CHINA LAKE/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- What did I get to see? F/A 18's taking off and landing. What did I want to see? Ok, F/A-18's taking off and landing. But just as much - the NCAA tournament. Not getting any radio reception sucked. My ears hurt from either the F/A-18's flying around or trying to listen through the harsh static the end of the Texas-Nevada game. But what I couldn't see, someone did. Please welcome our first guest columnist, Lawrence M (LARZBY). In his detailed recap, it seems that there was some nervousness in the first half for some top seeds but no real upsets, except the poor SEC teams of #6MW-LSU and #5MW-Alabama. Read on!

March Madness? Not so much.

Chicago, IL: Two upsets are better than none, but it was an all-around yawner as opening days go in the NCAA tourney. The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, a 12th seed, knocked off 5th seeded Alabama in the opening game here in Chicago. Alabama looked as though it would make a run late, but it wasn't to be and the Panthers won without the need for last-second heroics. But if much of the country was stunned, the Panthers weren't. "We expected this" forward Joah Tucker, who scored 21, said. "It wasn't a big surprise for us."

Of course, even Tucker and his Panther teammates were shocked to learn that one of their teammates was named "Boo". "Seriously?" asked Tucker, when told of his teammate's bizarre moniker. "I've been calling him Mitch all year."

In other action in Chicago, 9th seed Nevada topped 8th seed Texas (these 9 vs 8 matchups can't be called "upsets" by the way). The Wolfpack closed out the Longhorns after a strong comeback late in the game.

University of the Pacific held off a surging Pittsburg in Albuquerque, and will play Washington, who let Montana hang around after opening the game with 7 for 7 shooting and a huge lead.

Wake Forest struggled early with Chattanooga, but won going away in the second half. Arizona, in their 21st straight NCAA appearance showed little heart early, but put Utah State away in the second half.

Boston College throttled the Ivy League's Pennsylvania, while Oklahoma struggled early against tiny Niagara of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Niagara, with a ridiculously small student body of only 3,500 students, went cold in the second half and lost by 17.

Kentucky beat its in-state rival Eastern Kentucky, to set up a match-up with Cincinnati on Saturday. Ok, so the Eastern Kentucky Colonels are more of a rival of Sweet Valley High School than UK, but they can dream.

Cincinnati broke the heart of this reporter - and good-hearted people everywhere -- by handing the Iowa Hawkeyes a rare first-round loss. Experts agreed (at least the drunk ones I met at Maloney's) that Iowa would have torched the Bearcats had their best player, Pierre Pierce, not been tossed off the team in February for beating his girlfriend.

Utah heroically staved off an upset by UTEP in one of the few close games of the first round. The Utes, hampered by a blown call late in the game, held their composure and made their free throws down the stretch to win.

The erstwhile Cinderella, Gonzaga, nearly suffered a role-reversal as Winthrop was within 4 in the final minutes. The Bulldogs prevailed and will face Texas Tech on Saturday. The Red Raiders manhandled the UCLA Bruins, disappointing local Bruin fans.

In the other late games, top-ranked Illinois had more trouble than expected with Fairleigh Dickinson.

The evening's most exciting game saw West Virginia go toe-to-toe with Creighton in a game that came down to a last-possession game. Early on, Creighton stunned West Virginia by hitting its first four shots -- two of them from behind the arc -- and pulled ahead 10-0. It wasn't enough. With the game tied and under ten seconds to play, Tyrone Sally blocked Nate Funk's three-point attempt, and raced down for a game-winning dunk with 2.9 seconds to play.

The other upset saw a suffocating Alabama-Birmingham defense put LSU away early. Fans of UAB, who beat top seeded Kentucky last year, say its just more of the same. Arizona has the misfortune of taking on Blazers next.

All in all, though, it was a lackluster day, rather than one of the blockbusters we've become accustomed to at tourney time.

Tomorrow, the Iowa State Cyclones and Northern Iowa Panthers begin their respective runs to the Great Eight, where they expect to meet in an epic "Battle for all the Corn."

-Larzby

Awesome update. But now, most of you are probably just wondering about the pool. Well, we have (unofficially) a record 82 entries (topping 80 in 2002). If you have been contacted, please provide payment information ASAP. If not, that means we trust you'll deliver the goods. The 82 entries come from 73 different people and includes a record 65 return entries. Thanks!

Now, who's in first and who's in last? Well, Robinson C entered his usual 3 times (the max, FYI) and his FLIP FIGHTERS picked 15 of 16 games (30 pts) to lead the pack. Eight are close behind with 28 pts on a day where only 3 lower seeded teams won. And Robinson C's TEAM SAMURAI is all alone in last place with 14 pts (7-9 for the day, which ties an all-time low). If you have figured it out, Robinson C's third entry is right in the middle, in a 31-way tie for 27th place (24 pts).

Just 21 pegged UDub-Milwaukee's win and 30 picked UAB. In the most evenly split matchup, 40 had Pacific correct (42 lost with Pitt). And NOMEX (80th-Tied, 18 pts) tried for the big upset of Illinois (it was close) but lost a google of points. He also lost with Pitt (his Final four team). REGGIEK945 (75th-T, 20) lost Utah St as his Final Four team (again, a close game). Just 11 started the day 4-0 and by the halfway point, FLIP FIGHTERS was all alone at 8-0.

So will the top seeds continue to struggle or was this their wake up call? With both teams near home playing in Charlotte, will there be more booing or cheering at the Duke and/or North Carolina games? And will I need to dust off that shredder?

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Creighton was robbed! Of brain cells, that is... mine...