March Madness Minutes: Looking toward Sunday

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Diane Pucin, our sports media columnist, on Friday watched (and kept notes on) the NCAA tournament like any March Madness maniac. Here is her (almost) minute-by-minute report.

9:55 p.m PDT -- After such a long day of hoops, if you have the brain power left to look to Sunday’s games, here they are (plus the times).

In the Midwest Regional, No. 1 Louisville versus No. 9 Siena, in Dayton, 2:20 p.m; No. 12 seed Arizona versus No. 13 Cleveland State in Miami, 11:40 a.m.; No. 3 Kansas versus No. 11 Dayton in Minneapolis at 11:30 a.m.; No. 2 Michigan State versus No. 10 USC, 2 p.m. in Minneapolis.

In the South Regional, No. 3 Syracuse versus No. 6 Arizona State in Miami, 9:10 a.m.

In the West Regional, No. 3 Missouri versus No. 6 Marquette in Boise at 1:50 p.m.

In the East Regional, No. 1 Pittsburgh versus No. 8 Oklahoma State in Dayton, 11:50 a.m.; No. 4 Xavier versus No. 12 Wisconsin in Boise, 11:20 a.m.

And that’s all for now, For Saturday’s list of games, and how President Obama is doing on his bracket, and the rest of what happened on Friday, click on the ‘read more’ below.

9:35 p.m. PDT -- Looks like President Obama missed on 13 of the first 32 games and he was not helped by the Pac-10 going 5-1 when he predicted 1-5.

After a very slow start to the final four games of the first round, wow, what a finish. One double overtime game (Siena wins), one overtime game (Wisconsin wins).

And now for Saturday. In the East Regional No. 6 UCLA kicks off the action at 10:05 a.m. against No. 3 Villanova in Philadelphia; and No. 7 seed Texas plays gainst No. 2 Duke in Greensboro at 5:15 p.m.

In the South Regional Saturday games, No. 1 seed North Carolina plays No. 8 LSU in Greensboro at 2:45 p.m. and No. 12 Western Kentucky plays No. 4 Gonzaga at 5:10 p.m. in Portland.

In the West Regional, No. 1 Connecticut plays No. 8 Texas A&M at 12:35 p.m. in Philadelphia; No. 4 Washington plays No. 5 Purdue at 2:40 p.m. in Portland; and No. 2 Memphis plays No. 10 Maryland at 12:20 p.m. in Kansas City.

9:20 p.m. PDT -- Six-foot Siena guard Ronald Moore just stepped back and made an NBA-length three with four seconds left to put his Saints up 74-72 over Ohio State. There’s 3.9 seconds left in the second overtime. Moore made a three with 2.5 seconds left in the first overtime to tie. And Ohio State misses. The Saints are my second-favorite team today (Marquette still rules). OK, USC’s win was pretty cool too.

9:16 p.m. PDT -- Siena made a free throw, is up 75-74, 35 seconds left in second overtime, timeout. But we’ve left Dayton and our head is spinning, spinning, to Boise where Florida State has two seconds and 94 feet to go, the play doesn’t work and Wisconsin wins 61-59 for the second No. 12 seed to beat a No. 5 tonight. Not a good evening for the ACC because Wake Forest was upset as well.

9:14 p.m. PDT -- Not a shot clock violation for Siena we think. But we’ve switched back to Boise where Hughes just scored a layup and gets fouled with two seconds left. With the free throw, 12th-seeded Wisconsin is up 61-59 over No. 5 Florida State. Two seconds left. Time out.

9:13 p.m. PDT -- Why did Bo Ryan just call timeout when Wisconsin had Florida State on its heels? Badgers down one with 7.7 seconds left. And back in Dayton, oh ack, Siena just had a shot clock violation with the score tied 68-68 with 1:40 left.

