More NCAA Live-Blogging

All right, we're back from our walk, and Emmy is very proud of the way she taunted the big scary German Shepherd up the road, so it's back to the games.

5:53 Marquette's three-point ace Steve Novak misses an open shot with eight seconds to play, and it's all over but the intentional fouling and free throws. The Big East is now 0-2. Montana's win over Nevada has also gone final. That's it for the afternoon games, and may be it for today's live-blogging (as Kate will probably want her computer back...)

5:51 Alabama is playing like they've never seen a full-court press, Marquette is playing like they have no idea what offense they're supposed to run. 19.3 to play, Alabama by 3. And I may break something if I have to listen to this goddamn Applebee's commercial one more time.

5:46: Two threes by Novak cut it to one, Alabama gets a basket to make it three, and then Marquette gets an incredible steal of a saved ball. Under a minute to play, one-point game after two free throws. Aaaannnd, we go to commercial. Oh, how I love CBS.

5:43: Marquette gets it back down to four, and Jean Felix buries another ugly line-drive three. Steve Novak answers, though, and then a dumb foul by Alabama. This may yet be a game.

5:37: Montana and Alabama are pulling away, up by nine and eight, respectively. This is looking like one of those games where Marquette used up everthing they had just to come back. Over on ESPN, the PTI guys are worried about BC, and impressed by UW-Milwaukee. They both seem to think Syracuse will play well tonight, so the Orangemen are doomed.

5:25: And we're back to Alabama-Marquette, just as Jean Feix hits a three to re-take the lead. Montana up six with siix to play, and Florida wins by twenty-six.

5:22: A wild falling jumper goes in, and Tennessee leads by 2 with less than a second left. You can see them cutting the highlight for "One Shining Moment" already. Four tenths left, Winthrop is done.

5:20: After another sloppy exchange, Tennessee calls a TO, and they spend a bunch of time figuring out how much time should be on the clock. Meanwhile, Marquette has taken the lead 60-59, and Nevada has pulled ahead by 7.

5:14: After two possessions where they ran the clock all the way down, and chucked up a completely worthless shot, Winthrop's coach calls a timeout (tied, with under a minute to play) to explain the concept of a "shot clock" to his players. Out of the TO, they set up their center for an open three, which he misses. Tennessee ball, 21 seconds to play, tie game.

5:11: Marquette and Nevada have both pulled within three. Both games are 52-49. Synchronicity!

5:04: Puzzling Commercial #2: There's this Lowe's spot, with a father putting up a basketball hoop for his son, and Gene Hackman exhorting us to "Help put your kids's dreams within reach" or some such. The spot cuts from a young kid hanging a net to the same kid in high school or college, cutting down a net. He looks up into the stands, and catches his father's eye.

It's all very sweet, but here's the thing: when they share their little moment, both of them look incrdibly sad. Why? You cut down the nets when you win, so they should look happy. Are we supposed to infer some sort of He Got Game estrangement between the two in the intervening years, leaving father and son with that afternoon hanging the net as their only happy memory?

(Winthrop hit a three to go up one, then missed a long jumper, and fouled on the rebound. And Dane Bradshaw airballs the fre throw. Yeesh. He got the second to tie the game, with 2:42 to play.)

5:02: I definitely hate the Tennessee center. Winthrop can't put it in the ocean right now. None of the other games are close-- Florida leads by 21, Alabama by 10, and Montana by 10.

4:55: This has got to be some sort of a record for missed open shots. Winthrop leads by two, but ought to be up eight. Tennessee is showing why people were outraged when they got a two seed.

4:51: Why am I getting backgammon spam? Is there really a market for online backgammon?

4:44: This is an intense game, but not what you'd call high-quality basketball. Tennessee keeps missing lay-ups, and is playing Pearl Washington defense (making a play for the dramatic steal, and when that fails, letting Winthrop score). Winthrop has some judgement issues, for example, the guy who just took the ball to the hoop in a one-on-two break, trailing by one. He got bailed out by a foul, and will shoot after the tv timeout.

4:41: And Winthrop leads again. Tennessee is incredibly sloppy,throwing passes out of bounds, and biffing a wide-open lay-up. They're staying in this thanks to better athletic ability alone. None of the other games are terribly close, with Montana's seven-point lead being the closest.

4:34: Tennessee banks in a three-pointer with the shot clock running out, to go up four. I think I hate their center, who is a Rasheed Wallace type yeller.

4:26: Alabama is hitting everything, and up 15. CBS just switched to the start of the second half of the Tennessee game, where the Volunteers lead by four. My feeling frm the start has been that too many people were picking Winthrop for the upset to actually happen, but they're really giving Tennessee all they want and then some. A three-pointer for the Eagles cuts the lead to one, and Tennessee's second leading scorer just picked up his fourth foul. And now Winthrop takes the lead...

4:07: Puzzling Commercial #1: There's this Army spot, that's been running for a while, where a new guy shows up at some sort of helicopter business. One of the current workers asks him "You ever been around anything this fast before?", and because he was in the Army, he's able to look all smug and say "Yeah. In my last job."

Here's the puzzling thing: What kind of dumb-ass asks that question to somebody you've just hired as a helicopter pilot? Of course he's been around something that fast. If he hadn't, you wouldn't've hired him as a goddamn pilot, now, would you?

Tennessee and Florida both lead at the half by two and six, respectively), and Montana is up nine. Marquette is down eleven to a hot-shooting Alabama team.

4:01: CBS has an NCAA committee member talking to Jay Bilas and Dick Enberg in Sand Diego, and it seems there was nothing significant in the mysterious package. That's a relief. We're getting the San Diego game (the delayed start of Marquette vs. Alabama), apparently because Marquette is now in the Big East. Alabama is up six. Meanwhile, Winthrop trails Tennessee by only two, Florida leads South Alabama by nine, and Montana is ahead of Nevada by seven, for your five-twelve upset special.