COLLEGE BBALL

For those of you looking to get your first taste of March Madness — you got a chance to last night as Morehead State took on Alabama State in the “Play-In” game.  Essentially, this was the #65 seed taking on the #64 seed, battling to see who would get the precious opportunity to lose to the #1 seed in the nation — Louisville.  Much was expected of Alabama State, as they are home to a 7’1 center with the longest name in NCAA Tournament History.  His name:  Chief Kickingstallionsims.  Unfortunately, he didn’t really show up for Alabama State, playing only 14 minutes, and scoring 0 points.  He must have been born to do something else.  Kenneth Faried and Leon Buchanan led the way for Morehead State, and now they are headed to take on Louisville… for the second time this season.  Wouldn’t it be great if they got revenge?  Morehead State 58, Alabama State 43.

Elsewhere in college basketball, a somewhat relevant game from the N.I.T. (The National Invitational Tournament), where it was South Carolina taking on Davidson, the Cinderella team from last year’s tourney.  At the beginning of the season, Davidson appeared to be headed back to the field of 64, but their pro-bound phenom, Stephen Curry, got injured for a short period, and they also lost the semifinal game of their conference tournament.  No March Madness for them.  A bummer considering it would have been fun to watch Curry try to do it all again.  However, this game was worth noting because he completely dominated it — almost like he’s reproving himself to the pro scouts.  He had 32 points and looked like the Curry that led Davidson to last year’s Elite 8 — and just one basket away from the Final Four.  He might have the N.I.T. in the bag.  Davidson 70, South Carolina 63.

And there’s more news heading into Thursday’s tip-off.  North Carolina’s star point-guard, Ty Lawson, may miss their opening game with a toe injury.  Apparently this injury is taking longer to recover than expected.  Sure, UNC will probably be just fine against a #16 seed without Lawson in the line-up, but it’s more about what it says about their complete path.  If Lawson isn’t 100% going forward, the Tar Heels are not the same team. They’re great, but they’re not perfect.  His injury could really affect them, and perhaps result in a fluke early exit in the Sweet Sixteen.

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC

Finally, the U.S. isn’t exactly into this whole World Baseball Classic thing, but… the U.S. TEAM DEFINITELY IS.  They’re killing themselves out there trying to advance to the next round, and yesterday… they did just that.  However, it didn’t come easy, as they took on a very talented Puerto Rico team which features such MLB stars as Pudge Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado.  The U.S. was down the whole game, but they rallied back, and in the bottom of the 9th inning, New York Mets all-star David Wright hit a clutch double to score two runs and give the U.S. a win.  Wow!  They advance to the next round, and now take on Venezuela again.  These guys really want to win this thing.  U.S. 6, Puerto Rico 5.