9:06 p.m. PDT -- Watching Jeffrey Hasbrouck in his wheelchair raising his arms as much as he can while cheering on his son’s Siena Saints, sorry Ohio State fans, that’s just too touching to not root for Siena, just for now. Saints up 66-65 with 3:43 in double overtime. And Toney Douglas just took the starch out of Wisconsin, a dead-eye three to put Florida State up by three in overtime.

9:02 p.m. PDT -- By the way, 13th-seeded Cleveland State upset fourth-seeded Wake Forest 84-69. So what, though. Siena’s three with four seconds left means double overtime with the Saints and Ohio State.

9:00 p.m. PDT -- Darn it, Siena turned it over ... wait, we’re back in Boise, and overtime with Florida State and Wisconsin. Back to Dayton, Ohio State’s up 63-62, 9.1 seconds left, timeout Siena, their band is playing ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ but the Buckeyes have the ball.

8:56 p.m. PDT -- Siena up on, 62-61, with 1:40 left in overtime. Jason Bohannon made a, oh, 40-footer, to give Wisconsin a 52-50 lead over Florida State with 36.6 seconds left. Toney Douglas is at the foul line for Florida State though, two shots to tie. He does.

8:53 p.m. PDT -- Somehow Wisconsin has scored 49 points which seems impossible, and is only a point behind Florida State and has the ball ... but we’ve switched back to the Siena-Ohio State game where Siena is up a point in overtime. Oops, not any more. Ohio State makes two free throws and is up 61-60.

8:49 p.m. PDT -- Siena’s Kenny Hasbrouck made a free throw to tie the game, Ohio State missed a couple of shots and it’s overtime in Dayton. Hasbrouck’s father, Jeffrey, attends almost every game in a wheelchair because he is disabled with multiple sclerosis. How can you not root for Kenny and Jeffrey?

8:45 p.m. PDT -- Siena’s just given this last group of games a shot of adrenalin. Big three-pointer by the Saints, now down, 56-55, 30 seconds to go.

8:24 p.m. PDT -- Maybe it was a bit hasty to wish for the demise of Wisconsin and Florida State. There’s some life in this game now. Not a lot of scoring mind you, but life. Wisconsin’s gone ahead, 37-35.

8:13 p.m. PDT -- This Wisconsin-Florida State game? Make it stop. Now, please.

7:46 p.m. PDT -- Arizona took a lot of grief for its at-large NCAA invite, Wisconsin not so much. But if St. Mary’s wants to hold a grudge it sure looks like the Badgers should be the ones at whom to glare. Does Wisconsin have an offense? Florida State’s 31-19 halftime lead isn’t because the Seminoles play lockdown defense, unless lockdown defense means letting the Badgers shoot 10 three-pointers because the Badgers were only able to make one of them.

7:38 p.m. PDT -- Can’t stop thinking about the USC win, and besides the standout play of forwards Taj Gibson and DeMar DeRozan, guard Daniel Hackett played smart and under control almost always, an assessment made by some USC fans, who are correct. That steadiness down the stretch seemed to take away Boston College’s desire to keep fighting at the end.

7:26 p.m. PDT -- Since 13th-seeded Cleveland State is leading No. 4 Wake Forest, 29-14, right now, here’s a bit of Cleveland State history. This is only the second NCAA appearance for the Vikings. The first came in 1986 and they made it to the Sweet 16 by upsetting a Bob Knight-coached Indiana team in ithe opener and then St. Joseph’s in the second round. Navy’s David Robinson scored a last-second basket to eliminate the Vikings, 71-70.

7:13 p.m. PDT -- Not sure why Channel 2 is choosing this Florida State-Wisconsin game. There are no games with regional interest so wouldn’t it make sense to be giving us Michigan State-Robert Morris since the winner will play USC? I know, Channel 2 couldn’t know in advance USC would win, but of the four choices, it seems like a safe bet could have been made to give us USC’s possible opponent. And Michigan State is only up by one point, 19-18. Time to fire up the March Madness On Demand portion of NCAA.com and demand Michigan State-Robert Morris.

