The Sox gave Japan its first taste of what has made them World Series champions twice in the last four seasons with a 6-5, 10-inning win over the Oakland Athletics before 44,628 in the Tokyo Dome. The Sox came from behind twice before Manny Ramirez made all that jet lag, frequent-flyer miles and early wakeup alarms back home worthwhile with a two-run double that snapped a 4-all tie and made a winner of native son Hideki Okajima. Jonathan Papelbon had a shaky outing, giving up a run on three hits and a walk, to earn the save.

Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka pitches to the A’s Bobby Crosby during the first inning in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday. Reuters photo by Kiyoshi Ota.

The Sox were not assured of victory until an egregious base-running mistake by leftfielder Emil Brown, who doubled home a run in the bottom of the 10th against Papelbon but was then erased in a rundown after first baseman Kevin Youkilis cut off Dustin Pedroia’s relay throw to the plate.

Brown’s blunder was magnified when the next hitter, Bobby Crosby, lined a single to center, and third baseman Jack Hannahan, who earlier hit a two-run home run in the sixth off Kyle Snyder, banged another base hit through the left side. That brought pitching coach John Farrell to the mound for a visit, and Papelbon retired catcher Kurt Suzuki on a tapper to first to end the game.

The Sox winning rally began when Julio Lugo beat out an infield hit to third and was bunted to second by Pedroia. Youkilis struck out, but David Ortiz was walked intentionally, bringing up Ramirez, who had doubled home two runs in the sixth to tie the score at 2. Ramirez launched a drive that hit high off the wall in right-center.

On a night of firsts, this was the sweetest of all, Boston’s first extra-inning win ever in 108 seasons of openers.

If the Sox had not come to Japan, rookie Brandon Moss would never have left Florida with the club. He would not have been in the starting lineup if right fielder J.D. Drew had not felt some tightness in his back while running sprints in the outfield just before the game, forcing manager Terry Francona to make him a late scratch.

But without Moss, the Sox would not have taken Oakland to extra innings. Moss singled home the go-ahead run in a three-run Sox rally in the sixth, and with the Sox two outs from defeat in the ninth, the left-handed hitting rookie connected for his first major-league home run to tie the score at 4.

Boston’s Manny Ramirez his a two-run double off the A’s Huston Street in the 10th inning. The Red Sox won 6-5. Associated Press photo by Koji Sasahara

Moss was one of the extra players the Sox were allowed to bring to Japan because they were exempt from having to trim their roster to 25 players because of their early start date. While the other 28 big-league teams are still in spring training, the Sox and Athletics were staging the earliest regular season opener in big-league history.

Moss’s home run allowed the Tokyo Dome crowd to erupt at the entrance of Okajima, the self-styled second banana to Daisuke Matsuzaka in the grand scheme of things but a hometown favorite here, where he pitched for the Yomiuri Giants.

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The cheers grew louder when Okajima struck out Kurt Suzuki to open the ninth, but there were some anxious moments after he issued a four-pitch walk to Mike Sweeney. Right fielder Travis Buck just missed realizing Okajima’s worst fears, his fly ball to deep center expiring in Jacoby Ellsbury’s glove, before second baseman Mark Ellis tapped out to the mound to send the game into extra innings.

The A’s Mark Ellis hits a solo home run against Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka during the first inning in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday. Reuters photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon

This was only the fifth time the Sox have gone into extra innings in an opener, all since 1966. They lost the previous four, most recently in 1989, when the Steamer, Bob Stanley, took the loss in a 5-4 defeat to the Orioles in 11 innings in Baltimore.

While Ellsbury was the only Sox position player not in the 2007 Opening Day lineup — at least until Drew injured himself running sprints in the outfield just before the game — the Athletics have undergone an extreme makeover. Only three position players in manager Bob Geren’s lineup today — shortstop Bobby Crosby, Buck, and Ellis — played in the 2007 opener.

Gone are Jason Kendall, Shannon Stewart, Milton Bradley, Mike Piazza, Nick Swisher, and Opening Day starting pitcher Dan Haren. Eric Chavez, the Gold Glove third baseman, is back on the disabled list (lower back), after missing the final two months last season.

First baseman Daric Barton, who was hitting in the three-hole last night, and Suzuki, who is from Hawaii, were in Triple-A Sacramento when last season began. Jack Cust, the DH and cleanup hitter, was in Triple-A with San Diego. Brown was with the Royals. Hannahan was with Detroit’s Triple-A team in Toledo. Ryan Sweeney, the center-fielder who came from the White Sox in the Swisher deal, was in Triple-A Charlotte for Chicago after being ranked the team’s No. 1 prospect.

Red Sox fans watch their team practice before the season opener against the A’s in Tokyo on Tuesday. Associated Press photo by Shizuo Kambayashi

Oakland’s streak of eight straight winning seasons came to an end last season, when they finished last in the AL West. They used the disabled list 22 times and lost 1,259 games on the DL, a club record. With the way GM Billy Beane jettisoned established players in the off-season, the A’s look hard-pressed to compete in the American League West.

