GW Crashes & Burns
After seeing George Washington play such great defense here in AC at the A-10 tournament while winning it, it was a shock that they were ousted by Vanderbilt in the worst Day 1 blow-out, 77-44. What happened? Who knows, because we didn’t actually get to see the game. GW had the “dinner game,” the game that gets no coverage because CBS takes its dinner break and hands off to local and national news.
Perhaps it was for the best. Xavier, on the other hand, came from behind to beat BYU in a thrilling 79-77 game of which we got to see about four minutes. Four minutes of Drew Lavender was enough, however. He bested Austin Ainge, as daddy Danny Ainge looked on. As a Sixers fan, I still take great satisfaction in seeing an Ainge get beat.
There was only one real upset, when 11-seed Virginia Commonwealth, out of the Colonial Athletic Conference (remember George Mason last year?) beat Duke 79-77. Led by super soph Eric Maynor, the Rams came back from a 13-point hole in the first half to oust the Blue Devils in the first round for the first time since 1996.
Maynor gets my vote as the top player of the day. Other outstanding players included Lavender and freshman Stephen Curry, whose 30-points almost earned 13-seed Davidson an upset win over Maryland. Curry’s dad Dell Curry used to kill the Sixers from the 3-point line when he played for Toronto. Check out Yahoo's site for great game shots.
My picks did okay. I picked the VCU upset on three of my five bracket entrants; of course I picked GW to win in all five so that hurt. I also thought Marquette was a shoe-in but they got smoked, and Indiana proved they really belonged as a 7-seed with the relatively easy victory over “America’s Team,” Gonzaga.
Best Bet: the all-Ohio battle between Columbus-based Ohio State and Cincy’s Xavier on Saturday should be a doozy. State should win, and even through it would screw up my brackets, I’ll be rooting for the X-men upset.
Today’s top game: The battle between Wildcats of course, Villanova vs. Kentucky. Naturally I’m going with the local ’Cats in a game sure to loaded with scratching and clawing.