Thursday early games Roundup

Usually having a Thursday off work doesn't do me much good. But I was lucky enough to have the opening Thursday of March Madness off work, and plan on taking full advantage. I will watch every single game, and give whatever reactions are necessary to capture the day in basketball. Here's what went down in the first eight games.

Best Game
Syracuse vs. UNC-Asheville. In a game that will forever be tainted by the officiating in my mind, Syracuse pushed ahead in the second half and hung on with some help to avoid being the first 1-seed ever to lose. There are several terrible calls that can be pointed out from this game (a no-call goaltending, a lane violation called on a guard and the worst out-of-bounds call in recent memory are the most obvious). What's most amazing is none of them necessarily won Syracuse the game. It just would have been closer by two or three points on certain possessions down the stretch. But watching the game, any non-Cuse fan was only thinking about how the little guys had been cheated. It's a shame that Asheville guard Matt Dickey's career came to end in a game like that. Dickey, an excellent guard and Big South Player of the Year, was just 1-13 from the field, and those calls certainly did not help with the bitter taste in his mouth at the end of the game.

Biggest Disappointment
Second half officiating in the Cuse/Asheville game. But since that's already been discussed, Montana is my biggest disappointment. The 13 seed looked absolutely nothing like the team I had seen play earlier this season. The Grizzlies came in with a similar play-style and enough size to give Wisconsin plenty of trouble. They do their best work on the defensive end, but not in this game. After surrendering a late run to give Wisconsin a 10-point lead at half, it still looked like the Grizz had a shot if they started shooting better in the second half. Instead, they went into hibernation (which is odd, because it's getting to springtime), and handed Wisconsin its most lopsided victory of the season since conference play started (read: since they started playing decent teams). They gave up 73 to Wisconsin! Ugh.

Trending Topics
Mid-major teams that I have lauded are going down fast. When I wrote about mid-major teams to watch out for, it was teams that actually looked like they could cause some problems in the early rounds of the tournament. Evidently not. Iona suffered the biggest collapse in NCAA Tournament history Tuesday night, and today Davidson and Montana laid a couple eggs on the court. Long Beach State was competitive in its game against New Mexico, but couldn't make plays down the stretch and lost as well. South Dakota State and St. Bonaventure (the two longest shots on that list, by seeding) are the last line of defense against a goose egg in my upsets column.

What to look for in Round Three
Murray State and Marquette will meet in what should be a pretty fun matchup. Once again, Marquette does not have great size, which will suit Murray just fine. Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year Isaiah Canaan is going to need to step up. He has had two straight poor shooting games that have still resulted in wins for Murray State. That is a testament to how good the Racers really are. But a no-show from Canaan will not work out quite so well against Marquette, methinks.
Syracuse vs. Kansas State is also an interesting matchup. Are the Orange really as vulnerable as they looked against Asheville, or was it just a classic case of early tournament jitters and adjustments? If Bob Wenzel is to be believed (and he's not), then 'Cuse will be fine. My gut tells me Syracuse will win the game, but once again not by much. At the very least, I think it will be a non-referee-aided victory, which would be nice to see.