Second Half LiveBlog is here. OT LiveBlog.
Finally. It seems the main hope for this game — I mean for those without a vested interest — is for a competitive game. There’s no upsets now. The games have generally been panned for this Tournament. Not much drama. Everyone just wants the best game from both teams.
It looks like the punditry has swung to Memphis. On ESPN, Digger Phelps and Dick Vitale went with Memphis. Only Jay Bilas took Kansas. Both Seth Davis and Clark Kellogg took Memphis on CBS. It seems the NBA attitude of taking the team with the best player on the court — Derrick Rose of Memphis — took control of the decision making.
Tip-off is just a few minutes away.
9:32: Memphis gets the tip and Dorsey scores right away, inside to give Memphis the first score. Everyone wonders what Dorsey will do. He’s shown up in this Tournament, and kept his mouth shut so far. If he’s keeping his emotions in check, that’s good news for Memphis.
Several turnovers already. Memphis has 2 and Kansas has 2. Both teams really active at slapping at the ball on the perimeter.
Kansas has seemed a little tighter on offense. They look a little tentative once they get the ball up court. It looks like they are probing on offense, because Memphis is getting back quickly on defense.
Memphis getting more attempts and shooting better. No wonder they hold the lead, 9-5 with 15:36 in the game.
9:42: Collins to Kaun on a back-screen for a beautiful alley-oop dunk. A nicely designed play out of the TV timeout.
Kansas seems to have shaken off the early nerves on offense. Much more aggressive and less hesitant.
On defense, the Jayhawks aren’t in a zone, so much as packing it inside. They are surrounding anyone that comes in the paint from Memphis. Preventing the drives to the basket and clogging passing lanes. They are trying to make Memphis settle for jumpers and perimeter shots. It’s what Tennessee did earlier this year to Memphis with success.

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David W. Smith/ Daily News
Courtney Lee, who led all scorers with 29 points, celebrates after the Hilltoppers defeated UCSD 72-63 Sunday at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa to earn a trip to the NCAA’s Sweet Sixteen in Phoenix on Thursday.
TAMPA, Fla. - Western Kentucky might not make it easy, but the Hilltoppers are still dancing.
WKU saw a 15-point second-half lead evaporate, but regrouped for a 72-63 NCAA Tournament second-round win over San Diego today.
It capped a wild weekend for the Hilltoppers, which began Friday with Ty Rogers’ heroic game-winning 3-point shot over Drake and now continues with their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1993.
The 12th seeded Hilltoppers (29-6) will meet top-seed UCLA on Thursday (time TBA) in Phoenix.
“Coming in, one of our goals was to win the (Sun Belt Conference) championship so we can position ourselves to come here and play games,” WKU senior guard Courtney Lee said. “We accomplished that and we didn’t want to stop with that. We wanted to come and make noise and win games.”
Lee had 29 points and answered with a huge 3-pointer after the Toreros knocked the Hilltoppers to the mat with an 18-2 run.
Immediately after San Diego’s Devin Ginty gave the Toreros a 55-54 lead with 6:35 left - the Toreros’ first lead since the early minutes - Lee canned his own 3-pointer and the Hilltoppers never trailed after that.
“He hit a big shot, but he hit big shots all day,” San Diego coach Bill Grier said. “Like I said, I think he’s a future NBA kid. He played a terrific game at the right time.”
Before Lee’s shot, WKU missed nine of 10 shots.
“Just like Friday’s game, we just learn from it,” Lee said. “There’s been a number of games we’ve been close in. We just have great poise and we just know we’re going to come down and attack and do the things we need to do.”

bgdailynews.com

The NCAA Men’s basketball tournament is just days away as the selection committee has made their picks and for the first time in many years there are few gripes. Only Arizona State University can really grumble and for them it is just a bit, they should have won more games. But now it is time for the NCAA Men’s Tournament Bracket and all of those bracket contests.
Who doesn’t love march Madness? So now everyone is looking forward to a few weeks in march where very little gets done in the workplace, especially during week one. People that have barely even looked at college basketball all year long are pulling out their pens and studying the brackets by using all kinds of cheat sheets like Bracketology 101.
For those that are looking for a decent printable bracket, one is here . I never win theses contests and it is usually some secretary that picks them out of a hat or on team names, the best colors of the uniforms or the guys with the cutest butts that brings home the first place money. But I will give you may Final Four, at least this is the main one I will use in my many bracket contests.
I like Kansas out of the Midwest, they are deep and a very strong team that can perform under pressure. Out west, it is all about the UCLA Bruins. I’m going to take Tennessee in the East and Memphis in the south. It’s Memphis versus Kansas in my finals match up and the eventual winner - the Kansas Jayhawks!For my track record, last year I entered seven bracket contests and the highest I finished was third, but that did get me a little money.

