2011 NCAA Tournament: Early games provide fantastic finishes

West Virginia-84 Clemson-76 : I had originally picked Clemson to win this game, and Clemson came out early playing to prove me right. Their defense was relentless and looked to go into the half up nine, but then West Virginia came storming back with a nine nothing run to end the half tied. Man, West Virginia’s offense is like watching paint dry and in the second half Clemson missing shots seemed to be bothering them enough to let down on the defense end, letting West Virginia go up by double digits early and stay that way. Towards the end of the game, Clemson tried to make several runs but the defensive intensity just wasn’t there like it was in the first half. I had written Clemson off because I stopped writing about them once they went down big with three to play, but they brought the score back within three with a few to play, but then West Virginia makes a few hustle plays to make it 80-71. I feel like I’m writing in past and presence tense, oh well. Dalton Pepper of WVU definitely with some big defensive plays, he got his hands on about three loose balls to seal the deal of WVU as they go on to face the winner of Kentucky/Princeton.

Butler-60 ODU-58 : Going to be honest, I didn’t watch a lot of this one because of the WVU/Clemson game and the Louisville/Morehead St. At one point in the game though ODU had shot 12 free throws and Butler hadn’t shot one and still had the lead by one. You don’t see that often. This game has been back and forth and every time I look at the score it’s still within one, but now it looks like Butler has taken the lead 53-50 with 5:40 to play. Just got a stat that said this game had 21 lead changes, wow. This game is really give and take, a lot of grind it out basketball. Butler finally pulls away a bit with a 58-52 lead with 2:43 to play. Butler hadn’t scored in seven minutes, but finally got one to go at the 2:25 mark. A minute to go and ODU gets a huge stop and brings the ball down the floor, misses a shot and gets the rebound. This is what March Madness is all about. 36 seconds to go and ODU has the ball down by two. TV goes to a time out. Tie ball game with 31 seconds left, ODU ties it up with free throws. BUTLER WITH A BUZZER BEATER TO WIN IT! WOW! Matt Howard the star of Butler with a buzzer beater tip in to win it! That my friends is what March Madness is ALL ABOUT!

Morehead St-62 Louisville-61: What a sloppy yet exciting game. Morehead St. game out with a fire under them and went up 7-0 and then continued that run throughout the first half. Let me tell you, everything you’ve heard about Kennth Faried is the TRUTH. This kid is crazy good at rebounding the ball and his offensive skill set is uncanny. I’ve not seen a big man with such good footwork. The big men of Louisville is giving him a little bit of problems though and as the half goes on, it looks like Morehead. St is being affected with where the game is being played—Denver. They are really huffing and puffing. Louisville finally makes a run at the end of the half to go up three but Morehead St. with a buzzer beater to tie it 33-33 at the half. Sloppy but awesome basketball. Louisville looking superior to start the second half, Siva taking a hard shot from Faried and goes down favoring his hip, if Louisville wants to go deep, Siva can’t disappear like he’s doing today. Louisville in control now approaching the 10 minute mark and up eight. Have been watching the Kentucky game but Morehead went from being down two to up 57-52 after Preston Knowles goes out with a ankle injury, Siva has four fouls. Faried has 16 rebounds at this point in the game. OH MY GOODNESS. MOREHEAD ST. WITH A SHOT TO WIN THE GAME WITH SECONDS LEFT! Siva dribbles down, pass to Marra, Kenneth Faried with the block…AND THERE YOU HAVE IT…MOREHEAD ST. SHOCKS THE WORLD! Demonte Harper…Remember the name, hit the three pointer of the year!

Temple-66 Penn.State-64 : I thought Temple would roll in this one, but I shouldn’t have counted out that Battle kid from Penn.State. He’s playing like a champ right now and is up on Temple 28-19 with eight to play, and I turn it on during a commercial, great. I usually hate watching big 10 teams, and their style of play usually don’t fare well in the tournament but Penn State is 10/19 from the field at this point in the game, not use in slowing down the offense the way it’s rolling right now. While I was busy wetting myself over the Butler/ODU game it looks like Temple has made a run as I figured they would. Temple has gone up one point with 2:20 left in the half. Temple takes a two point lead into half time, remember that Temple won a game in the thirties last week. We’re out of half time and UK is on and Morehead is giving Louisville a game so I’m not watching much of this one, it’s a rather boring game but Temple is holding on to a two point lead. What a first set of games, Temple’s Fernandez just wins it with 0.4 seconds left to play. He finishes with 23 points, had 17 at half time.

Whew…What a first set of games. Glad I’m done for a while. See you guys tonight.

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