16 thoughts about Thursday's NCAA games

I loved Morehead State''s win, hated Princeton's loss to Kentucky, and was ambivalent about Butler's last-second victory over Old Dominion. I mean, that school got a generation's worth of shining moments last year. Old Dominion's Coach Blaine Taylor seemed like a genuine character who could have used such a moment more.

Taylor's mustache was one of the top 10 highlights of Day One, in fact. (No, Tuesday's and Wednesday's play-in games do not count as Day One and Day Two.)

I've just had a mustache all the time," Taylor said. "I don't know. I'm just an old western sheriff, I guess.”

Sixteen teams played Thursday, so here are 16 impressions:

1. The higher seed went 13-3, but it didn't feel like it. That's because Morehead State set the tourney on its ear early in the day with its win over Louisville, and Richmond followed up on it with its win over Vanderbilt. UCLA's win over Michigan State was an upset (albeit as mild an upset as possible) in the Las Vegas sports books, because MSU was a 1.5-point favorite.

2. UCLA needs to raise its 40-minute game about a thousand miles to beat Florida Saturday. Those last few minutes were the biggest choke that wasn't a total choke that I've seen in a long time.

3. Florida was the most-impressive team I saw Thursday. Every time I flipped over to the Gators' game against UC-Santa Barbara, they were running and dunking.

4. My favorite player of the day was forward Kenneth Faried of Morehead State. He's from Newark, N.J. He was just 4-of-17 from the field and scored only 12 points. But he had 17 rebounds, made two huge free throws with 31 seconds left, and played big-time, game-sealing defense on Louisville's final possession. Nobody close to home recruited him seriously, so he went to eastern Kentucky and has played himself into the first-round of this year's NBA draft.

5. Richmond has good players, too. The Spiders play Morehead State Saturday in a 12-13 matchup. Those come along once every five years or so, and I love them. It puts a mid-major underdog in the Sweet 16, a good mid-major underdog.  Richmond backup center Darrius Garrett blocked five shots in his 19 minutes, and had a foul call on a block attempt that looked like it was all ball.

6. Gonzaga won't go away. It's been to the Sweet 16 five times since 1999. This could be No. 6. I'd take the Zags over BYU on Saturday. The Zags' desire to play good teams in the nonconference pays off. They played five out-of-league teams that were ranked and lost to four. But they were more than ready for St. John's on Thursday.

7. Jimmer Fredette is really good. The soon-to-be Player of the Year added to his storybook senior season with 32 points and 7 assists against a decent Wofford team. He didn't shoot the 3-pointer very well (2-of-9), but he made play after play in the second half for BYU in the second-half.

8. An incredible streak got broken. Temple Coach Fran Dunphy had lost 11 straight NCAA games (and was 1-12 in the tourney) before the Owls' 66-64 win over Penn State Thursday. Eight losses came with Penn, three with Temple. That was an NCAA record. "It might have been our time, that's all," Dunphy said after Thursday's win. "Just our time." But what about Temple's 28-game losing streak to Penn State in football?

9. I really liked the four-network setup. One game on CBS, one on TBS, one on TNT, one on truTV. Pick your favorite game. Watch the scores at the top of the screen, and flip somewhere else if better drama is going on somewhere else. Instant gratification.

10. The photo of Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals' mascot is priceless. I can't use the one I'm talking about, because it's a Getty Images shot, not Associated Press. But if you haven't seen it, click here, then get right back here after you've had a good chuckle. Unless you're a Louisville fan, then it only adds to the pain.

11. The Tweet of the Day comes to us from @bigleaguestew: All you who tabbed Belmont over my Badgers: That's what you get for picking a school that specializes in country music. #yourdogdied

Runner-up: @sportspickle truTV must have a graphics error. It says Wisconsin has 32 points with 30 seconds left in the 1st half. I assume it's really the 2nd half.

12. Collegeinsider.com Tournament update: Northern Iowa will play the winner of Saturday afternoon's Jacksonville-SMU game on Monday night in Cedar Falls. That's what we have for postseason men's hoops in Iowa this year. Things could be worse, sort of. You could be Nashville, which had both of its teams (Belmont, Vanderbilt) eliminated Thursday.

13. It was 22 years ago today (March 18) when Georgetown edged Princeton, 50-49, in one of the most-memorable first-round games of the tourney's history. I was there, in Providence, R.I., for the game. Iowa had played a day game, beating Rutgers. I finished my work, and went into the arena in time for the second-half of Hoyas-Tigers. Georgetown was a No. 1 seed, Princeton a No. 16. So, so, so, close. So, so, so exciting. Princeton got its shining moment seven years later when it stunned UCLA in a first-round game in Indianpolis, 43-41. And almost got another Thursday against Kentucky.

14. I shed no tears because Bucknell got plastered by UConn, 81-52. Six years ago, my wife's family was at our house and the tourney was on TV. Wise guy me said I'd buy her a new vehicle if Bucknell beat Kansas in their first-round game. Bucknell was a 14-seed, Kansas a 3. You know what happened. Bison 64, Jayhawks 63, and a living room-full of witnesses who heard my statement. A few months later, the wife had her new Toyota Highlander.

15. I've shot baskets in Belmont, Wisconsin. It's a village on Highway 151 between Dubuque and Madison. For many years, two friends of mine and I would go to Milwaukee for an Indy car race the Sunday after the Indy 500. We'd stop at Belmont or Mineral Point and shoot some hoops. Honestly. ... Anyhow, I wonder if anyone in Belmont felt weird about Wisconsin playing Belmont University Thursday. Probably not. People tend not to be very concerned about such things unless they have idle minds. Like, uh, mine.

16. I really wish Princeton had defeated Kentucky. Princeton Coach Sydney Johnson was in tears at his postgame press conference.

"You know, Kentucky has got a great tradition, and they have a fantastic coach and players, fan support," he said.

"Ours is no less. I hope I'm not offending anybody. We have a proud and rich tradition. And I really like this matchup. I really thought that it was a special one for the tournament. Princeton-Kentucky, from my vantage point, are two of the best basketball programs that we've seen in college basketball.

"So I was very excited, and I wanted to demand from our players that we live up to that, and I think we did. I think we did that. "

Darn right you did.

Bring on Friday's games.