Day One Thoughts: Two Out, Two Still Alive

Hope you all had a great day of hoops action aside from watching the same commercials over and over again. To be honest, I thought play was pretty dull. The only real big upset of the night came with one of the Big Ten's own (I'll get to that in a little bit), but most of the games weren't even close or weren't that engaging. Despite that, let's take a look into the four games today by the Big Ten teams:

-- In their first NCAA Tournament since 1998, the Michigan Wolverines showed no signs of timidness and were never really rattled in their 62-59 victory over Clemson. Don't let the score surprise you, though. This game wasn't as close as the three-point margin of victory indicates. Like most games this season, Michigan got manhandled on the glass but when they needed a basket, who better to turn to than #3, super sophomore Manny Harris. He led Michigan in points (23), rebounds (7) and assists (6), while going a perfect 6-6 from the foul line. He made a converted a huge three-point play with less than 30 seconds left to seal the deal.
Next Up: A bout with No. 2 Oklahoma Saturday. Michigan is no stranger to big games this season and should give the Sooners a run for their money.

-- Despite being shipped way out west, fifth-seeded Purdue got all it could handle from an upstart Northern Iowa team, but fended off a late UNI rally to move on to the second round, 61-56. The match-up resembled that of a Big Ten regular season game, two Midwestern schools duking it out in a physical, "grind-it-out" kind of way. Sophomore guard E'Twaun Moore made a couple of big shots down the stretch and Robbie Hummel grabbed 12 rebounds despite scoring only nine points.
Next Up: Purdue has been a one-and-done team the past two seasons, winning their first round game before being bounced by a superior seed in the second (No. 1 Florida in 2007, No. 3 Xavier in 2008). They're hoping third time's the charm Saturday, when they face fourth-seeded Washington. The Boilermakers will be the underdog again and will face a pro-Washington crowd in Portland, just a few hours south of Seattle.

-- Minnesota showed flashes of promise of what could be and what could have been, but lost a hard-fought battle to seventh-seeded Texas, 76-62. Rising star Lawrence Westbrook led Minnesota with 19 points, but Texas guard A.J. Abrams hit eight three-pointers, including a stretch of six straight to help the Longhorns pull away from the Golden Gophers. Minnesota ended the season losing 10 of their last 16, finishing with a record of 22-11.

-- And as I alluded to earlier, the biggest upset of the day came on the wrong end for one Big Ten team, as fifth-seeded Illinois was upended by 12th-seeded Western Kentucky, 76-72. The Fighting Illini were down by as many as 17 points late in the game, but a 17-3 run propelled them to within two with under a minute to play. Watching this game, Illinois never really looked interested. Without their senior leader, guard Chester Frazier (hand), Illinois starters really struggled. Look no further than center Mike Tisdale (0-4 FG, 1 REB, 4 PF in 19 minutes), who barely even sniffed the floor in the second half. Their other seniors on the floor, Calvin Brock and Trent Meacham led the Illini back into the game, but in the end, the defecit was too much to overcome. Had Frazier played, I think Illinois wins this game, but give Western Kentucky credit. They made some tough shots in the first half and made plays when they needed to in the second.

So two teams advance to the second round and three more will get their shot tomorrow (Friday). Here's the slate:

No. 9 Siena vs. No. 8 Ohio State (Dayton, OH) -- 8:40 p.m. (CT)
No. 12 Wisconsin vs. No. 5 Florida State (Boise, ID) -- 8:40 p.m.
No. 15 Robert Morris vs. No. 2 Michigan State (Minneapolis, MN) -- 8:50 p.m.

For those that are interested, Penn State moved onto the NIT Quarterfinals with a victory over Rhode Island tonight. Guard Talor Battle left the game with three minutes left with an apparent ankle injury and played the game without forward Jamelle Cornley, who injured his shoulder against George Mason Tuesday. Penn State will play the winner of (1) Florida and (4) Miami (FL), with the winner going to the NIT Semifinals in Madison Square Garden. The other Big Ten team in the NIT, Northwestern, lost to Tulsa Wednesday night, ending their season.