Opening Day Mostly A Snore

Aside from a late (and by late, I mean, after midnight on the East Coast) finish in Portland last night, there wasn't much to get too excited over.

Sure, Western Kentucky beat Illinois, further leading the nation to once again ask itself just what the hell a hilltopper even is.  I will admit, I did have that one picked, but only by sheer luck.  Here's how I pick my brackets.

Hmmm....I haven't picked an upset in a few games...I haven't seen Illinois play this year...Maybe they'll get upset...

As proof of how well this system works, I also had Northern Iowa taking down Purdue.  

So, obviously, it's a fool proof plan.  Then again though, anyone who honestly can see some of these upsets coming is not only annoying, but slightly impressive.

Some Random Thoughts and Musings

• UCLA kept it way closer than Bruins fans likely wanted it, as they seemed totally disinterested in the evenings proceedings.  For a large portion of the first half, as cliche as it sounds, their effort simply didn't match VCU's (and they were winning by 10 to close the half!).  They spent possessions dawdling far from the 3 point line, while the smaller lineup of VCU continued to hound them.  Then, when they finally kicked it into high gear courtesy of Josh Shipp and Jrue Holiday finally showing up, they couldn't make any layups.  Clutch free throws from Aboya and what's been a Ben Howland staple for years now (straight up, gritty D) locked up the close win.
  
• After all of these games, who are the players pointing in the stands to?  I can't be the only one noticing random players from Western Kentucky or Maryland pointing all over the crowd, kissing their fingers to their lips, and raising their jerseys.  Who are you looking at?  
• If there was a world where college basketball knowledge was currency, Jay Bilas would be running that world.
• Maryland was just way, way better than Cal yesterday.  They lead practically all game, and Greivis Vasquez was clearly the best player in the game.  Not that anyone figured he wouldn't be.  He struggled some in the first half, but turned it on when it counted with a big breakaway layup to seal the deal at the end of the 2nd half.  As they say (and as Cal found out the hard way), when you live by the 3, you die by the 3.
• Give Cal St. Northridge some credit.  First, they hung in tough for about 30 or so minutes against an obviously superior Memphis team.  Their zone, speedy guard play from Mark Hill and clutch shooting from guys like Rodrigue Mels and Kenny Daniels kept them in it way longer than anyone could have guessed.  Also, big ups for getting FUBU to design their jerseys.  At least, it looks like it, no?
• Villanova played like horses#@t for most of the game, but lucked out on two accounts.  One, they were playing American.  Two, they were playing, as Jordan has said, a literal home game.  Not just the same time zone, same region of the country.  The exact same court.  So, fair as that sounds, they came back to win because Garrison Carr couldn't make every 3 he took, and ultimately Nova started getting (and making) better looks at the basket.
• Good thing UNC and UConn were tested in their first round matchups.