But the Oakland Four-A’s proved a handful for Matsuzaka, who warmed up while the awa-odori dancers and hip-hoppers went through their elaborate paces during pregame ceremonies but was out of synch from the time 45,000-plus flashbulbs commemorated his first pitch back on his side of the Big Pond. (For the record, Buck, first-pitch swinging, rolled out to second).

They also did a number on Snyder, who needed just two batters to give back the 3-2 lead he inherited from Matsuzaka in the sixth, Crosby bouncing a single up the middle and Hannahan following with a blast into the right-field seats to put the Athletics ahead, 4-3.

Matsuzaka, in a poster-sized message to his fans for the Japanese sports daily, Sankei Sports, wrote in English — World Series repeat. Cy Young Award. Boston Red Sox — then signed his name, number and the date.

Then he proceeded to pitch like a typical late-March game in spring training. Ellis, Oakland’s second batter of the game, golfed a drive into the left-field seats to give Oakland a 1-0 lead. He went walk, hit batsman, wild pitch, walk on the next three batters, showing virtually no feel for his off-speed pitches. He averted a potentially bigger inning by pouncing on Crosby’s chopper to the left of the mound, bare handing the ball and recording the out as Barton scored Oakland’s second run, and struck out Hannahan on a full count.

“Awaodori,” a traditional dance, is performed before a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics in Tokyo on Tuesday. Associated Press photo by Shizuo Kambayashi

By the time he got back to the dugout, Matsuzaka had thrown 30 pitches. By the end of two innings, that number had doubled, as Matsuzaka gave up a leadoff single to Suzuki and walked two more batters to load the bases with two out. Once again, a strikeout bailed out Matsuzaka, who caught Cust looking at a down-and-in slider that generously was called a strike.

Matsuzaka regained his equilibrium over the next three innings, even though he issued his fifth walk to Hannahan with two out in the third. The Athletics hit just one ball out of the infield before Matsuzaka was through, Sweeney flying to left to start the fourth. Matsuzaka whiffed Buck on three pitches and broke Ellis’s bat on a groundout to third to end the fourth, then had consecutive whiffs of Barton and Cust before Brown grounded to third to end the fifth.

Matsuzaka was gone after throwing 95 pitches. He allowed just two hits, including the home run by Ellis, and struck out six, but the five walks are sure to renew concerns that he will repeat last season’s pattern of running up his pitch counts early.

But Matsuzaka, who joined Hideo Nomo as the only Japanese pitchers to throw a big-league opener, was spared the embarrassment of defeat on his home turf when the Sox rallied to take a 3-2 lead in the sixth against Oakland starter Joe Blanton.

Dustin Pedroia doubled to the wall in right and Youkilis drew a four-pitch walk. Ortiz fouled out to third — the foul territory in the Tokyo Dome rivals that of Oakland’s McAfee Coliseum in acreage — but Ramirez lined a double past third into the left-field corner, driving home Pedroia and Youkilis with the tying runs. Mike Lowell went down swinging, bringing up Moss, who joins shortstop Craig Grebeck (2001) and Rudy Pemberton (1997) as the most improbable Sox Opening Day starters in recent memory.

Moss, playing because Drew informed manager Terry Francona that his back tightened up while running sprints just before game time, ripped a ground single through the right side, Ramirez scoring to give the Sox their first lead of 2008.

But Snyder couldn’t hold the advantage, and two former stalwarts of the Sox pen, Alan Embree and Keith Foulke, took the game to the ninth, where closer Huston Street was waiting.

Ellsbury gave the Sox their first highlight-reel moment of the season when he made a leaping catch at the wall in dead-center to take away extra bases from Brown in the eighth.

Michigan State defeats Temple, 72-61, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday in Denver, Colorado.

Raymar Morgan led the fifth-seeded Spartans with 15 points, making seven of nine shots. Freshman guard Chris Allen came off of the bench to add 12 points.

Temple star Dionte Christmas was held to two points on just 1-10 from the field. Mary Tyndale scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Michigan State will face the winner of the Pittsburgh/Oral Roberts game on Saturday as they advance to the second round of the South region.

Follow this link for more NCAA Basketball tourney news

Final scores from the early games.

73-61
72-61
85-61

Good action so far.

Stick to this page will keep updates…

20 March Updates

NCAA March Madness on Demand begins its annual NCAA Tournament coverage today, Thursday. The first game of the tournament will be at 12:20pm as No. 3 Xavier takes on No. 14 Georgia in Washington, DC.

NCAA March Madness on Demand (MMOD) is the online video player that allows users to view all 63 games of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

MMOD airs every game from the first round of the tournament through the Men’s Final Four in San Antonio, including the Championship game on April 7.

