File a Greivis

Ok - so maybe it isn't that punny, but Greivis Vasquez is legit. He might already be the greatest hispanic college basketball player ever, displacing Temple's immortal Pepe Sanchez (he of the perennial 9 points, 11 rebounds, 15 assists, 7 steals and 4 blocks type of stat lines), although he does have a long way to go until he can be mentioned in the same breath as Manu Ginobili, the flopping sensation. In the only game in which the lower seed beat the higher seed in the first half of today's games, Vasquez scored 27 points, with 5 boards and 4 assists, and 2 steals, with only 2 turnovers as the Maryland Terrapins beat the 7th seeded California Bears 84-71.

Not only did Greivis have a great first round game, this Terps team has played much better, more inspired basketball ever since Vasquez asked to be returned to the point guard role, a spot he occupied for most of last year. Maryland isn't quite yet a shadow of its former self, but with Vasquez at the helm, they could beat almost anybody.

Other stars of today's games include Bryan Davis of Texas A & M with his 21 point, 9 rebound performance in Texas A & M's 79-66 defeat of BYU and Wayne Ellington of North Carolina with his 25 points. Special congratulations to UNC's Tyler Hansbrough, who with his 22 points became the leading scorer in ACC history displacing J.J. Reddick from the top of the list. Anytime somebody knocks Duke off of anything, they get my kudos. SEC Player of the Year Marcus Thornton also went off for 30, 10-15 from the floor, including 3 of 4 from three and 7 of 8 from the line. If Ty Lawson thinks that he is going to have an easy game back from his toe injury, he needs to seriously reasses that situation. Thornton can play.

Speaking of Texas A & M, they started the game 10 for 10 from the field. If that isn't a bad omen for BYU, I don't know what is. If the Aggies keep shooting like that, the are likely to go much further than previously thought.

The shooting star of the early games was Roburt Sallie of Memphis, who scored 35 off the bench, on 10-15 shooting from three point range (12-17 overall), in a surprisingly close game for the Tigers. Up next for Sallie, Vasquez of Maryland, of course.

Opening Performance

If you are like me, nay, like everybody else, you completely discount the play-in game. You don't watch it, you don't include it in your brackets, and most likely, you don't even know who is playing. This excludes those of you who may actually be parents of the players in the play-in game. However, the game counts, the performances count, and most importantly, the statistics count. Including, well, especially, Moorehead State's Kenneth Faried's performance Tuesday in their 58-43 victory over Alabama State for the right to play overall number 1 seed Louisville. Faried had 14 points and 21 rebounds. That's right, 21 rebounds. I don't care who they played, 21 rebounds is impressive. Especially given that the second highest total for the entire game was 8.

Although nobody expects Faried to duplicate that effort against the likes of Samardo and Earl Clark, he will always have this game to remember. And he will likely be the leading per game rebounder in this tournament. Plus, it allows me to post this picture of Faried blocking the shot of none other than the immortal Chief Kickingstallionsims of Alabama State.

Have a great tourney everybody, it's just getting started.

Girl of the Week

Since its NCAA tournament time, let's take a walk through memory lane with former University of Tennessee hoopster, Brittany Jackson, our Girl of the Week.

Girl of the Week

A lot going on in the World of Sports, so for this week's Girl of the Week, we present to you Indian tennis player Sania Mirza:

Girl of the Week

I apologize that I have been too busy lately to post, but at least I can get the week started a bit with our Girl of the Week: Costa Rican singer, Maribel Guardia.