7:09 p.m. PDT -- Bob Wenzel just said ‘both teams are playing very, very solid defense,’ in regard to the Wisconsin-Florida State game, in which Wisconsin leads, 8-4, with 13:50 left in the first half. Um, not so much. Both teams have very, very unsolid offenses.

7:04 p.m. PDT -- Before these last games really get cranked up, can I get cranky about the commercials? The Taco Bell one with the guy dressed as a pregnant woman to hide three different kinds of nachos so he can sneak them into the game? Disgusting. Really, that makes nachos appealing? And the one with the baby talking some kind of hip cell phone/text messaging language? Don’t understand the point, can’t remember what product is being advertised.

6:51 p.m. PDT -- Last four games of the first round to begin soon and I’m strangely uninterested in any of them. Something will happen, I hope. A close game, an upset, but whether No. 8 Ohio State or No. 9 Siena wins, just doesn’t seem to matter. No. 15 Robert Morris just can’t beat No. 2 Michigan State, back to don’t much care about No. 5 Florida State and No. 12 Wisconsin, but maybe No. 13 Cleveland State could have some fun with No. 4 Wake Forest.

And the USC postgame news conference is on ESPNews right now.

6:20 p.m. PDT -- So the Pac-10 has gone 5-1 in the first round now that USC has finished off Boston College, 72-55, and Arizona dispatched Utah, 84-71. USC and Arizona are official upset winners. UCLA might as well have been as many experts picked the Bruins to be beaten by Virginia Commonwealth. Washington was favored. Cal, seeded No. 7 in the West, was the only Pac-10 team that lost. President Obama may want to reevaluate that comment about the conference being weak. Perhaps a cabinet post devoted to parsing the strengths of the Pac-10 is in order? Of course, by Monday maybe the president will look brilliant. But couldn’t you see USC beating Michigan State? And, yes, UCLA is getting Villanova in Philadelphia, but Villanova likes to play uptempo with small guards and not much size and the Bruins might just like that pace themselves.

6:15 p.m. PDT -- Louisville finished off Morehead State, 74-54, so it’s official -- No. 16 seeds are 0-100 in history. Xavier is well on its way to beating Portland State, ahead 71-53 with less than four minutes to go in Boise. And 12th-seeded Arizona is pounding Utah, 80-69. Second-guessers of Arizona can be quiet now.

6:05 p.m. PDT -- ‘USC can do no wrong.’ That’s what Gus Johnson just said on CBS. Has anyone said that about the Trojans all year? I think not. Taj Gibson is 10 for 10 from the field, USC is up 60-48, 5:04 left.5:58 p.m. PDT -- When a basketball team starts to get it, whatever it is -- defense, cutting to the basket, playing uptempo at times, understanding that Taj Gibson should touch the ball a lot, DeMar DeRozan should get a little freedom -- it can become dangerous. Right now USC seems quite dangerous. And has gotten lots of it.

5:44 p.m. PDT -- How is it DeMar DeRozan wasn’t a break out star this year? Goodness he has some great athletic skills and the kind of confidence that is letting him be in his first NCAA tournament game and think he should make outstanding plays every time he has the ball. Which is a good way to make outstanding plays. If USC keeps winning, DeRozan is going to be a big star by next week.

5:40 p.m. PDT -- This USC-Boston College game certainly has the feel right now of a down-to-the-wire game which probably guarantees the Eagles are going to run off like 20 straight points.

5:33 p.m. PDT -- There was a nice inbounds play, a slam dunk for USC’s Taj Gibson to tie the game 37-37 with Boston College. And what a yell from Gibson. But now Gibson has his third foul and that’s dangerous for the Trojans. Gibson needs to be careful. Very careful

5:15 p.m. PDT -- New favorite play of the day -- Portland State’s Jeremiah Dominguez, all 5-feet-6 inches of him, just split two Xavier players for a layup, got fouled, made the free throw. Not that you could see him. He’s too small. And then his teammate Andre Murray (from Los Angeles) hit a three to cut Xavier’s lead to 42-35 at halftime.

