Pregame
11:00 AM CBS starts it's tournament coverage
11:02 Seth Green, SI columnist, is calling a Pacific upset over Washington. Great. I think Lorenzo Romar's bunch deserves a little more credit.
11:03 I can't find the schedule for KEYE's Games, but I'm going to take a wild guess and say we're getting Oklahoma-Utah at 3:40. Everyone's going to see Texas Tech-Gonzaga first at 12:10 PM
11:19 Nice replay of the final seconds of Vermont's upset win over Syracuse. Also known as the moment that my bracket went down in flames. And the moment when Duke was practically handed the Austin Regional.
11:29 The CBS theme music never gets old.
11:31 Interesting piece on Marvin Williams, Sports and Bremertonians' hometown hero, and the guy who could lead North Carolina to a national title. Apparently he had this old "North Carolina System" tape made by Dean Smith and Roy Williams and that's how he got interested in Carolina all the way in Bremerton, Washington. Marvin's dad is also proud that he's his kid's idol over Kevin Garnett. I say he's one of the lucky few parents who's kid looks up to the parents rather than a basketball player.
11:39 The CBS folks are interviewing Bucknell's coach and Chris McNaughton, the guy who hit the game winning shot.
11:45 25 minutes to tip
11:50 20 minutes to tip. Blogger Yoni Cohen, in his column on Fox Sports, states that Tech will have to shut down Derek Raivo in order to keep pace with Gonzaga. After shutting down Jordan Farmar yesterday, this shouldn't be a problem for Ronald Ross or Jarrious Jackson. Shutting down Turiaf and Batista will be a bigger problem for Texas Tech because Darryl Dora and Devonne Giles don't have the size to defend anyone.
Seth Green thinks Texas Tech needs to feed Ronald Ross the ball. Except that's not how Tech's offense works.
11:55 15 minutes to tip. Interesting piece on the Ohio U player who was stationed in Iraq and came back to watch his team play in the NCAA tournament. It was really nice of his buddy to let him switch leaves with him so he could see them play.
12:00 10 minutes to tip. The experts are picking Gonzaga. I can't disagree, but I am comforted in the knowledge that the same "experts" picked UCLA to beat Tech also.
Texas Tech-Gonzaga
12:05 Out to Tucson for the game and Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner to call the game
12:10 (20:00) We're underway and Darryl Dora tips the ball out of bounds. Hope this isn't a bad sign.
12:10 (19:18) Erroll "Flynn" Knight draws first blood for Gonzaga.
12:13 (18:53) Devonne Giles puts the first points on the board for Tech.
12:15 As expected, Gonzaga is pounding the ball inside against Darryl Dora.
12:19 (15:54) TV Timeout. 12-7 Gonzaga. Not a good start for Texas Tech.
12:21 (15:39) Gonzaga goes to a zone, and Martin Zeno makes them pay on the drive
12:22 (14:45) Zeno scores, then commits a defensive foul on the other end.
12:24 Texas Tech getting killed on the glass. Gonzaga has 11 rebounds to Tech's 3.
12:26 (13:00) Jackson converts a 3 point play to get the margin back within 2.
12:27 (12:10) Ronald Ross took a long 2 and back-rimmed it. Adam Morrison converts on the other end.
12:18 (11:46) TV Timeout. Gonzaga up 20-16. Tech can't keep trading baskets, they've got to get a run going.
12:32 Zeno gets assaulted down low and no call.
12:33 (9:55) Jarrious Jackson hits a 3 to make it 24-21
12:36 (7:06) TV Timeout. Tech has beaten zone teams before. They are not being aggressive enough off the dribble to beat this zone.
12:40 Texas Tech's Suljagic gets mauled on the inside. No call.
12:42 Timeout Texas Tech as Gonzaga goes on a run to make it 30-23. The problem with being the first game on Saturday is that the viewers are going to have to watch all the carnage.
12:44 Texas Tech calls a 30-second timeout.