NCAA March Madness on Demand is produced in partnership with CBS Sports, CBS College Sports Network and the NCAA.

2008 NCAA Tournament TV listings

The National NCAA tourney TV listings were just published (March 17) at CBS Sports. The tourney games will be on CBS, CBS-HD, and CSTV (now CBS College Sports).

The play-in (cough cough opening round game) tips off on Tuesday night on ESPN and ESPN-HD, and squares off Mount Saint Mary’s with Coppin State, the team with the 20 losses.

The CBS studio hosts will be the same as before (Seth Davis, Bryan Gumbel and Clark Kellogg), and the eight announcer teams are the usual faces, but with one addition. Youngster Carter Blackburn of CSTV will be “trained” by Dick Enberg (old enough to be his great grandpa) and Jay Bilas (tall enough to be his grandpa).

Action begins on Thursday at 9am pacific (noon eastern), and CBS decided to start things off with an intriguing game, Xavier facing off the Georgia Bulldogs, aka the Georgia Miracles!

The 2008 NIT TV listings

The TV listings are embedded in the brackets at the NIT website (embedded PDF file). Direct link to the PDF file right here (PDF file). Every single NIT game (31 total) will be carried by the ESPN family of networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN Classic.
The inaugural CBI TV listings
The games are available online and at Fox College Sports. Details here. Action tips off on Tuesday March 18, 2008 with two games, and continues on Wednesday with two more games. We are not sure which games will be available on local channels or regional FSNs.

Detailed daily TV listings (ALL TIMES PACIFIC)

Thur March 20, 2008
*** check local CBS station for listings in your area ***
*** all times pacific ***
7am to 9am: SportsCenterU, ESPN
9am to 2pm: NCAA Tournament begins!, CBS, National schedule
9am to 145pm: March Madness Central on CSTV (CBS CS)
11am to 1pm: Tourney Gameday, ESPN2
145pm, 1am: NCAA tourney from Anaheim: Cornell vs Stanford, CSTV (CBS College Sports)
4pm to 10pm: NCAA Tournament afternoon session, CBS
4pm to 10pm: March Madness Central on CSTV (CBS CS)
All night: March Madness Highlights (one hour long), CSTV (CBS CS)
9pm: NIT Second round: Southern Illinois at Arizona State, ESPN2 (first one to 39 wins!)
Fri March 21, 2008
*** check local CBS station for listings in your area ***
7am to 9am: SportsCenterU, ESPN
9am to 2pm: NCAA Tournament Round 1 Day 2!, CBS, National schedule
9am: NCAA Tourney, CSTV (CBS College Sports)
11am to 230pm: College Gameday, ESPN
2pm, 1am: NCAA tourney from Anaheim, CSTV (CBS College Sports)
4pm to 10pm: NCAA Tournament afternoon session, CBS
1am: NCAA tourney repeat, CSTV

NCAA Tournament Schedule:

No. 4 Washington State (24-8) vs. No. 13 Winthrop (22-11) in Denver, 7:20 p.m.: The Winthrop Eagles’ three-man senior class has won 101 games, including one in the NCAA Tournament last season, so they shouldn’t be bothered by the Cougars’ defense that holds opponents to 57 points per game.

No. 5 Notre Dame (24-7) vs. No. 12 George Mason (23-10) in Raleigh, N.C., 9:40 p.m.:The Fighting Irish’s inside-outside combination of Luke Harangody and Kyle McAlarney should be too much for the Patriots, who will be trying to be this year’s Cinderella story.




MIDWEST REGIONAL

No. 1 Kansas (31-3) vs. No. 16 Portland State (23-9) in Omaha, Neb., 12:25 p.m.: The Jayhawks should make the Vikings’ first NCAA Tournament appearance a quick one.

No. 8 UNLV (26-7) vs. No. 9 Kent State (28-6) in Omaha, Neb., 2:45 p.m.: The Golden Flashes are seeded with the team from the big conferences for a reason: They are tough with a well-balanced offense.

No. 6 USC (21-11) vs. No. 11 Kansas State (20-11) in Omaha, Neb., 7:10 p.m.: If this were a freshman vs. freshman matchup, Michael Beasley and the Wildcats would prevail over O.J. Mayo and the Trojans. It’s five-on-five, though, and Mayo’s supporting cast is better on paper.

No. 3 Wisconsin (29-4) vs. No. 14 Cal State Fullerton (24-8) in Omaha, Neb., 9:40 p.m.:The Badgers swept the Big Ten titles - regular season and conference tournament. The Titans are in the tournament for the first time in 30 years. Bo Ryan teams aren’t known to have letdowns.



SOUTH REGIONAL



No. 5 Michigan State (25-8) vs. No. 12 Temple (21-12) in Denver, 12:30 p.m.: If John Chaney were still coaching the Owls, the Spartans would be obsessed with preparing for the matchup zone. The difference should be the Spartans’ bulky front line.