5:11 p.m. PDT -- And another No. 16 seed is hanging in there I see. Morehead State only down two to Louisville at halftime? Maybe Morehead did get an advantage by having the play-in game on the same court on which they’re trying to not become the 100th straight 16th seed to lose to No. 1.

5:08 p.m. PDT -- I have a USC rooter downstairs. His screams of horror at DeMar DeRozan’s missed layup a moment ago has sent our wonderful dog Dillon running for cover. And the comment, ‘The shot clock was off so you wonder what Daniel Hackett was thinking,’ caused a loud response from said fan ... ‘Thinking? You think he was thinking?’

Not a good finish to the half for the Trojans, down 34-30.

5:03 p.m. PDT -- Oh goodness, Marcus Johnson, missed the flashy dunk for the Trojans and then committed a foul too? There it is again -- a gregarious 9-0 Trojans run, followed by boneheaded moments. USC should be up by 10, but it’s 29-27 right now. Oh, yeah, and the CBS promo reminds me, you who aren’t watching ‘Amazing Race’ are missing the best reality show on television.

4:57 p.m. PDT -- The March Madness On Demand service through NCAA.com is working nicely right now. I can click on to the Xavier-Portland State game just in time to see the Musketeers hit a three and go up 29-25. Xavier is a third seed and was sent to play Portland State in Boise, a bit of an unfair trip, it seems, for the higher seed. This is certainly a Portland State crowd and Boise is a little more Big Sky country than Atlantic 10 country. But back to the feed. It’s smooth, no jerky pictures or lost feed so far.

4:53 p.m. PDT -- USC can be so sloppy with the ball sometimes. But then Taj Gibson makes such a nice interior pass. And Dwight Lewis makes another to Gibson who makes the layup and gets a free throw so now USC takes the lead again, 25-23, and it’s beautiful choreography for the Trojans. But it’s almost certain they’ll have that clumsy spell again. However, the Minneapolis announcing crew does now seem to know how to pronounce ‘DeRozan.’

4:47 p.m. PDT -- All that USC energy? Stop it! Maybe then you’ll stop missing layups. Missed layup, Boston College three on the break, boom, Boston College up 23-18.

4:34 p.m. PDT -- ‘Ohhhh!’ That’s the sound USC likes to hear from the crowd. It’s lately been coming because of a DeMar DeRozan dunk and it just happened again. Trojans are up 12-9 and seem quite energetic. But Gus Johnson needs to pronounce DeRozan correctly because he may be saying it often. Gibson makes it 14-9.

4:29 p.m. PDT -- Gus Johnson and Len Elmore the broadcast team for USC and Boston College, an enjoyable pair. Except Gus just called DeMar DeRozan, DeMar DeRosanne, like Rosanne Barr.

4:13 p.m. PDT -- We’ll get a taste of Louisville against Morehead State in Dayton before the USC-Boston College game comes on. Morehead State won a play-in game on this same Dayton floor. And Morehead scored first! Another 16 seed has a lead. Anyway, hopped in the car for an errand and had the pre-game USC radio show on. Rory Markas is a great guy, nice man but he started the pre-game show by saying, ‘This is a big game for both teams.’ Well, yeah. Since the loser’s season IS OVER.

4:10 p.m. PDT -- To recap Friday’s first round of games:

No. 3 Syracuse 59, No. 14 Stephen F. Austin 44
No. 8 Oklahoma State 77, No. 9 Tennessee 75
No. 6 Marquette 58, No. 11 Utah State 57
No. 3 Kansas 84, No. 14 North Dakota State 74
No. 6 Arizona State 66, No. 11 Temple, 57
No. 1 Pittsburgh 72, No. 16 East Tennessee State 62
No. 11 Dayton 68, No. 6 West Virginia 60
No. 3 Missouri 78, No. 14 Cornell 59.

