March Madness Started a Little Early This Year

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Wow, that was some basketball yesterday, starting with Evan Turner's last second shot that he got off with 0.2 seconds on the clock and ending with the San Diego St upset of New Mexico in late night.

I watched most of the night games, the Illini upset of the Badgers was a great game with an exciting finish as the Badgers closed the gap to 2 points with less than a minute remaining. Some teams play better in their conference tourney and Illinois is one of those teams making it to the semifinals in 12 of the 13 years that the tournament has been played.

While the Hoyas ended up winning big over Marquette the game was close for the first 25 minutes. But the late game featuring West Virginia and Notre Dame was a nailbiter right to the end. Notre Dame had their chances right to the end with a good 3 point shot in the last seconds that just did not fall. Great effort for the Irish.

Then a classic Overtime thriller from Minnesota and Michigan State. Minnesota had built a nice 7 point lead with 3 minutes remaining only to see MSU step up defensive pressure and tie the game in the last minute. Despite that change in momentum, the Gophers were able to settle down and execute in Overtime to win by 5. If you haven't followed the Gophers story, they were supposed to compete for the Big Ten title but really started off weak, 3-4, in their first conference games. However, they are 6-2 over their last eight games including wins over Wis, Ill and now MSU and a 1 pt loss to Purdue on a last second shot. Very impressive.

Then the Mountain West puts its 4th team safely in the tournament when San Diego State upset #8 New Mexico. If you are not aware, the Lobos had won 15 straight and were 24-3 before the upset.

You cannot ask for a better day of basketball and we have not even hit the championship weekend, let alone the NCAA tournament, yet! Nice!