12:45 Gonzaga gets a good defensive stop out of the timeout and converts on the other end. There are words that describe Texas Tech's performance right now. Unfortunately none of them are printable.
12:48 11-2 run for Gonzaga and the lead is 9 points.
12:52 (1:27) TV Timeout. The lead is 10, but the fight is clearly gone from Texas Tech.
12:56 (0:00) Halftime 38-29 Gonzaga. Probably Tech's worst half of basketball this season. 41% from the field, 40% from the free-throw line, 1-5 from beyond the arc, outrebounded 27-12, only forced 6 turnovers.
I think Turiaf is having a big impact on the team because he's grabbed 9 rebounds and has given Devonne Giles problems on the interior.
1:18 (20:00) We're underway again
1:21 Texas Tech briefly got my hopes up with a 7-0 run, but Gonzaga has hit a few to bring it back to 10
1:22 Jackson for three... good! And the lead is 5
1:27 The lead has vacillated between 5-7 points for most of the half. Tech needs to make another move soon.
1:30 (12:08) And the run is on! A 6-0 run created mostly by turnovers makes it 54-52 Gonzaga. Come on, Tech!
1:31 Timeout Gonzaga. Smart move on their part. The last thing they need is for the Red Raiders to build momentum.
1:34 (11:55) TV Timeout after an offensive foul on Gonzaga.
1:37 (11:19) Devonne Giles hits the deck hard and may be out for a stretch.
1:38 (10:34) Zeno on the line to tie it. Third foul on Batista
First one goes in...
Second one rattles out! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
1:40 (9:46)Dora puts Tech in the lead!
1:42 (9:18) Adam Morrison hits 1 of 2 to tie it. Third foul on Devonne Giles.
1:43 (8:31) Martin Zeno by Turiaf! But Gonzaga turns it over on the other end.
1:44 (7:49) Devonne Giles gets the lead back for Tech! TV Timeout! 57-55 Texas Tech!
1:48 Morrison Ties it at 57. Now Gonzaga's on a run
1:49 Morrison, who is taking Gonzaga on his back, scored and converted a 3-point play to make it 60-57 Gonzaga. Morrison has 20 points
1:52 (3:41) Zeno scores to cut it to one, but Morrison, who is just on fire, answers on the other end.
1:55 (2:28) TV Timeout. Gonzaga leads 64-63. Tech needs to comeout of the time out, play good defense, and get on another run. Dora and Giles both have 4 personals and Tech can ill-afford to lose either.
1:57 (2:14) Ronny Turiaf hits one of 2. 65-63 Texas Tech.
1:58 (1:52) Devonne Giles hits 2 to tie, but Turiaf converts on the other end
2:00 (1:07) Ronald Ross for 3.... GOOD! Tech's in the lead! Timeout Gonzaga!
2:01 (0:50.0) Turiaf bricks the front end of a one and one! Tech has the ball!
2:03 (0:27.1) Jarrious Jackson makes 1 of 2 free throws to make it 69-67 Timeout Gonzaga.
2:02 (0:12) Morrison bricks a 3! Texas Tech has the ball after Giles calls timeout!
2:06 (0:08.0) Tech inbounds the ball and Gonzaga fouls Ronald Ross. Bad move, Ross is Tech's best free throw shooter.
And Ross hits both 71-66 Tech.
2:10 Raivo hits a 2 and immediately fouls Tech defensive replacement LucQuente White.
2:12 White Bricks it! Morrison heaves it from 3/4 court! NO GOOD! RED RAIDERS WIN!
2:14 In all fairness, Texas Tech stole this game. Gonzaga outplayed Tech until about the 12:00 mark of the second half and then Tech tightened up on the defensive end, which created everything for Texas Tech.
I am completely spent. I am going to take the next round of games off. Catch you all later.
UPDATE (3:50 PM): There is a lightning storm currently in Austin, and I'm going to have to shut down the computer, which means no more journal today. Sorry.
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