The best time of the year for college basketball got underway today as 64 teams began their quest to cut the nets down in San Antonio. All a team has to do is win 6 games in a row to be the champion. That’s not so hard is it? (kidding) The last few years March Madness has been exactly that - pure madness. There was upset after upset, hell, George Mason went to the final four. Day 1 this year, which started with Xavier v Georgia and ended with UCLA v Mississippi Valley State, was pretty uneventful when compared to years past. A 9 seed beat an 8 seed which isn’t much of an upset and an 11 beat a 6 for the only real “shock” of the day. The rest of the higher seeds won. Here’s a quick breakdown of how everybody looked:

Blowouts/Laughers:

(1) Kansas defeats (16) Portland St, 85-61. - No 16 seed has ever defeated a 1 seed and Kansas never showed Portland State, who was making their first NCAA appearance, any light of hope to catch up in this game. Jayhawks early and often.

(8) UNLV defeats (9) Kent St, 71-58. - Don’t be deceived by the 13 point difference in the final score, this game was over before halftime. Kent State managed just 10 points in the 1st half, tying an NCAA record for futility on offense in a half.

(4) Pittsburgh defeats (13) Oral Roberts, 82-63. - Much like Kansas did, the Panthers never gave Oral Roberts anything to build on. The lead got big and they padded it all game long. Huge game from Fields.

(3) Stanford defeats (14) Cornell, 77-53. - The Lopez brothers each contributed nicely, but it was the play of Kenny Brown (18 points in 24 minutes) that pushed the Cardinal over the Ivy League champs. Never a close one.

(4) Washington St defeats (14) Winthrop, 71-40. - Some people had questions about the Cougars coming into the tournament, and Winthrop upended a high seed last year. I think the Cougs are doing fine, solid all around performance.

(5) Notre Dame defeats (12) George Mason, 68-50. - Well, this year’s George Mason..won’t be George Mason. Harangody and co. proved way too much to handle in both halfs for the colonial league champs.

(1) UCLA defeats (16) Mississippi Valley St, 70-29. - The Bruins had a mild scrimmage today in Anaheim. Seriously though, 29 points? This team is scary good.

Never That Close:

(5) Michigan St defeats (12) Temple, 72-61. - The Owls and Spartans each shot horribly in the 1st half, but the Spartans found their shot in the 2nd half while Temple struggled to make short comeback attempts that fell short each time.

(6) Purdue defeats (11) Baylor, 90-79. - The Boiler Makers owned the first half and went into half with a 19 point lead. But Baylor, behind 27 from Jerrells, kept it respectable in the 2nd. The Bears couldn’t get over the hump.

Good Games:

(3) Xavier defeats (14) Georgia, 73-61. - The first game of the day looked like it was going to start the tourney off with a shocker. The SEC champs led by 9 at half and for some of the 2nd before Xavier furiously stormed back to tie it and finally pull away with the win.

(11) Kansas St defeats (6) USC, 80-67. - Michael Beasley did not disappoint in his first NCAA game ending up with 23 and 11. The Wildcats opened up a 10 point margin going into half but the Trojans played them closer in the 2nd, pulling to as close as 2 points, but Kansas State weathered the storm and won the game.

(7) West Virginia defeats (10) Arizona, 75-65. - Everyone heard the talk: Joe Alexander and West Virginia are a sleeper ready for a big run and Arizona doesn’t deserve to be dancing. Well, the Wildcats gave Huggins and co. all they had, keeping the game within arms reach for most of the 40 minutes. The Mountaineers were able to pull away late with clutch shooting.

(9) Texas A&M defeats (8) BYU, 67-62. - The Aggies shot 54 percent from the field in the game, but BYU was tied at half, and stayed with A&M all game long. BYU made baskets at the end, but they traded baskets with the Aggies which resulted in their first round exit.

(3) Wisconsin defeats (14) Cal State Fullerton, 71-56. - Looking at the final score you would think Wisconsin pretty much handled this game the whole way: not the case. The Badgers were up by a mere 2 points at half and this game was a dog fight until the Big 10 champs really locked down with under 10 minutes left and sealed the win.

Great Games/Thrillers:

(6) Marquette defeats (11) Kentucky, 74-66. - This was hands down the best game of the day. The Marquette lead was 4 at half after the teams traded shots all half long. That trend continued as Kentucky got a huge game from Joe Crawford who poured in 35 points. But his effort fell short as Marquette was able to answer Kentucky each time down the floor. The Golden Eagles scored the last 6 points of the game.

(2) Duke defeats (15) Belmont, 71-70. - The mega upset that just got away. Hats off to the Belmont Bruins who played 40 great minutes of basketball. A 7-point Blue Devils lead at the half was erased in the 2nd half and this came literally came down to the final seconds. Down 1, Gerald Henderson went end-to-end and made a lay-up that lifted Duke past Belmont and spared them a huge embarrassment.

Whew! That’s just day 1 people. Tomorrow: how about 16 more games? Sounds good to me.