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March Madness 2008 Printable Bracket
It’s that time again….March Madness and every office with any semblance of life will be incorporating March Madness 2008 office pools.Needless-to-say, all our readers will require a printable bracket. These can be found at either ESPN.com or CBS Sportsline.
Just how popular are office pools and contests?
The tournament is no longer the exclusive province of the sports-obsessed. Office pools have dramatically expanded the number participating in and obsessing about the tourney. Last year, more than 3 million participated in online tournament contests, and with each year, more and more women enter office pools. Many — men and women alike — are simply ill-equipped to handle the pressure.
"Given the levels of unremitting stress, is it any wonder that thousands of Americans experience degrees of mental dysfunction during and long after the three-week event?" asked Dr. Frederick Geisel, a renowned industrial psychologist. "Effects can range from minor and temporary emotional imbalance to more prolonged periods of melancholy — or, its opposite, bouts of seemingly unprovoked rage — to longer-term effects, such as acute clinical depression."
By the way, if you feel guilty printing 2008 March Madness brackets with your thought process being that you are somehow promoting deviant behavior in the office, here is something to keep in mind:
Nearly half of U.S. workers have participated in office pools and nearly one-quarter have watched or followed sports events on their computers at work, according to a recent survey by Spherion Corp.
The other 50% of workers probably either work alone or work in offices that are run by dictators.
So print out your bracket here and walk into your office proudly.While you’re at it, tell the IT guy to stop blocking March Madness educational websites the likes of Gambling911.com.Who do they think they are? It’s sacrilege this time of year to do so.At least we think so!

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Much like the East Region, here are my predictions for the first round of games for the Midwest Region.
(1) Kansas vs. (16) Portland St.
Much like UNC, Kansas wins this one easily. As I have said in the past, no No.1 team has ever lost to a No. 16 and it definitely won't happen here.
Don't get me wrong—Portland. St. is a good team, but Kansas will win this game by more than 20.
(8) UNLV vs (9) Kent St.
UNLV wins this one game, a game where you could pick this game on your bracket by flipping a coin. I think Kent St. is the better team, but UNLV is more experienced after reaching the Elite 8 last season.
This is one of one games in this part of the bracket in the first round that will be a coin flip choice.
Villanova gets the upset here in the always scary 5 vs. 12 matchup.
Clemson made a nice run in the ACC Tournament, but the players looked so dejected after losing in the finals that I feel it will carry over to this game.
'Nova will go as Scottie Reynolds does, Nova also will show why they were chosen for the tournament over teams like ASU or Virginia Tech.
Vanderbilt wins this one in what many are calling a possible upset alert matchup, I think otherwise as Vanderbilt advances winning by 10+ points over a pesky Siena team.
(6) USC vs. (11) Kansas St.
USC wins this one in a battle of extremely talented freshmen, Beasley goes for 30+ but is no much for Mayo's 25 and Mayo's reliable role players, Hackett and Jefferson.
USC wins this one, sending Beasley into the NBA draft after a first round exit.
This is the second of my three games that I picked out as coin flip choices—no clear cut favorite in this game.
(3) Wisconsin vs. (14) CS Fullerton
Wisconsin wins this one with some great defense.
Fullerton can shoot the ball well but Wisconsin's defense proves too tough.
Wisconsin is definitely a darkhorse team to make the Final Four.
I think they play good basketball and are very consistent and could pose a threat possibly to Georgetown in the Sweet 16 if both teams get there.
In what may be the most entertaining matchup in the first round of this region, Davidson wins and extends its winning streak.
I don't feel that this Gonzaga team is as good as teams in the past and Davidson is an extremely good shooting team with Stephen Curry leading the way.

