NCAA Tournament Running Commentary: Saturday Night Edition

Note: STONES! Want a fresh take on Kansas falling to the MVC's Northern Iowa? Avoid Subway. Check out analysis from ME right here.

If you're looking for analysis on the earlier matchups of the day, c-c-check it out.

East Region
#1 Kentucky vs #9 Wake Forest

UK's most notable fan, Ashley Judd, has to be enjoying this thorough bludgeoning of the Deamon Deacons.
Credit: Yahoo! Sports

Halftime score = Kentucky leads 44-28

Running commentary following the under-16 timeout...

-Al-Farouq Aminu commits his 3rd foul with 11:19 to go in the 1st half. Jay Bilas was wise to alert people to keep that time in mind. This is the same guy who went for 20 and 15 against Texas.
-DeMarcus Cousins is going to make a mistake. Question is, how big of one? Wake is trying to rattle him with hard fouls, moving screens, and elbows in the gut. Cousins is about to unleash an elbow or commit a rough foul. How will the refs react?
-Ish Smith blows a wide-open dunk. Didn't I mention earlier how he CAN'T miss easy shots tonight?
-I watch John Wall miss free throws and think Derrick Rose in 2008. Am I alone?
-Why is Calipari letting Patrick Patterson take 3-pointers? It's an idiotic option on such a loaded offensive group. If he starts shooting 4+ of those a game in the later rounds, Kentucky will lose at some point.
-Wake, down 29-24 with 5+ to go, needs to keep this under 7 or 8 with Aminu out, if possible.
-Keutucky's role players - two former starters now riding the pine - are the difference in this game thus far.
-Kentucky owns this arena. The fans are ballistic. Wake can't let this deficit stretch into double-digits.
-Put Wake to bed. They are a classic underachiever and Kentucky - unlike Texas - won't hand this one away. Kentucky may not see a true neutral court until Indianapolis.
-No need to say anything more, Wake is making me sleepy.

West Region
#2 Kansas State vs #10 BYU

Clemente's ability to get to the hoop, at lightning-fast speed, needs to be more of a constant in the 2nd half.
Credit: Yahoo! Sports

Halftime score = Kansas State leads 41-31

Running commentary, from the 2nd option game of the primetime lineup...

-BYU starts of 10-0. Hitting open shots is what the Cougars do.
-BYU doesn't rebound. You want to know a good way to catch up if you're Kansas State? 2nd and 3rd opportunities on offense and limiting good-shooting teams to 1-contested shot. Although KSU has missed some gimmes.
-Pullen took a nasty spill. The Cougar guard nipped his heel while reaching for the ball. That was a missed call that was completely unacceptable.
-Denis Clemente is fast as lightning, but he doesn't take it to the hoop and draw fouls enough.
-Greg Gumbel shouldn't call Jimmer Fredette, Jimmy. Then again, the name Jimmer is stupid. Yeah, I said it.
-Remember that BYU is one-win away from a regional semi-final in Salt Lake City. Gotta love that juicy location (ala Baylor in Houston).
-Still waiting for Domonique Sutton to establish a presence for a spurt or two.
-Kansas State caught up by rebounding the ball, pushing it up court and attacking the hoop, and by pushing Jimmer Fredette, whenever he touches the ball, to pass the ball.
-I love seeing the BYU (male) cheerleaders calling for traveling call. He may have gotten one right actually...
-Fredette has gone 13 minutes without a field goal. They are working him every inch he handles the ball. Frank Martin deserves a lot of credit for that defensive switch in strategy.
-BYU shouldn't try to run and gun with the Wildcats. Pullen is the most NBA-ready player on the court. It shows.
-CBS may be overworking Pullen's "hip-injury"? Then again, I can't blame them.
-19-4 run by Kansas State has them up 1:47. BYU isn't setting screens properly and can't break the press. THIS is why Kansas State was such a popular Final Four selection. Good thing they don't have to play Kansas a fourth time.
-BYU has 3 players with 3 fouls. All inside guys. The size and strength of Kansas State can't be understated right now.
-BYU has gone from up 10-0 to down 41-31. Wow.
-BYU has 3.2 seconds to take back some juju. Awful D from Kansas State leads to a near tip-in. Missed it by 0.1. Great effort though.

InClement Weather: Wednesday Night College Basketball Thoughts...

Ten Thoughts on a Wednesday night...stretched out just a bit.
Yes, even while watching Lost and being more confused than ever before...and still LOVING it.

