via www.rotorob.com

OK so who expected the Kansas loss last night? (crickets).  Yesterday was full of surprises, with SMC  making the Sweet 16, and Nuss moving one step closer to winning his trip (although this isn't exactly surprising). Well now that everyone's bracket is pretty much shattered, lets look ahead to the big games on Sunday.  But first, let me explain the Dicky V. picture.  I was looking at the featured brackets on ESPN earlier, and I came across his,  I was curious, so I clicked on it, only to find that his bracket was in the 9th percentile.  Yes, you read that right.  Personally, I had 1.5x more points than him.  Anyways on to the games today.  After the jump, you'll find sites, times, announcers, and the almighty KenPom's prediction.  CLICK IT.

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Business first: go here and take the SBN poll.

Day three of the tournament just happened and it was full of not-so-fun times.  It was nice outside and I missed the early games, but I'm confident enough to run down the action for those of you that missed it.

This post is brought to you by the Northern Iowa Sex Panthers:

via cdn0.sbnation.com

60% of the time, they kill your bracket.

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EDIT NUSS: Seriously, I think Grady, Craig and I are wondering if we're ever going to have to write anything again, you guys are doing such a good job. Sheesh. Way to go.

via limeshot.com

Welcome to the second round!  I don't have much to say, other than there will be 8 games on Saturday.  After the jump comes the matchups, sites, times, and to appease cougfan, the announcer pairings.  Also, what games we will see on the west coast.  We all know who Nuss will be watching.  In the CougCenter bracket challenge, BucherBP comes into the day with the outright lead, 10 points ahead of second.

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First things first: go here and read about the SBN survey.  Then take the 10 minutes or less to do the survey.  It's for a good cause.

If you missed out on today's "action", you should be proud of yourself.  The weather was nice and the tournament was the complete opposite of yesterday.

After the jump, you'll get a bullet point rundown of the day.  Don't expect much analysis this time, because it really wasn't needed today.  Instead, you'll find some fun observations from the day that kept me entertained.

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EDIT NUSS: Take or don't take. Up to you. But it'd be cool to give $500 to the rebuild effort in Haiti or something ...

>> Take SB Nation Survey

Hello sports fans! We're always striving to provide you with the best experience possible and it's been quite some time since we checked in with you.

So we're rolling out this survey to learn more about you and your sports world. It should only take about 10 minutes to complete.

We really appreciate your time and this is also going to help make a donation to a good cause.

By next Thursday (3/25) at 11:59pm PST the site that has the highest percentage of their community filling out the attached survey about their sports interests and consumption will win $500 to donate to a charity of their choice. We will leave it up to the discretion of the community manager(s) of the winning blog to decide how to choose the particular charity.

You can take the survey HERE

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WYR2WQT

Thanks for your support!

For those of you who missed the first day, you missed what was probably the best day of the tournament in a very long time.

After the jump, I'll give you a little run down of the festivities.

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EDIT NUSS: This is hereby deemed the official open thread of the day's basketball. Unless the comments get to be too numerous, in which case, we'll open a new one. Grady here: I'm going to do threads session by session, since I'm hoping we're overrun by comments. But read this one first. NUSS HERE: I've been usurped! :-) DANCING FOOTBALL HERE: I felt left out. GRADY HERE: I forgot to use all caps the first time.

Also, SB Nation told us we could make $20 if we put the following widget for CBS's MMOD on our threads, so you're stuck with it. Sorry, cougfan, if this ruins the integrity of your preview, but hey -- 20 bucks is 20 bucks! Besides, never hurts to have the scores at the top of the thread, right? Also, you can launch straight to online streaming of the various games from here.

Launch Player

It's the most wonderful time of the year.  March Madness starts Thursday, meaning wall to wall tournament games, and consequently angry girlfriends/wives everywhere, for the next four days.  If you haven't called in sick yet, feel free to fake a cold that lasts for at least 48 hours.

When: First tip-off at 9:20.  Why they couldn't pick a nice round number like 9:30 is beyond me.

Where: CBS for those playing at home, here for those trying to play at work

After the jump, you'll learn more about the first day then you'll ever want or need to know.

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A thought came to me while watching Ernie Kent's press conference yesterday.  For those of you living in a vacuum, Kent was "fired" on February 22nd and elected to finish out the season.  The news of his termination broke while he was finishing up the season sweep against our Cougs in a pretty unceremonious fashion (during the middle of the game).  Yesterday, he faced the media at a press conference about his own firing.  For that, I respect him.  This isn't about Ernie Kent, though, it's about what I saw watching him get choked up answering questions.

For as much as we rip collegiate players and coaches, and most of us are guilty (including myself), we sometimes forget that there are people behind what we see on the court.  The athletes are college kids, charged with going to class, getting an education, and performing on the court/field to go along with it.  Between going to class and doing everything else a normal college kid does, they're practicing, lifting weights, and studying up on the next opponent.  The coaches are in a job that has more stress then most of us will experience in the working world.  When they aren't at practice teaching their players, they're studying film.  During the offseason, they're on the road recruiting.  The job doesn't stop for their own lives. 

When I was in school, Bill Doba was a prime example of this.  As much as Doba is blamed for the current state of the football program, most forget that his wife was battling cancer throughout his entire tenure as coach, passing away in the offseason before he left in April of 2006.  The job never stopped for him while all of this was going on.  As I watched Ernie Kent end his press conference, his last thought was that he'd given his heart and soul to the basketball program.  He recounted a time that he buried his father before rushing to Buffalo to coach his players later that day.  The job didn't stop for him, either.

When we write about coaches and players, even in the heat of the moment, it is important to remember that these are people, too.  Family members, friends, and even the players and coaches themselves can see what you write and post online.  It's all out there for the public to see.  Constructive criticism with useful evidence to back it up is good and provokes thoughtful discussion.  Ripping a player or coach or player without any insight as to why does the opposite.  It's something to keep in mind before throwing out another "Fire Bone" or "Klay sucks".

No. 1 Seed Arizona State vs. No. 8 Seed Jacksonville

18-6 run in the last 4 minutes for Jacksonville to pull out a one point victory on the road....WOW. And to top it off the winning shot was a bank shot three!  I'm rooting for the Pac-10 in post season play because we were an embarrassment all year long, but this pretty much sums it up. 

Sun Devils up by 11 with 3:59 to play, check out this play by play. And just watch Sports Center for the winning shot...

The Cougar baseball team has started the season playing good baseball (9-1).  They are beginning a long and competitive road trip that takes them to Texas A&M and Wichita State.  Cougar football has Spring practices right around the corner.  The addition of new recruits that have enrolled early and getting a look at the growth of the returning players seems to have created a buzz within the program.  What is everyone more excited to watch this Spring, Cougar baseball's run at the NCAA tournament or the development of Cougar football?