Still to come: No. Louisville vs. No. 16 Morehead State; No. 5 Utah vs. No. 12 Arizona; No. 7 Boston College vs. No. 10 USC; No. 4 Xavier vs. No. 13 Portland State; No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Siena; No. 4 Wake Forest vs. No. 13 Cleveland State; No. 2 Michigan State vs. No. 15 Robert Morris; No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 12 Wisconsin.

And for what it’s worth, the Big 12 is 6-0 so far.

2:19 p.m. PDT -- Top-seeded Pittsburgh beats No. 16 East Tennessee State 72-62, the only double digit lead of the game for the Panthers, in Dayton. If it seemed as if there were some empty seats at the Dayton Arena it might be because people in town were watching 11th-seeded Dayton upset sixth-seeded West Virginia 68-60 in Minneapolis.

And so ends the first half of today’s marathon. Loved the coaching job of Oklahoma State’s Travis Ford, the offensive skills of Temple’s Dionte Christmas, the fearless rebounding of the East Tennessee State Buccaneers and Marquette’s win even if I’m pretty sure my Golden Eagles won’t go much further. Stay tuned for the start of the second half -- in about 90 minutes.

2:10 p.m. PDT -- OK, Pitt will win but the Panthers don’t look like winners. East Tennessee State has 19 offensive rebounds so far in this game. That’s the team playing harder and with more ‘want’ in its minds. But the Buccaneers have missed half their free throws, 11 of 22. That will make sleeping well really hard for this 16th-seeded team that could have made history. Instead, the record of 16th-seeded teams in the NCAA men’s tournament is 0-99.

2:02 p.m. PDT -- Um, nevermind. East Tennessee isn’t done yet. Pitt 59-57 and Panthers Coach Jamie Dixon is wiping his brow.

1:55 p.m. PDT -- Well, it looks like that first win by a 16th-seeded team isn’t going to happen. So we’ll offer you this, thanks to the NBA’s Mike Wade. These are the teams with the most players on NBA rosters:

Duke (14)
UConn (12)
UCLA (12)
Kansas (11)
North Carolina (11)
Arizona (9)
Florida (9)
Georgia tech (9)
Kentucky (9)
Michigan State (8)
Texas (8)

1:48 p.m. PDT -- East Tennessee State is coached by Murry Bartow, son of Gene Bartow, former coach of UCLA. So, Bruins fans, you have a real rooting interest here now. The 16th-seeded Buccaneers are still only down two to Pitt, 46-44, with 9:36 left.

1:40 p.m. PDT -- OK, OK, we had to watch every second of Arizona State’s 66-57 win over Temple. Please can we have some East Tennessee State-Pitt now?

1:35 p.m. PDT -- That’s what happens when a player has been doing everything. Dionte Christmas, who has 27 points, tried to dribble through about five defenders, traveled and now Glasser makes two free throws and Arizona State is going to win. Now let’s see some of that East Tennessee State-Pittsburgh game. It seems the 16th-seeded Buccaneers are tied with No. 1 Pitt with 12:22 left.

1:29 p.m. PDT -- Now this is good information from CBS. The Temple kid who just made two free throws, Semaj Inge? His first name is James spelled backward. Cool. Oh, and Harden got away with that foot shuffle again.

1:26 p.m. PDT -- UCLA coach Ben Howland is speaking on ESPNews. He’s talking about how good Kevin Love, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Russell Westbrook were last year. OK, but how is that going to help on Saturday? This is classic Ben, though. Just a gentle reminder of how well UCLA is really doing this year because, you know, all those good players are gone.

1:23 p.m. PDT -- Derek Glasser is back in the game for Arizona State so that’s good but James Harden still hasn’t made a basket. Until now. It took the Pac-10 player of the year almost 36 minutes before he made a basket, a three, to give the Sun Devils a 56-49 lead. That lasted not very long because Temple scored immediately.

