First round of games delivers the Cal State Northridge surprising performance

The first three games of the NCAA tournament delivered some March Madness excitement! The Cal-State Northridge team, despite all its troubles, following the leadership of their veteran head coach managed to give Memphis all it could handle for the first 32 minutes. Infact, the Matadors won the first 32 minutes of the game.

But ultimately, the size, length, depth and athleticism of Memphis rose to the surface, and the jumpers were not falling as the Matadors started running out of juice.

But our hats are off to the Matadors for an impressive performance that put the fear of elimination deep inside the hearts of the Tigers.

And one player that has earned every single penny of his scholarship in just one game is the one and only Roburt Sallie, managing to sink a total of ten (10) three-pointers for a 35-point performance. Yes, a 35-pointer that saved Calipari's 2009 NCAA tournament.

The game that was expected to be a close game was a close game, but LSU punched the Butler in the mouth at the start of the game, and that punch was enough for LSU to carry through the game, and despite an inch-by-inch comeback by the Butler bulldogs and their 19-year-old coach, the LSU Tigers kept them at bay, making them the second group of Tigers to march to the second round.

The last game of this block was not competitive, as the Texas A&M Mark Turgeons took an early lead and never looked bad. Tavernari et al were not able to hit the wild threes they needed to make this game interesting, and the Ole Roy disciple is going to make Aggies fans forget all about the great escape of "Clyde".

Stay tuned to this blog for another recap after the end of each block of games!

And one more thing, to sort through the March Madness games available on TV and online, be sure to check out our March Madness 2009 TV Guide. This include pointers to not just the NCAA, but also NIT, CBI and CIT! (Yes, CIT is a new post-season tourney for mid-majors).

BYU vs North Carolina

We had some shocking revelations in this game. This group of North Carolina players can actually play defense and not have a meltdown when punched in the mouth? That's what the end of the second half showed, while the end of the first half showed the same team that had an epic meltdown/lock-up against Georgetown in the Elite 8.

Granted they were playing without Tywon Lawson who got injured two minutes into the game, so Ole Roy did not have time to create a game plan without him. But that meltdown showed that perhaps there's something missing from this team, and I'm not talking about talent or Xs and Os, but the intangibles. So what exactly is missing? (that's why they pay the experts to figure it out!)



While Ellington has the talent and can hit big shots at times, it doesn't seem like he has as much impact on the game as he should have based on his talent/position. He is not the type of player that would scare an opponent like Rashad McCants, but then again it took McCants three years to figure it all out.

BYU once again looked impressive. Tavernari never met a shot he didn't like hoisting up in 50 milliseconds or less, and once again he made a lot of those, which is scary for the defense because if this guy can make 3-6 crazy three-pointers per game, that's the difference between winning and losing a game. Plaisted had a big game and got Vitale to sing his praises. Once again Vitale was expecting to call a game with a big team from the state of Kentucky, but found himself getting his hands "dirty" with non-BCS teams. Oh it's unbelievable I am the one and only Dick Vitale and I have to call games of Gardner Webb and BYU! Oh it's unbelievable get me the ESPN VP! I want to sing the praises of Coach K, Rick Pitino, Roy Williams, Tom Izzo, not David Rose and Gardner Webb baby!

Back to Trent Plaisted, he had a big game numbers wise, even though he missed a number of baskets he should have made, but you may want to credit the defense for that, with the Carolina players flying at him. He perhaps exposed a hole in this year's UNC team, they cannot guard big talented and athletic centers. The good news for UNC is that there are not that many like that around. The bad news is that they are facing Ohio State and Kosta Koufos next week, so they'll be tested again. Although Koufos is nowhere near as athletic, mobile, agile and experienced as Plaisted, but he does have seasoned offensive moves perhaps for a player of his age.

What's even more promising for BYU fans is that they almost beat Carolina and beat Louisville with Cummard in foul trouble in both games. Plaisted had an okay game and a great game, while Tavernari's shooting was off the hook on both nights. If you average out the performance of those three players, and assume that Tavernari can continue to deliver crazy 3s on a consistent basis, we could be looking at perhaps an Elite 8 if the stars align, or a Sweet 16 team.

Which brings up another question, why was BYU "hiding" David Rose in the "boring" Steve Cleveland staff and why didn't they give him the reigns a lot earlier? This guy looks like he can coach. Okay, I'm starting to sound like Vitale now, so I better stop singing the praises of Rose baby!

Another surprise to those who don't think Ole Roy is a solid coach was the smart move of not burning out Psycho T on Plaidsted. Not that Psycho-T would have been the ideal player to guard him, but by rotating Thompson and the athletic Stepheson on him, he allowed Psycho-T not to get into foul trouble and have Plaisted-stress. However, this backfired in other areas, because Psycho-T was on the perimeter chasing Tavernari, instead of grabbing defensive rebounds and filling up the paint.



One thing that the Carolina coaching staff seems to not pay attention to is having Quinton Thomas and Marcus Ginyard on the floor at the same time. Neither one of those guys are offensive threads, so they allow the defense to focus on the remaining three players. But if you don't need to score points, or you want to have an impact on defense, then perhaps it makes sense to have them in the game together. This is perhaps why the Carolina fans petition to get Q-Thomas more "PT" is mostly going to fall on deaf ears.

More on UNC at the TarHeel Mania blog, UNC Basketball Update, Carolina BBall. The BYU perspective at Cougar Fan. And an independent point of view at College Sports Pro. CSTV Headlines.

BYU vs Louisville

BYU spoils Dick Vitale's party! Dick Vitale was pumped up - he was going to Vegas to cover the Rick Pitino vs Roy Williams matchup! Aww! Awesome with capital A babeeeee! But David Rose and his Cougars spoiled Vitale's party, just like Gardner Webb did. And this win wasn't a fluke. The Cougars earned every single dot in the W.

BYU took over the first half, having a +10 turnover advantage over PitinoVille and Derrick Caracter sitting on the bench with two fouls. But two three-pointers in the last minute of the first half brought PitinoVille back in the game.

In essence, BYU beat Pitino at his own game. The pressure was not effective, and Rose rotated players in and out so they wouldn't get worn out. And they did not. In fact the Cougars turned the press into an advantage as they were able to score uncontested buckets after they broke the press.

A seven man rotation with Will Scott coming in occasionally as the 8th man, is not exactly what fits the Pitino system. Furthermore, Derrick Caracter is not exactly the perfect compliment of a pressing team. With both Caracter and Farley being foul-prone, the rotation gets tighter. To further complicate matters, having Andre McGee and T. Farley on the court at the same time allows the defense to concentrate on the remaining players. Obviously having either Padgett or Juan Diego Tello Palacios would have given the team a lot more leeway. Given that both are injury-prone, it looks like the current rotation is all that Pitino will essentially have. Unless of course R. Delk is eligible at the semester break (which I do not know).

Plaisted and Caracter battled it out in the paint, but Tavernari was the one that had the biggest impact and broke the Cardinals back, and not just because he scored 28 points.

This creates a potentially exciting high scoring affair, assuming North Carolina is able to beat Old Dominion. The game will air tomorrow night on ESPN2 with Dick Vitale. More TV details.

The game was broadcast on BYU-TV, which is great if you dislike commercials because there are none (other than the BYU promos of course during every media timeout). BYU-TV is usually on satellite or digital cable among all the other religious/spirituality channels. One funny thing with their graphics is that they have a giant transparent overlay at the top of the screen with parts of the letters BYU. That graphic was obnoxiously annoying and distracting :)