Sure, it’s not quite the same as the first weekend. But the 2nd weekend of the tournament is where even more drama happens, in many respects – can Davidson actually pull a Mason? Which #1 seed will bite the dust in a most unsavory fashion? And when will it get warm enough for girls to wear skirts and flipflops? (Not that we’re watching, honey.) For these reasons and more, we humbly log in to our MMOD account and bring you our live thoughts as the games progress.

7:10: Let’s get this started. The first pair of games: (7) West Virginia vs. (3) Xavier in the West, and (1) UNC vs. (4) Washington St. in the East. The West game tips off now, with the East game starting in about 20 minutes.

7:15: In a total shock, the stands in Phoenix aren’t quite full for a game between two teams from opposite sides of the Ohio River. Never would have called that one. (Of course, if this were WfVU and tOSU in the Fiesta Bowl … not an empty seat in the house despite same deets. But that’s football, and this is not, and Xavier doesn’t have Subcommandante Wayne recruitin’ the soljahs.)

7:20: Not a good start to the day for the ‘Neers. (Not to be confused with the ‘Teers.) After three fouls and a couple of god-help-us shots, WfV just got on the board with a pair of free throws. Xavier then took their time and drilled the ball into the post to extend their lead to 10-2.

7:30: You know what sucks? Being stuck in a meeting (or, in this case, class.) You know what sucks worse? Said meeting room having windows from which you can see a beautiful garden in spring. You know what’s worst? Being able to smell the barbeque AND hear the band from said garden. Remind us, on the off chance we ever go back to school, not to sign up for evening seminars in the spring.

7:35: UNC-WSU tipped off about ten minutes ago, and … well, not a lot of offense so far. 10 points in four minutes of play … this bodes well for Wazzu. They have no chance of winning a shoot out, but a grinder suits their strengths.

7:45: Watching West Virginia shoot the ball tonight does NOT make Duke fans feel any better about the loss on Saturday. I don’t care how “blue-collar” their rebounding is – how the hell did Duke lose to a team that shoots like this?

7:50: And as soon as I type that, ‘Neers go on a wee bit of a run, and cut the Xavier lead to 28-20 with five minutes to go in the half.

8:05: The problem with a low scoring game is that the slightest run takes on much bigger proportions. UNC leading 19-15? No big deal. UNC leading 27-18? Very different looking.

8:15: And those very different proportions now look like a blowout. UNC takes a 35-21 lead into the half. Wazzu is a team built on scheme offense and strong defense – they are not built to come from behind. This could get ugly.

8:30: Coming back from halftime, Xavier-West Virginia looks like a much better game than it did during most of the first half. WfVU came out firing (though they are still 0-fer long range), and Xavier’s lead is down to 32-29. XU takes a timeout to figure out what the hell happened to its shooting.

8:40: Tiger Woods must have enjoyed filming the latest nonsensical Gillette ad with Roger Federer and Thierry Henry. “What are we doing? Wearing Euro black suits and smacking the Earth around? Hmmm … can I do it one-handed? I only need two hands for gas giants.”

8:45: Wazzu is one dude away from playing a whitewash right now. See, THIS is why I couldn’t take them seriously – they are a major conference public institution that can play a whitewash! Even Tom Izzo wouldn’t do that.

8:55: The UNC-WSU game is effectively over; Carolina as a 19 point lead at the under-12 timeout. Meanwhile, Xavier and WfVU are in an absolute dogfight – Dante Jackson just nailed a three-pointer (his first bucket of the night) to give XU a 57-55 lead. Huggy Bear takes a timeout to change mock turtles.

9:05: Interesting graphic just popped up – with five minutes to go, both teams have significant foul trouble. Joe Alexander, WfVU’s sparkplug, has four fouls, as do Derrick Brown and Stanley Burrell for the ‘Teers. Four other ‘Neers (see how confusing this gets) have three fouls. Will follow …

9:10: And WfVU takes their first lead of the game. Wow. 59-57 with four minutes to go.

9:15: In a beautiful bit of post play, Josh Duncan just backed his defender all the way to the hoop and forced a foul on his way up with the shot. He hits the free throw to tie the game at 62.

9:17: And then he goes down, grabs a tough rebound, and draws a foul under WfVU’s hoop … and since they are in the bonus, he gets two shots and nails those as well. XU back on top 64-62, and I have a mancrush on Josh Duncan.

9:20: The teams trade fruitless possessions and cheap shots … things are getting pretty chippy down low. WfVU has the ball at midcourt with 21 seconds to go.

9:25: Fascinating exchange – Joe Alexander banks in a shot to tie the game, plus he draws a phantom foul. Alexander clanks the shot and XU grabs the board, but then throws it out of bounds. Refs give the ball back to XU anyway. The refs are going to be goats of this game no matter who wins. Tie game, XU ball back court with 14 seconds to go … and in the blink of an eye, the time elapses and we’re going to OT.

9:30: Xavier looks like they ran out of discipline with about five minutes to go in regulation; the ‘Teers are getting a little sloppy under the hoop, which leads to dumb fouls and missed rebounds. Since those are precisely the types of things a team is DYING to do during overtime, Sean Miller is thanking his players by giving them handfuls of his hair – freshly plucked!

9:35: Of course, when you can shoot the lights out from long range, that is less concerning. Tied at 72 with 1:51 to go.

9:40: Oh, and since we stopped noticing this game an hour ago, we’ll mention that Carolina won by 21 points. That is all.

9:42: Back to back HUGE defensive plays – Xavier steals a perimeter pass to control the ball with a one-point lead and a minute to go; on the ensuing possession, West Virginia knocks a would-be floater into the fifth row with a late block. (Missed being goaltending by a double click.) Xavier takes a TO but retains possession with 30 seconds to go and a one point lead.

9:45: And they take that inbounds pass, complete a risky cross-court pass to a wide open D.J. Raymond, who nails the three pointer to give XU a four point lead. At the other end, Xavier gets called for a highly questionable foul on the rebound, but Joe Mazzolla can only make one of two, so we’ve officially entered “commit intentional completely-unintentional-we-swear fouls and hope a miracle happens” time.

9:50: Xavier can’t make its free throws, but no miracle all the same. Final score – Xavier 78, WfV 74.

We’re going to take a brief break to make a phone call and eat a snack – the late games start around 10pm, and we’ll jump into those about midway into the first half.

12:00: Phone call took two hours. We’ve been watching the Louisville-Tennessee game, and we’re feeling awfully foolish for picking UT earlier now that U of L is up 12 with two minutes to go. What were we thinking? Bruce Pearl’s teams only win games like this when they don’t count. Rick Pitino’s teams ALWAYS wins these games. We’re idiots. (But, at least we had the Cardinals in our actual bracket.)

Meanwhile, UCLA is doing exactly what we thought would to the Hilltoppers – big lead early followed by a lot of lazy play, and now their lead is down to six with five minutes to go. We’ve given up on the Volunteers, but the folks from Bowling Green still have a shot.

12:20: Well, dammit, so much for my intrigue. UCLA, predictably, extended the lead back out to 12 with 3 minutes to go. So much for that. Also, Louisville finished with a 17 point win.

12:30: Ten point lead with a minute to go, and we’re gonna call it a night. Hope you enjoyed the games, and we’ll be back in the morning.