1:11 p.m. PDT -- Pac-10 player of the year James Harden is 0 for 6 so far in his first NCAA tournament game and it has been pointed out to me by an avid observer of Pac-10 basketball that league refs often let Harden get away with traveling when he drives to the basket. NCAA tournament refs today are calling that travel and Harden seems flummoxed. And I told you, Dionte Christmas for Temple is a player. Arizona State’s still up but only 52-49 on a Christmas lay up. With Dayton up five over West Virginia, the Atlantic 10 Conference is showing well.

1:07 p.m. PDT -- This isn’t a good turn of events for Arizona State. Derek Glasser, who had 17 points in the first half, one off his career high, doubled over all of a sudden and clutched his back. Glasser is lying on the floor on the sidelines now, Temple just scored and the Owls are within five, 46-41.

12:55 p.m. PDT -- So Arizona State traveled about 2,500 miles to Miami and UCLA about 2,700 miles to Philadelphia. Someone please do the math (my high school counselor once called me in to congratulate me on having the biggest difference between math and verbal scores he had ever seen on the SATs so I’m not doing the math), but I’ll bet the Big East or Big 12 or Big 10 teams didn’t have two teams or even three or four or five, travel that far.

12:52 p.m. PDT -- Since we’re still watching this emotionless Arizona State-Temple game, time to switch over to ESPNews, where Jim Calhoun was talking. He’s out of the hospital, says he’ll be at practice and coaching tomorrow but, boy, he is as pale as can be. Health comes first Coach Calhoun.

12:48 p.m. PDT -- We get the Pac-10 game here on Channel 2 -- I understand that. But let’s hope that if that East Tennessee State team is still down only a point to No. 1 seed Pitt much longer, we’ll get the switch. Can we just remind CBS again, no No. 1 seed has ever lost before? That’s a really big deal. Oh, and No. 14 Cornell is ahead of No. 3 Missouri 23-22 also. And No. 11 Dayton is beating West Virginia 33-26. It’s the possible upsets we really want to watch in the first round.

12:35 p.m. PDT -- We all know, no No. 16 seed has ever won. But here we are with 5:37 left in the first half and No. 16 East Tennessee State is only down 22-20 to No. 1 Pitt. ETSU’s Kevin Tiggs has a big smile on his face during almost every play. That easy smile seems a fine indication that the Buccaneers aren’t intimidated or overwhelmed. Not meaning they’re going to win. But if they did, that would mean UCLA’s Ben Howland wouldn’t have to worry about beating his protege Jamie Dixon in the East Regional. Not that UCLA is thinking that far ahead.

12:24 p.m. PDT -- Derek Glasser averages seven points a game but has 17 points in the first half against Temple, helping Arizona State to a 35-26 lead. Glasser got clocked across the face on the last play and no call? Glasser did get up but how do you miss that call? And they just had a commercial for a McDonald’s quarter pounder with cheese. With several mentions of cheesy goodness. I want one now. This is effective advertising.

12:18 p.m. PDT -- Darn it. You can always hope that Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl might say something crazy. So he was asked about looking angry at the end of the Vols’ 77-75 loss to Oklahoma State. There was a pause. And then Pearl said, ‘Don’t bait me into getting fined here now.’ Aw, come on Bruce. You can afford the fine. Pearl then did mention twice about all the contact on the last play. But nothing that would bring a fine.

12:06 p.m. PDT -- So Arizona State isn’t giving Temple much hope, leading 29-16, so checking in on the Kansas postgame news conference. It is painful to hear some of my media pals’ questions. Such as, to Jayhawks center Cole Aldrich: ‘Cole, did you ever dream of playing in a Kansas uniform in Minneapolis in an NCAA tournament game?’ Aldrich is from suburban Minneapolis but, really, do you think Aldrich sat up one day when he was, oh, 8 years old and said, ‘My biggest dream is to put on a Kansas uniform, be in the NCAA tournament and play in Minneapolis?’ Cole’s very polite answer was basically, ‘Uh, no.’

