then complained about being fouled. Christmas was right. Not so sure about Tyndale. Those numbers would have been a lot worse, but Ryan Brooks hit three baskets for eight points late, and he leads the Owls with 10. Christmas hasn't scored and Tyndale only has 2.

Nine different players scored for the Spartans, led by six each from Kalin Lucas and Raymar Morgan. MSU backdoored the Owls for layups or dunks three times as Temple lost guys on defense. That play seems to be there whenever MSU wants it.

I don't want to harp on this, but this crowd would fit in well in a library. Even the Spartan fans aren't too geeked up. The place is filling up though.

In the press area, folks are gathered around the TV watching Georgia leading Xavier. The Temple folks were not too happy, with one guy in particular repeating, "they better wake up."

Posted by Jerry Palm at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Temple is now shooting below 25%, which isn't going to get it done if it expects to pull this upset. MSU has used a 13-2 run to go ahead 28-17 with 3:41 left.

Dionte Christmas got hacked on a three-point attempt that wasn't called. However, when the ball sailed out of bounds without hitting anything, the MSU fans didn't even bother with the airball chant. That's how dead this crowd is.

Christmas has both of Temple's fouls and hasn't scored. Tyndale finally got on the board with 5:32 left, and that's the Owls' 2 points in this Spartan run.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St leads 17-15 at the 8-minute timeout as the stars for each team continue to struggle. Morgan's four points is all there is. Neitzel, Christmas and Tyndale still have nothing.

Lavoy Allen and Sergio Olmos have stepped up for Temple, with 9 of their 15.

Michigan State's offense is spread out with five guys in the books, besides Morgan.

Temple's offense seems to be happy with a lot of dribbling and not much passing. MSU is getting much better ball movement and better shots, but they aren't falling.

The Owls are doing a good job keeping MSU off the glass though. All things considered, Temple has to be happy with where they are.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St has been pretty physical with their defense against Temple, and it seems to be causing problems for Christmas and Tyndale.

The Owls 7-footer, Olmos, has been pretty aggressive and has four points, but he's out for the moment. As soon as he went out, the Spartans got their first put back of the game.

On the floor now for Temple is 5'8" Chris Clark, who looks some of the MSU front line guys right in the navel.

It's been a pretty clean game so far. Only two fouls have been called, both on MSU.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The stars of the respective teams in this game are not off to a scintillating start. Raymar Morgan posted up for the first basket of the game, but walked in transition, giving away a dunk. Neitzel has missed his first two threes also.

For Temple, Christmas has taken one shot and it was forced. Tyndale hasn't put it up yet, but Temple leads 7-6.

MSU has three unforced turnovers, a trend that must stop.

The arena is maybe half full, and the crowd isn't really into it yet.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - I made my way up to the concourse to see what sort of food choices I have if I get the munchies during the game. One thing I remember from last year is that the quality of the food the media gets is hit and miss, and they won't be slopping us pigs until after the first two games.

There are a lot of choices, but beer isn't one of them. No alcohol is sold at NCAA tournament games, so the mojito stands are also closed.

They have the usual stadium fare; hot dogs, pizza, popcorn, etc. The hot dogs are $4.50 for a little one and $6.75 for a footlong. Pizza is six bucks a slice.

Also, the pop being sold is Pepsi, natch, so while those of us in the media are given Dasani cups (Coke's water brand), the fans are all holding Pepsi cups.

They also have things like fish and chips, BBQ turkey sandwich, and my favorite, sausage on a stick. I think all food should be sold on sticks. Pudding on a stick. Eh, that idea still needs some work.

They also have a cheesesteak stand, but one of the things they sell is chicken cheesesteaks. I think I saw a pack of Temple fans picketing.

Michigan St just took the floor led by a cheerleader carrying a big Spartan flag that was so dirty, it looked like it had been vandalized. You would think a school like MSU could get a new flag once in a while, or at least wash the current one.

Hank Nichols seat has been abducted by a woman who is a friend of the Brands. I warned her that some coach might accost her thinking she was in charge of the officials, but she says she's ready. I think she'd give what for if they tried it.

The National Anthem was performed by the Michigan St pep band, under the direction of John Madden. Instead of cymbal crashes, he just yells, "BOOM!"

Posted by Jerry Palm at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - It's 9:30 AM local time, and the sound of the bouncing ball is ringing through the Pepsi Center in Denver, even though many of us are still not fully caffeinated. OK, mostly I'm talking about me.

Michigan St and Temple are warming up for the first game and the crowd is starting to file in. The bands are still setting up, so it's relatively quiet.

I'll be curious to see what kind of crowd we have. There isn't a team here that is anywhere near local. Oral Roberts is the only team that traveled less than 600 miles to get here, and Washington St is the only team for which this site is the closest. Notre Dame obviously has fans everywhere, they tend to show up more for football than hoops.

My seat, in case you are looking for me on TV, is basically right at center court behind Mike Montgomery, the former Stanford coach, who is doing radio for Westwood One. To my left is the CBS crew of Gus Johnson and Len Elmore.

My seat is so good that I'm closer to center court than Andy Katz, who has a seat directly to my right. In fact, press row is a pretty tight squeeze. Andy may have to sit in my lap. Or vice versa. He's bigger than me.

To my left is Hank Nichols, who will be retiring as the National Coordinator of Men's Basketball Officials from the NCAA at the end of this tournament. As a former ref, I'm pretty excited to be sitting by him. Next to him is a seat for Myles Brand, the Grand Poobah of the NCAA (possibly not his real title, but I'm too lazy to look it up).

Meanwhile, I have just been handed the starting lineups for game one.

Michigan St will start Kalin Lucas and Drew Neitzel at guard, forwards Raymar Morgan and Goran Suton, and C Drew Naymick.

For the Owls, they start guards Luis Guzman and Dionte Christmas, forwards Mark Tyndale and Lavoy Allen, and center Sergio Olmos.

Our officials are Mark Whitehead, Ken Ditty and Michael Eades.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stop me if you've heard this one before -- the internet connection is down at the NCAA tournament site in Denver.

Last year St Louis had significant internet connectivity issues as well.

Then, on top of that, I had trouble connecting back in my hotel room, although you can tell by the fact that this is posted that I got that worked out. Not so sure about the arena.

The Pepsi Center seems like a nice place although its a bit strange to be drinking Coke here. Coke is one of the corporate partners of the NCAA. I wonder if they will give the building another name for the duration of our stay.

Here is a little preview of what we will see here tomorrow.

Continue reading "NCAA Tournament Preview: Denver" »

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)