In the second half of the First Four, South Florida took out Cal, 65-54. Former Virginia Tech and Maryland recruit Gus Gilchrist helped the Bulls limit Cal to just 13 first half points en route to a 36-13 lead at the break.
In the other game, Vermont - as predicted by Buddy Womble - knocked off the "worst senior class ever," beating Pat Knight's Lamar bunch, 71-59.
Knight lightened up on his kids after the loss, saying that "It's obvious. ... I think these guys have done a heck of a job. If people disagree, they're morons. They're down right now. Losing hurts. But what a ride. I'll be talking about them until the day I die, these guys."
Kind of harsh calling himself a moron, but what the hey, it's a big world.
The rest of the field gets going on Thursday, with the following games and times. Incidentally, we forgot to mention that we're assuming that the games which say WRAL are on your local CBS affiliate.
- 12:15 Murray State-Colorado State - WRAL
- 12:40 K-State-Southern Miss - TruTV
- 1:40 Louisville-Davidson - TBS
- 2:10 Wisconsin-Montana - TNT
- 2:45 Marquette-BYU - WRAL
- 3:10 Syracuse UNCA - TruTV
- 4:10 New Mexico-Long Beach State -TBS
- 4:40 Vandy-Harvard - TNT
- 6:50 Kentucky-Western Kentucky - TBS
- 7:15 Wichita State-VCU - WRAL
- 7:20 Gonzaga-West Virginia- TNT
- 7:27 Baylor-South Dakota State - TruTV
- 9:20 Iowa State-UConn - TBS
- 9:45 Indiana-New Mexico State - WRAL
- 9:50Â Ohio State-Loyola - TNT
- 9:57 UNLV-Colorado - TruTV
Some of these are really fascinating to consider. For instance: can Murray State be as good as their record indicates? We've seen Colorado State - they're pretty good.Not great certainly but solid. We'll take the Racers though.
We'll also take K-State over Southern Miss.
We're very tempted to take Davidson over Louisville, but can't quite commit to it, so the Ville. Happy, Nolan? Just kidding!
Montana is really off the radar, but they're solid. Not solid enough though: Wisconsin moves on.
Hard to bet against Marquette this early.
Syracuse, because they have something to prove and, well, it's Asheville.
We'll take New Mexico although something tells us this is a danger game.
Vandy is the trendy pick but they're still erratic. Harvard plays tough D. We'll take the Crimson.
Kentucky is wildly favored and deservedly so, but Western Kentucky is going to have massive motivation. If it's a three point fest, they have a chance, but otherwise, no. UK moves on.
Wichita State's likely to lose their coach. Big Deal? Derailed? Could be. We like Shaka Smart, so we'll take VCU.
Gonzaga-West Virginia? Gonzaga chokes every year, but West Virginia has been rock all year. No clue.
Baylor romps. Let's move on.
Ok, here's an interesting one. IU should win, but New Mexico State one of those overlooked programs with a tradition and a hard-ass attitude. Cody Zeller should be the difference, but it'll be closer than people think.
Jimmy Patsos is a great story, but they can't touch the Buckeyes.
Finally, we'll take Vegas over Colorado, as the field ruthlessly eliminates the PAC-12.
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