11:50 a.m. PDT -- And so the second set begins. This Arizona State-Temple game is big for the reputation of the Pacfic 10 conference. If the Sun Devils lose, it will mean that, officially, the conference was really awful in the eyes of the rest of the country. For those that haven’t seen him, Temple’s Dionte Christmas is fun to watch. And is it wrong to have lunch delivered to the house? The cupboard is kind of bare. If I were secretly watching these games at a desk in an office and had lunch delivered it would seem as if I was working really hard.

11:40 a.m. PDT -- Not a bad start to the day. Marquette beats Utah State 58-57, Oklahoma State beats Tennessee 77-75, North Dakota State hung with Kansas almost to the end before losing 84-74 and CBS didn’t make us here in SoCal watch much of Syracuse’s 59-44 win over Stephen F. Austin. Did I mention Marquette won? My best-ever, in-person sports moment was watching Marquette win its only national title in Atlanta in 1977 when coach Al McGuire walked off the floor a second or two before the game was finished. He was sobbing. Me too.

11:34 a.m. PDT -- Can’t help screaming about every play in this Marquette-Utah State game. Yeah, it was a nice finish in that Oklahoma State 77-75 win over Tennessee, big plays by the dozens in the final minute. But Marquette is my team, my alma mater. This is about me for the next 23 seconds. Marquette up 56-54 over Utah State and normally I’d be all about the underdog Aggies. And our dog hates when there’s shouting. There is shouting. And as CBS goes to commercial I hear the Marquette fight song...Ring out ahoya with an MU rah, rah, MU rah rah, MU rah ... I’m not saying music is a strength at Marquette.

11:29 a.m. PDT -- Am having trouble dealing with this. Marquette is down a point with 1:45 left and going to the foul line. But switching back to Tennessee shooting a free throw to take a 75-74 lead with under 20 seconds to go. Shot of the tournament so far now. Byron Eaton totally fearless, drives, shoots, scores, Oklahoma State now up 76-75, timeout.

11:21 a.m. PDT -- Gotta love this Oklahoma State-Tennessee. Both teams are offensively aggressive, no one is afraid to shoot, back-door cuts, drives to the hoop, good stuff. And it’s taking my mind off the fact that Marquette is down 49-45 to Utah State though it is some consolation that the Aggies’ Stew Morrill is such a good coach. With such large glasses. But an excellent coach.

11:18 a.m. PDT -- While there are going to be some good finishes here in the next 20 minutes or so (Utah State 46, Marquette 43 and Oklahoma State 70, Tennessee 67 right now), Jim Calhoun will be talking in a few minutes, picked up live on ESPNews.

11:12 a.m. PDT -- That’s what I thought. Cole Aldrich is going to be the difference here in this Kansas game. Though North Dakota State is getting no officiating breaks. None at all. Kansas up 10 with 5:44 to go. Time to see some Marquette-Utah State and Tennessee-Oklahoma State ... and here’s the switch. Tennessee 67, Oklahoma State 65.

11:09 a.m. PDT -- If you aren’t watching DirectTV or the CBS streaming feed on your computer, during commercials you can switch to ESPNews and watch live news conferences from around the country. LSU’s Trent Johnson is on now.

10:53 a.m. PDT -- Remember how Bucknell upset Kansas in the 2005 NCAA tournament? Bucknell’s nickname? Bison. Ben Woodside just got the basket and a foul. If he makes the free throw after this timeout, the North Dakota State BISON will only trail Kansas 56-53. Just saying ...

10:48 a.m. PDT -- Yikes, how is Utah State only behind Marquette by a point? When did this happen? Oklahoma State up 49-46 over Tennessee, North Dakota State hanging with Kansas. I need Marquette to win here, just for family bragging rights. Two family members are Xavier grads, two Illinois grads, an Iowa grad (she has no reason to turn on the TV).