No. 4 Pittsburgh (26-9) vs. No. 13 Oral Roberts (24-8) in Denver, 2:50 p.m.: The Panthers are one of the hottest teams in the country coming off the Big East Tournament run. The Titans are in their third consecutive NCAA Tournament, but they went 1-3 against teams from the power conferences this season.

No. 6 Marquette (24-9) vs. No. 11 Kentucky (18-12) in Anaheim, Calif., 2:30 p.m.: The Golden Eagles have one of the best defensive backcourts in Jerel McNeal and Dominic James, and the Wildcats averaged over 16 turnovers per game.

No. 3 Stanford (26-7) vs. No. 14 Cornell (22-5) in Anaheim, Calif., 5 p.m.: The halftime matchup of the debate teams would be close, the basketball game shouldn’t be because of the Cardinal’s ability to dominate up front.

If you want to scout any potential Bulls Draft Picks, here is the link for: MARCH MADNESS ON DEMAND

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers Head Coach Fred Hill has been invited by CBS to participate in NCAA Tournament analysis as a part of its groundbreaking March Madness on Demand (MMOD) live Internet presentation of the 2008 men’s basketball championship. Hill will serve as an in-studio analyst on Thursday evening, March 27.

CBSSports.com, in partnership with CBS Sports, CSTV and the NCAA, announced in February that this season, for the first time, its MMOD service would give users the ability to view 63 games of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, from the first round of the tournament through the Final Four and championship in San Antonio.

NCAA March Madness on Demand is the Emmy award-winning video player that provides live streaming video of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. Since its inception in 2003, MMOD has traditionally provided live video of the first 56 games of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship as they are broadcast by CBS Sports, with local broadcasts being subject to blackouts.

“In its sixth year, March Madness on Demand continues to maximize the network’s NCAA bundled rights across all platforms of the CBS Corporation with the wide distribution of CBS Sports’ game coverage, promoted by CSTV and available via CBSSports.com and NCAA.com,” said Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports. “The expansion, to include all 63 games, will enhance the total March Madness experience of college basketball fans everywhere.”

“Getting more people involved - in more ways - in March Madness is a central goal for the NCAA and March Madness on Demand continues to deliver,” said Greg Shaheen, Senior Vice President for Basketball and Business Strategies at the NCAA. “Whether through broadcast coverage of the tournament on CBS Sports and CSTV, streaming live video from the Emmy award-winning March Madness on Demand on NCAA.com, mobile coverage and highlights on CBS Sports Mobile or the tournament brackets application on Facebook, more fans now have more ways to view, follow, debate and enjoy March Madness than ever before.”

“It’s a tribute to the leadership at CBS Sports and the NCAA that CBSSports.com can be the first media company to provide a live Internet broadcast of a major sporting event in its entirety to fans around the world with no restrictions and free of charge,” said Jason Kint, Senior Vice President and General Manager, CBSSports.com. “We expect a record number of hoops fans to be engaged in the tournament this year while at work, at home or on the go via CBS Sports Mobile.”

As has been the case since it was first offered for free in 2006, NCAA March Madness on Demand will once again be the centerpiece of the CBSSports.com coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. Additional aspects of the multi-platform coverage of the championship across CBSSports.com and CBS Sports Mobile include up-to-the-second scores and statistics for every game of the tournament through live scoreboards and GameCenters, expert analysis, commentary, game matchups, predictions and more from the CBSSports.com team of writers, highlighted by NCAA basketball expert Gary Parrish and bracket games on CBSSports.com and the recently launched “CBSSports.com Tournament Brackets” application on Facebook.(www.facebook.com/brackets)

Launching in early March, NCAA March Madness on Demand will be available at NCAA.com (mmod.ncaa.com) as well as via MMOD links on CBSSports.com and CSTV.com.

To have the best opportunity to view live streaming video from the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, fans are urged to register for MMOD to obtain VIP status. Fans who don’t have VIP status will be placed in the General Admission area where they will experience longer wait times to get into the MMOD player if it is full on game day(s).

The 2008 MMOD video player will showcase a wider screen (640 x 360 pixels) along with additional features such as live scoreboards and the infamous “Boss Button.” CBSSports.com will again produce a live halftime show. “At The Half” will start when the first game goes to halftime and continue all the way until the last game in that window returns to second-half action.

In 2006, MMOD was presented free of charge for the first time since its debut in 2003, producing tremendous traffic results resulting in one of the largest live Internet events ever and one many experts called a watershed moment in media history. In total, 265,973 fans registered for VIP status for MMOD in 2006, a number that eventually led to 1,277,266 unique users who watched a total of 2,130,369 hours (127,822,140 minutes) of live streaming video.

Free access to 2008 NCAA March Madness on Demand is made possible by presenting sponsors and NCAA Corporate Champions Coca-Cola, Pontiac and AT&T.

The USD men’s basketball team was taking the floor just as Connecticut was coming off.