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(03-16) 21:40 PDT — Arizona is in; Arizona State is out.
That seemed to be the biggest topic of discussion after the field for the 65-team NCAA Tournament was announced Sunday, an event that always initiates complaints.
A few things were accepted without much objection. North Carolina receiving the overall No. 1 seed virtually was unchallenged, as were the selections of UCLA and Memphis as two of the other No. 1 seeds. There was some teeth gnashing when Kansas got the final No. 1 seed rather than Tennessee or Texas, but still no major outcries.
If the top seeds would all win their regionals, North Carolina would meet Kansas in the national semifinals, and UCLA would face Memphis.
Beyond that, the selections created more questions than answers:
Which regionals are the easiest and the toughest? The East Regional, with North Carolina and Tennessee as the top seeds, is top heavy, but the South - with Memphis, Texas, Stanford and surging Pittsburgh - might have the most topflight teams.
UCLA, the No. 1 seed in the West, may have the easiest route to the Final Four. Its chief competition is Duke and Connecticut, both of which lost two of their final three games, and Xavier, which was beaten by St. Joseph’s in the Atlantic-10 semifinals.

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O.J. Mayo called it: Southern California against Kansas State in a first-round game of the Midwest Regional at Omaha.
Mayo made the prediction during a telephone conversation with Kansas State’s Bill Walker moments before the first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament was announced.
“I told him, ‘I think we’re going to draw you guys,”‘ Mayo said Sunday at Galen Center, where the Trojans watched as the pairings were announced. “Omaha seemed like a good place to play. At the same time, it’s all about the money.”
Mayo was referring to the fact that he and Kansas State’s Michael Beasley are two of the most talented freshmen in the country, making for an attractive matchup.
Beasley is the third-leading scorer in the country, averaging 26.5 points. Mayo isn’t far behind at 20.8 points. Both figure to be early first-round picks whenever they decide to declare for the NBA draft.
“It’s still Kansas State vs. USC - two good teams, two teams that play hard,” Mayo said. “We’ll get a crowd there, it should be exciting.”
The 20-year-old Mayo said he has known Walker since the age of three, calling him “my best friend in the world.”
Mayo said the two spoke again after learning they would face each other.

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(03-15) 17:57 PST — Another day to wait until Selection Monday, also known as Second-Class Citizen Day. Enough already.
Your No. 1 seeds are: Connecticut, Tennessee, North Carolina and Stanford. No. 2s to LSU, Maryland, Baylor and Rutgers.
Stanford’s best case for the No. 1: Only Connecticut has a better overall record against Top 25 teams, 12-1, compared with Stanford’s 8-1.
Geography: Stanford’s placement in the Spokane Region makes sense. But if Stanford is the fourth No. 1 seed and LSU is the first No. 2 seed, they would probably end up in the same bracket.
And with New Orleans on the list of regional sites - with LSU a definite draw there - maybe the Cardinal go to the Big Easy? Not rooting or anything.
Cal, meanwhile, is hoping to get a shot at Stanford for the first- and second-round games. If the NCAA is truly interested in giving their sites the best chance to draw fans, they will put the Bears in Palo Alto.
Possible early exits: Don’t even need to see the brackets to know that there are a few high-profile teams that could have short stays.
– Oklahoma. The Sooners go into selection day with three straight losses, two to close the regular-season and then a first-round loss to Missouri in the Big 12 tournament. The Tigers won two conference games all year.

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Odds to Win the 2008 Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament
Odds to win the 2008 Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament were updated the hours leading up to Selection Sunday. The lines appearing below were betable and could be locked in the weekend of March 14. But these odds would not last long, so getting in on the action early was deemed prudent by Gambling911.com.
BetUS.com odds to win the 2008 Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament could be found on their website by clicking on the SPORTSBOOK tab at the top of the page, FUTURES, then 2007-2008 NCAA Mens Tournament (lines appear by scrolling down the site). It’s an absolutely horrible site for navigating to find the odds, but once you do, it’s like discovering a hidden treasure.Simply put, BetUS.com does offer some of the best NCAA Basketball Tournament future odds this season.
There are some interesting high payout potential teams listed below.For example, USC would pay $4000 for every $100 bet.Purdue would pay $6000 for every $100 bet.

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