NCAA Tournament, Day 3 and 4

Days 3 and 4 were not as hectic as 1 and 2, but nearly as alcoholic. I woke up, again, inebriated. So this is it. A trip to the sweet 16 on the line. Duke v West Virginia will be the crowning moment of the day. I’m rooting all the way, as is most of America, against Duke. Not so much FOR West Virginia, but AGAINST Duke.

That seems to be the consensus of the apartment, as we all straggle into the living room, beers in hand, ready for day 3. We are not alcoholics. I promise. This weekend has been a celebration of all that is man, and we, as men, have chosen to partake in the highest of levels.

Duke opens up a 5 point halftime lead at half, but WVU hasn’t made a 3 pointer yet. When they start heating up, then we’ll see where this game goes.

More beers as the Mountaineers start their comeback and Duke goes ice cold. We all discuss what Coach K possibly had to barter with in order for Duke to be so good for so long. We finally settled on Coach K having incriminating photos of the head of the NCAA referee committee.

The Bostonians arrive, but this time have changed their strategy. No hard liquor. “Hugs and handshakes only.” At least our doors are safe…for today. They stay for a while, but must head to San Antonio to catch a flight home early the next morning.

There goes the “David” entertainment. WVU finishes off Duke as we all cheer along. Joe Alexander has us all giddy as he talks mess to Duke players during the action.

Kansas State soon turns into a yawner, so we play some beer pong. I honestly think our game of BP was more entertaining than the K-state/Wisconsin game.

The hardest I cheered all day came when Mississippi State gave #1 seed Memphis a close game all the way down to the wire. MSU just ran out of gas as Memphis kept bricking free throw after free throw. Kinda reminds me of a team full of Shaqs.

We down a few beers, load up the flasks, and 2 others go with me to a concert in southwest Austin. I won’t mention the artist’s name, so we’ll just call him Gat Preen. The show was amazing, as was the booze and ladies. We keep track of the scores via my fancy new Blackberry and my friend’s game tracker on his phone.

As I return from a beer run, I’m informed that Stanford has lived, and will be facing Texas in the round of 16. I’m happy for my bracket, but worried about the Lopez twins from Stanford. Michigan State also handles business.

We enjoy the concert and grub on some Pluckers on the way home. We catch more highlights and analysis, have a few drinks, then head back home to retire.

Day 4 starts out slowly as I can’t force myself out of bed until nearly 130. Villanova has just ended Siena’s run at a Sweet 16 and the Texas game will be on soon.

No booze today, as I must sober up for a softball game later tonight.

Texas dominates the entire game versus Miami, and just barely squeaks out a 3 point win. Never once did I think the game wasn’t in hand, but Texas must learn to close out games with clutch free throw shooting.

Tennessee nearly screws up again as we all hold our breath and wait for Butler to screw up. Eventually it happens, and we all begin making fun of AJ Graves, who apparently looks like a rat.

Stephen Curry of Davidson wasn’t done putting on a show for NBA scouts, and drops 30 on #2 seed Georgetown, one of my Final Four picks. If anything deserves a drink, this would be it. Losing a Final Four team on the first weekend is just unacceptable.

Davidson defeats Goliath. That’s what it was tagged as, and we now officially have a Cinderella. Although 12 seeds Western Kentucky and Villanova also made it to the round of 16, they did not have to go through a 2 seed. Davidson will be the Cinderella, but we’ll see if the shoe still fits next week.

Oklahoma gets blown out by Louisville, as I have a laugh at my nemesis’ expense. North Carolina again blows out their opponent, scoring 108 this time.

Overall, a pretty underwhelming Sunday, but the tournament is not even half over. Stay tuned for more crazy calls and incredible efforts from young college kids.

Player of the weekend goes to Stephen Curry of Davidson, for leading his team past 2 higher seeds, including a number 2 seed, and averaging 35 points in those 2 games.

As I said before, this year’s Cinderella will be Curry’s Davidson team who now faces Wisconsin in the round of 16.

Shot of the weekend goes to Ty Rogers, who nailed a 26-foot 3-pointer as time expired in overtime to give Western Kentucky the victory over Drake.

Most boring bracket goes to the East, who saw seeds 1-4 all make it to the Sweet 16.

Bad call of the weekend goes to the crew in the UCLA/Tx A&M game.

Sexy Final Four sleeper- Louisville. They’ve done nothing but dominate so far in this year’s tournament and Rick Pitino has them playing solid basketball.