And Toreros senior guard Matt Delzell was struck by the number of fans, perhaps 3,000 to 4,000, who were in the stands at the Spokane Arena.

“Most of them were there to see UConn, not us,” Delzell recalled. “We rarely had that many people for our games – I was amazed. This was for a practice that was really just a shootaround.

“Watching our practices at home, we usually had the equipment manager and maybe a janitor.”

It was March 19, 2003. The last time USD participated in the NCAA Tournament, as the Toreros will again tomorrow when they take on Connecticut in an opening-round game at Tampa, Fla.

The half hour-apiece practice and media interview sessions for the eight teams assembled in Spokane, Wash., that day five years ago were done according to a schedule set by the NCAA – the same sort of routine/schedule that USD, UConn and fellow Tampa assignees Drake, Western Kentucky, Clemson, Villanova, Vanderbilt and Siena will be going through this morning at the St. Pete Times Forum.

The 2003 USD team was preparing for a game the following day against Stanford. Like its present-day counterpart, USD had qualified for the Big Dance by winning the West Coast Conference Tournament on its own Jenny Craig Pavilion floor. Tournament MVP Jason Keep sparked a victory over Gonzaga in the final that would be the Toreros’ last over the Zags until MVP Brandon Johnson led the way at the same site and under similar circumstances a week ago Monday.

The game against Stanford was played against the backdrop of America poised for war in Iraq. Not long after the Toreros dropped a hard-fought 77-69 decision, TV screens in the media room changed from showing college kids playing hoops to green, night-vision camera images of bombs exploding in Baghdad.

The war still goes on, and life has gone on for the USD players. And still-vivid memories of five years ago have been stirred by the current team’s tournament quest, which they hope will result in USD’s first NCAA Tournament win (USD is 0-3).

“There’s certainly no better feeling for a college basketball player than being in the NCAA Tournament,” said Delzell, who works for a marketing firm in Dallas.

“I personally don’t think it can be duplicated on the collegiate level in any sport. Knowing that this year’s team is going to get to feel what we did in 2003, and to be able to kind of relive it through them, is very special.”

The 6-foot-10, 280-pound Keep and 6-7, 230-pound Jason Blair were a formidable front-line 1-2 punch, averaging 18.2 and 16.8 points, respectively, and combining to average more than 16 rebounds. Delzell and fellow senior Roy Morris were a solid backcourt combination. Sophomore Corey Belser, a demon defender, completed the starting lineup.

Nick Lewis, a 6-10 redshirt freshman, was a force as the sixth man/first front-line replacement.

USD wasn’t thrilled with an NCAA assignment in Spokane, a lovely city but one they went to every year to play Gonzaga. USD didn’t bring a pep band, so school officials contracted with a Spokane high school for a group to provide musical support.

The rendition of the fight song was recognizable only to the staunchest of alumni supporters.

USD overcame a shaky start and held a slim lead entering the final three minutes against Stanford before Josh Childress, now with the Atlanta Hawks, timed a jump perfectly to block a Keep slam attempt and turn the tide to Stanford.

Keep, currently playing in the Philippines for a team called the Welcoat Dragons, responded to an e-mail request for his ‘03 memories by writing:

“The most vivid memory would obviously be the final seconds of the WCC Tournament, but the NCAA Tournament will always hold a special place in my heart.

“I miss having those guys around me. I give them credit for making me the man I am today.”

Blair, playing professionally in Plasencia, Spain, near Madrid, wrote:

“My greatest memory from the WCC Tournament was the crowd rushing the floor after the win. From the NCAA Tournament, it was being in the game at the end, having a chance to knock off Stanford and the whole crowd cheering for USD.”

Bulls to open WNIT at Fla. Gulf Coast

SAN ANTONIO - The NCAA released the men’s Division I basketball brackets for the upcoming NCAA Tournament this evening at 6pm. As expected, UNC has won a #1 seed in the NCAA East Region and will play in Raleigh on Friday.

By the strength of their schedule based on the RTI formula, the ACC teams had the toughest schedules out of all the conferences this year. However, only four ACC teams made it into the tournament: UNC, Duke, Clemson, and Miami. Duke was ranked #2 in the West, Clemson #5 in the Midwest, and Miami #7 in the South. Virginia Tech, which was “on the bubble” did not make it into the tournament.

In terms of teams represented in the tournament, the other conferences included the Big East (8), Big 12 (6), Pac-10 (6), SEC (6), ACC (4), Big Ten (4), Atlantic 10 (3), West Coast (3), Sun Belt (2), and Mountain West (2).

The NCAA has announced that UNC will be number one in the East and will first play on Friday night at the RBC Center in Raleigh. The Tarheels will play against the #16 seed, which will be the winner of the Mt. St. Mary’s / Coppin State play-in game on Tuesday night.

Other #1 seeds include Kansas, UCLA, and Memphis. SCROLL DOWN TO SEE FULL BRACKET GRAPHIC.

