Basketball

Wake Forest - Presbyterian

Wake blows a 16 pt first half lead to lead by 2 at the break.  Tight until midway in the second half.  Deacs win by a dozen.

Wake Forest - Bucknell

I'm an alumni so I watch, but I dont think anyone could say that they enjoy.  Deacs win.

Oregon - Nebraska

Nebraska is the last Big XII team for me to see.  They take an early 9 point lead over the visiting Ducks.  Oregon comes back, this game is see-saw, see-saw.  Tajuan Porter is filling it up from 3.  Malik Hairston is frustratingly making errors on the little stuff.  Ducks down 1 with 2 minutes left.  Ducks turnover, Ducks turnover and a third Ducks turnover.  Down 3 with 20 seconds left.  Tajuan Porter takes a 3 with 9 seconds left.  Its good and he's fouled.  A career 91% FT shooter.  He misses it and we go to overtime.  Its just not the Ducks day.  #16 loses 88-79 Nebraska in a shocker.

UTEP - New Mexico St

Stefon Jackson.  Wow!

Loyola (IL) - Wisconsin Milwaukee

Oh, an exciting Horizon League opener.  UWM appeared to have this one sealed away up 4 in the final seconds.  Then a Loyola score, an offensive foul on the UWM in-bounds pass, and a Lorenzo Charles-esque put back just before the buzzer on a 30footer pushed this game into overtime.  Loyola was in charge the duration of the extra time.  ESPN 360 picked this game off of the Full court package which had secured the rights from Channel 32 in Milwaukee complete with its lesser production values and hometown announcers.  It felt like college hoops from the old days.  I might make comments about the homers that I hear, but I do enjoy listening to broadcasters who are emotionally invested in their teams and have seen them practice and play repeatedly.  I prefer this to national cable networks having a few broadcast teams that they fly around the country, telling me about teams that I might have seen more than the "experts."

Syracuse -Rhode Island

URI goes on a 12-3 run to tie the game at 72.  Jonny Flynn to the tin!  And 1.  Yep, he is good and will be fun to watch over the next few years (at least after that dickhead Devendorf exhausts his eligibility.) Sorry Gunny, I just cant put them in my Top 25.  The win at Virginia was nice, but up 1 over a midlevel A10 team at home?  This soon after the UMass debacle?  Jonny Flynn to the tin!  Nobody cant stop him once he gets a step.  URI has received good guard play and some nice offensive rebounds.  Tied at 81 with 3 minutes to play.  Another offensive rebound and stuff with authority for URI.  84-81 Rams.  Tied at 84 with 2 to go.  Roady up 88-87 with a minute to go after Mbang free throws, a Flynn miss, and a good URI drive.  SU takes a quick ill-advised shot, then URI instead of milking some clock drives into the lane and gets called for a charge.  Shot clock off, URI by 1. With 20 seconds left to to work with Devendorf drives the lane and throws up a highly contested shot of the playground variety.  Ha Ha.  I hate him and love it that he sucks and is a stupid, stupid ballplayer.  Any skills that he possesses are negated by his lack of basketball intelligence.  URI up 1 with the ball with 8 seconds to play.  Syracuse goes for the 3 to win, but instead loses its second game at home to an A10 team.

Oregon - Utah

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Stephen F Austin - Oklahoma

ESPN 360 brought me this stunning upset.  The Lumberjacks came into the game at 6-1, but with no meaningful victories and a 16 point loss to Texas Tech.  Their schedule incudes games with Texas-Tyler, Huston-Tillotson, Paul Quinn, and Wiley.  I dont know what those are, but I knw wthey arent D1.  Not even "D1, but shouldnt be D1" D1.  SFA has a good forward in Kingsley.  Solid down the stretch, nice win in Norman.  This team should challenge for the Southland title.

Arkansas - Missouri State

An interesting game for me.  Arkansas hasnt lived up to expectations in the games I have seen and Missouri State is an unknown to me this year in an always competitive Missouri Valley (that might be down a tad this year.)  Missouri State already has wins over UNCG  and Winthrop squads that have been under consideration for my Mid Major Top 10.  Also, they have a win over the Rick Majerus -led St Louis team and a close loss to potential sleeper Toledo.  Missouri State led early in the game by taking advantage of open lanes to the basket.  The Razorbacks had a 13-2 run at the end of the first half to help them go into halftime with a 5-point lead. Missouri State fell out of contention in the second half as they only shot 20% from the field.  Former Wake Forest recruiting target Patrick Beverley had a horrible night shooting.

Gonzaga - Connecticut

Jeremy Pargo continues to show why he is one of the better and more exciting players in the D1 basketball.  Scored 10 pts in the final 5 minutes to keep the Zags one step ahead of the Huskies.  ESPN video link: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?&brand=null&videoId=3137028&n8pe6c=2