Don't let the face fool you, I firmly believe Tech walked into their matchup tonight expecting to win. Funny how often you do win with an attitude like that.
Credit: Yahoo! Sports

1) Jeff Teague and Wake Forest will no longer remain #1. Not unless about six or seven teams fall too a crazy string of upsets this week(end). It should come as no surprise though, as the life of a college basketball #1 is always week-by-week at best.

2) Virginia Tech, winners of their last 4 of 5 against the Deacs, went into Winston-Salem and walked out 78-71 victors.

3) Jumping out to an early lead, the Hokies combined timely three-point shooting with an aggresive temperment on the boards to lead by as many as 13 in the first half. What had to surprise Wake most was the depths the Hokies went to allow them to come back into the game; especially during three or four stretches in the second half. Missing free throws left and right and not cleaning up on the defensive glass, the Hokies allowed Wake an opportunity to have the ball down only 2. An inability to box out on poor Tech shots and, on their own poor possessions, kick out before driving to the hoop with a little too much steam cost Wake dearly down the stretch. Len "Troy Bell Sr." Elmore might've noticed the most disturbing trend too: Jeff Teague was passive and far too quiet, due to his own inability to demand the ball, in the closing ten minutes.

4) Perhaps the Naismith frontrunner at this point, Teague appeared a little "pouty" according to Elmore. While his teammates were quite frustrating at times with silly fouls and a lack of control (especially with those aforementioned drives to the hoop), Teague passed up several shots late and almost seemed unwanting of the ball in the final possessions. Not a good trend to say the least for one of the nation's most talented playmakers at any position.

5) While that reason can't be divulged as without Teague's input, it did question my faith in Wake Forest in the following:
A) Close games
B) After slow starts
C) Without an inside presence to depend on
The same could be asked of all top tier teams; however, Wake's first blemish - especially at home - did open up some important questions.

6) As for the Hokie-side of things, it goes without saying how HUGE this W is; especially for a 5-loss team. While they have some iffy non-conference losses, the ACC will offer up plenty of opportunities for big time Ws. Let me also state a clear-cut fact: Tech won this game MUCH more than "Mistake" Forest lost it.

7) Unfortunately for the Hokies, due to the strength at the top of the ACC, their worst-case scenario isn't tough to decipher. See Maryland last year after their front-page news upset (on the road, unranked, against an undefeated UNC team) and then see how they faltered late time and time again and even when possessing the most impressive single-win of the year, it wasn't impressive enough come March Madness. In fact, it wasn't close. I have to wonder how much that home loss to Georgia might hurt the Hokies too. Just something to think about, raining on the parade of a team's top effort of the year. My bad.

...after seeing Sayid toss a guy off of a two-story balcony to imminent death (with the amazingly viscous back-breaking sound effects on the side), I'll note three other "affairs" of importance to me...

Outside of Jack Bauer, this is TV's most badassed man.
Credit: Wikipedia.org

8) Believe it or not, there are "mid-major stories" out there that don't involve Stephen Curry and Davidson. SHOCK and GASP! While this website has an obvious bias towards the CAA-side of things, it doesn't go without reason. Tonight was an important night for the conference:
A) George Mason fell from the top perch with a 58-57 loss at Northeastern.
B) Both are joined at 7-1 with red hot VCU, who after a rough loss at Delaware two weeks ago, has reeled off six impressive conference victories, although tonight's 5-12 Georgia State team doesn't exactly scream "road test".
C) The true test for Anthony Grant, Eric Maynor, and the Rams will come when the Patriots - who play notoriously well in Richmond (both the Siegel Center and the Collesium) - come marching in Saturday afternoon at 4pm.
Some advice: buy tickets and go if you are affiliated in any way with either school OR figure out when it's on television and watch a truly stellar conference rivalry play out. Sadly, they don't double dip each year like they SHOULD.

9) Northwestern upset Michigan State on the road, South Carolina likely took Florida back out of the rankings on some last-second hoopla, UCONN held off a feisty Villanova team in their hideous gray jerseys, UNC will one day be 100-0 against Clemson at home, and Memphis is going to steamroll through Conference USA and really confuse "bracketeers" come March.

10) Watch college basketball. I can try and inspire you. But I deleted that diatribe. Just watch it. It's awesome.

Tonight's victory will (likely) overshadow their early season's top highlight.