EAST:
#1 NORTH CAROLINA
#2 TENNESSEE
#3 LOUISVILLE
#4 WASHINGTON STATE
Number two in the East will be the Tennessee Volunteers who play American University’s team. The Volunteers could be a huge obstacle for Carolina to get to the Final Four. Also in the East are Indiana University and Notre Dame. Indiana University will be seeded as #8 and will play #9 seeded Arkansas in the East.

MIDWEST:
1. KANSAS
2. GEORGETOWN
3. WISCONSIN
4. VANDERBILT
5. CLEMSON
Kansas University will be the #1 seed in the Midwest regionals as they play #16 Portland State. Also in the Midwest, #5 seeded Clemson will play #12 Villanova in Tampa, Florida.

SOUTH:
1. MEMPHIS
2. TEXAS
3. STANFORD
4. PITTSBURGH
7. MIAMI
Memphis will be the #1 seed in the South regionals as thei team plays #16 Texas Arlington. Miami at #7 will play St. Mary’s, seeded at #10.

WEST:
1. UCLA
2. DUKE
3. XAVIER
4. CONNECTICUT
In the West Conference, Duke University is ranked #2 and will play #15 Belmont in Washington DC on Thursday. UCLA is ranked #1 and will play #16 Mississippi Valley State.

OTHER NON-ACC NC TEAMS:
Another North Carolina team that has made it to the “big dance” is #10 Davidson College who will play #7 Gonzaga in Raleigh.

GAME SCHEDULE:

The March Madness begins on Tuesday with the opening round game between Coppin State and Mt. St. Mary’s, but other teams will start playing Thursday March 20th or Friday March 21st.

The regional finals will be held in Charlotte, Detroit, Houston, and Phoenix. The Final Four in San Antonio, Texas on April 5th and the final game will be held on Monday April 7th.

A commenter is setting up a bracket for TBL readers, and we’ll know more tomorrow morning. Early musings:

- The Midwest is brutal (Kansas, Wisconsin, Georgetown)
- We missed just one team: Villanova. Had Illinois State instead
- Butler got shafted with a 7 seed. Not to mention its opponent is South Alabama, which will have a decided home-court advantage. Butler should have been a 5-6 seed
- Hate the idea of two mid-majors squaring off, like Gonzaga and Davidson
- Man, UCLA has a bloody cake walk to the Final Four
- Indiana vs. UNC in the second round. Love it. Assuming the slumping but dangerous Hoosiers get past athletic Arkansas
- Wisconsin gets a No. 3, and Duke gets a No. 2? What’

s that about?

Best first round matchup:
USC vs. Kansas St. (mostly because of Mayo vs. Beasley)

Favorite 2nd round potential matchups:
Arizona vs. Duke
Indiana vs. UNC
Notre Dame vs. Washington St.
Drake vs. Connecticut

Early Final Four picks that will be DEFINITELY changed before Thursday at noon:
West - UCLA (easiest road; Connecticut the only threat)
South - Stanford (gulp; not sure if the Cardinal beat Marquette)
East - Louisville (couple of landmines for UNC up top, and none for the Cardinals)
Midwest - Georgetown (probably will go back to Kansas, though)

Bracketology, the science behind the compilation of NCAA Brackets.

A bracketologist’s credibility is judged on how many teams he predicts correctly being in the tournament and the average difference between the bracketologist’s projected seed and the actual seed assigned by the NCAA Selection Committee.

His credibility and popularity can go through the roof if he manages to hit a super contest. But who are bracketologists and what is bracketology?

Using the NCAA basketball tournament selection process, the RPI, and the seeding and balancing process, a “bracketologist” places teams in the tournament in the various regions (East, West, Midwest, and South).

Some bracketologists go as far as placing teams in which “pods” they will play in the first and second rounds. Generally, the lists also show the last four teams in and the first four teams out.

However, these brackets change daily as conference tournaments continue and teams automatically qualify for the tournament.

Tips for filling out your NCAA bracket

Later today, the bracket for the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament will be released, and college hoops fans around the country will be studying the 65-team field.

I will be one of those people. Only once since I started filling out brackets probably in junior high or high school have I not tried my hand at correctly predicting the tournament games and its overall winner.

Different years I’ve taken different approaches. Some years, it was a matter of just following a gut instinct not thinking too much about the game, but rather responding to my initial feeling about the winner. Other years, I’ve fretted over every game. Trying to get as much information on each team before finally selecting a winner.

Neither resulted in much success. I’ve correctly picked the national champion a grand total of …

twice. Although, one of those occurrences it was when Duke won the national title at the Metrodome over Michigan in 1992 earned me a first-place finish in the pool being run on the third floor of Lee Hall at UW-Whitewater and netted me a cool $27 million. Or was it like 15 bucks, I can’t remember.