10:46 a.m. PDT -- Bison are on an 8-0 run, Kansas ahead only 47-44, Collins misses, crowd is into it. Maybe, just maybe, it was worth that alarm clock going off an hour ago.

10:38 a.m. PDT -- We get switched to Dayton to see some of Oklahoma State (42) against Tennessee (34). It’s not the teams, just don’t care much about either of them, but love, love, love listening to Bill Raftery. He justed called Tennessee ‘almost listless.’ Nice.

10:28 a.m. PDT -- Jonny Flynn scores against the Lumberjacks and grins. Flynn’s coach, Jim Boeheim NEVER smiles, ever. Not even after Syracuse beat Connecticut in that six-overtime game last weekend. Boeheim just called timeout, Syracuse leads 46-24 and play-by-play man Ian Eagle says, ‘Boeheim upset by his team’s sloppy play.’ See? Boeheim can’t possibly smile.

10:24 a.m. PDT -- I know Greg Anthony is new at this halftime show hosting thing but he just said Syracuse ‘only’ leads Stephen F. Austin by 16 at halftime. By my math that would translate into a 32-point win if that ‘only’ trend continues. That seems like a pretty good whooping.

10:16 a.m. PDT -- Am still wondering how it is that UCLA always, always, always, tries to hold late game leads by having four guys stand around while Darren Collison dribbles the shot clock down to almost nothing and then ... misses or doesn’t get a shot off or something not good. Just like last night? OK, it’s what Kansas just did now. But it worked. Kansas scored to finish off a 16-7 run for a 43-34 halftime lead.

10:14 a.m. PDT -- Brett Winkleman a three, 38-34 Kansas but Aldrich comes right back. He’s going to be the problem. North Dakota State can’t seem to stop Aldrich.

10:10 a.m. PDT -- CBS just released a bit of information. Ratings for Thursday’s first-round games are up 9% from last year. Cole Aldrich scores inside, Bison turn it over, Kansas up 38-29, lots of ‘Let’s go Bison’ cheers and Woodside scores his 16th point and it’s 38-31.

10:03 a.m. PDT -- North Dakota State’s Ben Woodside scored 60 points this season against ... Stephen F. Austin. And the Bison lost. Now Kansas has opened a 34-27 lead and the crowd in Minnesota is groaning.

9:58 a.m. PDT -- North Dakota State only lost to USC last December 61-57. People (OK, mostly UCLA fans) mocked the Trojans for struggling against the Bison.

9:52 a.m. PDT -- We’re getting Kansas-North Dakota State. Sherron Collins already has 13 points but Kansas is only leading 21-19. This tournament needs its first big upset.

9:47 am PDT -- Tennessee-Oklahoma State is going to be close. We saw it for a second. Marquette is in trouble, according to the announcers. But the Golden Eagles are ahead 13-7. Shoot, back to Miami where Syracuse is now ahead 24-8. Time to see if I can get that streaming video working.

9:45 a.m. PDT -- Jonny Flynn uses a crossover dribble to mystify the Lumberjacks. And Syracuse has just been called better, stronger, faster. Also, ahead 18-4. So could we see the Marquette-Utah State game (4-4 at the moment), Channel 2? Utah State is in the West! Or Kansas-North Dakota State? Kansas is up by a point over the team making its first-ever NCAA appearance? And North Dakota State is further west than the Lumberjacks.

9:34 a.m. PDT -- There just can’t be that many lumberjacks in Nacogdoches, Texas, but maybe I’m wrong. Anyway, I guess there aren’t that many oranges in Syracuse and its team is named the Orangemen. In any case, it doesn’t seem as if the Orangemen are going to be tested at all by the Lumberjacks who are already behind 10-2 so come on, CBS, show us some of that Oklahoma State-Tennessee game.

-- Diane Pucin