Either way, my success rate in NCAA Tournament brackets has been minimal, however, I have learned a few things over the years. Here are some tips that may help:

Have one “State” team in the Final Four. In each of the last four years and six of the last eight, a “State” school as in Michigan State, Ohio State, North Carolina State has made it to the Final Four.

Have two teams from the same conference in the Final Four. Eight of the last nine Final Fours have had two schools from one conference with the exception coming last year.

Don’t pick Florida to win it. Not sure if they’re even going to make the field, but no team has won three straight titles since UCLA capped a run of seven consecutive crowns in 1973.

Think blue. Every year since 1987 there has been at least one school in the Final Four which had blue in a wide range of variations has its main uniform color.

Initials are iffy. UCLA has reached the Final Four the last two years and LSU was there two years ago. But from 1992 until 2005, only once UCLA in 1995 did a school known for its initials reach the Final Four.

No No. 15 seeds advancing. It’s only happened four times since 1991 where a No. 15 seed has knocked off a No. 2 seed, but it has only happened in years ending with an odd number.

Big 12 flops. Be leery of picking highly-seeded Big 12 teams in the first round. Four times since 2001 a Big 12 team seeded fourth or higher has been knocked off in its opening game, including Kansas losing in the first round in both 2005 and 2006.

Think ACC. Since 1979, the Atlantic Coast Conference has never gone three years in a row without getting at least one team to the Final Four. The last two years, though, the ACC has failed to push a team to the Final Four.

Go East for the champ. The last nine years, the NCAA champion has resided in the Eastern time zone.

March Madness is coming.

This is a political blog, but in North Carolina, basketball is politics too, so we’ve invited some statewide candidates to submit their brackets for the upcoming NCAA tournament.

We’ll see next week how you all did.

Pacquiao won a narrow split decision to claim Marquez’s WBC 130-pound title Saturday night in a sensational fight that left two of the world’s best boxers bloody and triumphant.

Again, Manny Pacquiao wins, and he makes the Filipino proud, the Filipino whose hope has been dwindling with the current political fiasco that has been invading the country. Same as the split decision of the judges in the Pacquiao-Marquez fight, we need someone or something or an event, whatever, which would break the current pro-administration and anti-administration deadlock quickly.

Yes, we are all in search of the elusive truth—but do we see the light at the end of the tunnel which seems to be endless? This deadlock has to be decided. The Filipino must move on, even if we are to start from scratch, before it is too late.

Though Marquez landed more punches at a higher percentage, Pacquiao (46-3-2) knocked down Marquez (48-4-1) in the third round and persevered through a nasty cut. Marquez also was cut, but neither backed down from one scintillating exchange after another.

Their first matchup ended in a draw in May 2004. Marquez was knocked down three times in the opening round of that acclaimed bout, but the Mexican champion improbably rallied to win most of the later rounds in a possible career-saving performance.

An immediate rematch was scuttled by financial arguments, and Pacquiao went on to cement his spots atop the sport and in every Filipino’s heart, while Marquez made a long climb back to a match he eagerly accepted this time.

The second fight was just as tight —and every bit as exciting.

Judge Duane Ford favored Pacquiao 115-112 and Jerry Roth called it 115-112 for Marquez, while Tom Miller gave a 114-113 edge to Pacquiao despite giving the last two rounds to Marquez. The Associated Press narrowly favored Marquez, 114-113, on the strength of his 12th-round performance.
With outstanding action in nearly every round producing bloody injuries and heart-stopping moments, the fight showed why both boxers are at the peak of their profession. One defining moment came when Pacquiao nearly had the fight won in the third round, but Marquez kept his feet.

“I thought at that point I was in control of the fight,” Pacquiao said. “But when he cut my eye in the fourth round, he made it more difficult for me, and I couldn’t take control of the fight. … I wasn’t sure (heading into the 12th round), but I always treat the final round as the most important. I don’t take any chances.”

From the opening bell, the action was fast and frenetic at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Marquez staggered Pacquiao in the second round, but Pacquiao floored Marquez in the third with a left hook. Pacquiao then wobbled Marquez again late in what’s sure to be one of the year’s best rounds, but couldn’t finish off Marquez.

“I don’t like the decision,” Marquez said. “I still feel I am the champion. It was a bad decision. That first knockdown, he got me cold, but then I adjusted my game plan and I thought from then on, I dictated the whole fight. … The people are the best judge, and the people are booing him. I won.”

Pacquiao won a major world title in his fourth weight division, and he intends to take on a fifth when he moves up to 135 pounds for his next fight against David Diaz, the WBC lightweight champion who won on Saturday’s undercard.

“I don’t think so,” Pacquiao said of a third fight with Marquez. “This business is over.”
Marquez, whose brother Rafael just finished a three-fight epic with Israel Vazquez, landed 172 punches, or 34 percent of his total compared to Pacquiao’s 25 percent. Pacquiao threw more jabs, and Marquez landed more power shots.

Pacquiao entered the ring to thousands of cheering fans and a Filipino rapper who incited the crowd with a live performance. Marquez had a white-suited mariachi band waiting for him in the ring, and his fans drowned out the sizable Filipino contingent.

After a cautious start, both fighters showed glimpses of their fearsome potential in the second round. Pacquiao won several tough exchanges, but Marquez wobbled Pacquiao with a three-punch combination in the final seconds.

The third round was nonstop action, with both fighters trading quality punches before Pacquiao put Marquez on the canvas with a left hook. Marquez was leaning against the ropes by the end, but wouldn’t go down.

Marquez cut Pacquiao with a punch in the fourth round, but Pacquiao staggered him again in the seventh, and a collision of heads opened a nasty cut near Marquez’s right eye. Marquez then split Pacquiao’s right cheek early in the eighth, but Pacquiao kept charging forward to take punishment with his obscured vision.

They traded quality punches until the final minute, when Marquez landed a handful of combinations to do the final damage. Both fighters’ cornermen raised them in victory.

“It was a close fight, but we came back at the end,” said Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach. “It could have gone either way, in my mind. Manny followed him around the ring too much. He didn’t cut off the ring like he should have. Marquez may have had a lot to do with that as well. Manny was more disciplined in training than he was in the fight tonight.”

Marquez could have had this fight shortly after their first bout across the Las Vegas Strip at the MGM Grand Garden, but his management complained about the financial terms. Marquez ended up fighting for $30,000 in Indonesia, where he lost his WBA title to Chris John two years ago, but Marquez claimed the WBC title last year by beating Barrera.

I may be a dreamer, but can we start from here? Admittedly, Manny Pacquiao is already a hero for many of us. Manny Pacquiao is a common factor—both the pros and the antis wanted him to win. Everyone is the same in that score. And it was a difficult fight, risking life and limb. He may have money, power within his circle, fame and all—but he fought hard for it, in each game he has been through since he started his career. The politicians? I doubt it—they have the money, power and all—at the expense of each and every Filipino, raking pro rated ill-gotten weath according to their ranks and levels.

I have more respect for Manny Pacquiao than any of them politicians. Oh yes, there are good ones, but I really cannot hand pick any of them, as I have become biased.

I just wish Manny Pacquiao would not side with either the pros or the antis. I just wish he were to start his own revolution—leading the youth, leading the businessmen into something that would leave an impression in the hearts of each Filipinos. I was thinking, during the Marcos time, we had slogans, “Sa ika-uunlad ng bayan, disiplina ang kailangan”.

This was instilled in the hearts and minds of each Filipino through repeated announcements in radios, over televisions and in forms of banners and prints on walls. What have we got afterwards? We had cleaner surroundings, when in the past the Filipino would throw his or her candy wrapper on the streets, he or she would hold it till the next trash can in sight. Discipline was slowly brought back to the home, to the society, even in small forms. Same with the trash, the people have become aware of disposing of trash properly. Small deeds, but if you count by the millions of Filipinos doing small good deeds, it would spell a lot of difference.

There was also the green revolution during the Marcos era, and somehow, people were made aware of the importance of “green”. Now it can be something like, “Save the environment”.

There were many more, given time, I will be able to recall them.

Manny Pacquiao could lead a revolution of good deeds, he can lead by example. I just wish that the rumors about his gallivanting and betting in cock-fights were not true, or if ever they are, I just wish he could do something about them. No one is to judge of course, and no one is perfect. But as a public figure, he must have some sense of good judgement with his activities.

He can start with projects that can help uplift the plight of the poor, and the basic units in society—the families can work with the basic units of the governments—the barangays. One model is for a company or a group of companies within a barangay or within a district to put up some funds for those who have less in their group, like livelihood programs, scholarships, day care centers, coaching, counselling from volunteers in the area. And hopefully others will follow suit.
Manny Pacquiao has money that could last him a lifetime, even more. And Filipinos are fond of showbiz, love heroes and would emulate them—Manny Pacquiao could be a factor who could influence. Influence the Filipino through good deeds, through action, and not just words.

Manny Pacquiao—you can’t help it anymore! You are an influencing figure in the hearts of Filipinos. The people, especially the poor somehow have placed their hope in you, dreaming to rise from where they are now, seeing a little of themselves in you. I can see the smiles on their faces when they see you win on the delayed telecast.

Yes—the streets are still empty and quiet as the tricycle drivers, the street vendors, the sari-sari store owners take their time out from work to watch your fight. Even the churches were not full this morning, I wonder if the malls had enough business in the morning.

You can make a difference, as the Filipino awaits your return, I just hope that a spark of idea will come to your mind—to take one more step forward to be the true Filipino hero that you are, in words and in deeds. Inspire! Be the leader! Help in the healing of the country, so that others may follow suit, and the Filipino will be great again.

Please don’t stop me from wishing, and dreaming. I can dream, can’t I?