Pitt vs. Oral Roberts: Running Diary

Ok...I'm done from my little vacation away from this blog. The NCAA Tournament is underway and it's time for me to get back on the horse. All of my brackets have been filled out, and three games are already in the books. I'm feeling better now that it's a more reasonable time of day for me to be awake and people to be alive. I also have a mini-fridge full of bottled water and beer along with some amazing chicken from Sesame Inn, so I'm more than ready to go. I have a new rule for myself this year: Anytime Pitt wins the Big East Tournament as a #7 seed, is picked by Coach Bob Knight to win the National Championship, and plays Oral Roberts in the first round...I just have to keep a running diary of what takes place. Here are some things you should know about Oral Roberts before the action gets underway:

• Oral is almost always a crowd pleaser
• More often than not, Oral comes out on top
• Oral has a knack for getting hot at the right times
• It's almost impossible to overrate Oral
• Oral is good

Whew...after getting that out of my system, let us get to the game.

3:05 pm - Gus Johnson and Len Elmore welcome us to Denver for the Pitt/Oral match-up. I'm so glad to be listening to Johnson doing a Pitt game. Even though Gus shines at the ending of close games, I'm hoping we avoid that scenario this afternoon.

3:38 pm - Sorry for the delay...phone call and food. Pitt is currently on an 18-0 run and has pulled out in front of Oral 28-13. Gilbert Brown has been impressive (on the one dunk, he looked as if he was still elevating as he threw it down) and Levance Fields has, again, been a master at running the point. Pitt has also made 6 of 7 free throws. This is very fun to watch.

3:42 pm - Pitt 34 - Oral 15, Ronald Ramon just made a three point jumper. The kid knocks them down as if they were free throws. Errr...he knocks them down as if they were free throws for a team that shot free throws well.

3:47 pm - Is it possible that Gus could become bored with this game? Is it possible that a game like this allows him to conserve his energy and be absolutely outlandish later in the tournament? Is it possible that I'm jinxing things by talking about this in the first half?

3:49 pm - I'm sorry...but (this) Oral is terrible! Pitt is good...but I've never seen them get such easy chances on offense. Every possession it seems like we're getting an uncontested 13 footer, a wide open three-point shot, or an all too easy lay-up. They have been picking and choosing which shot to take and make every trip down. I can't wait until the second half when Ramon will only shoot NBA-range three-pointers and Sam Young will only shoot fade-aways, just to add a degree of difficulty. This is unreal.

3:52 pm - Pittsburgh 47 - Oral 24 at Halftime. Wow. Coming up...Live Look-Ins!!!

3:55 pm - Kent State has a total...TOTAL of 10 points at halftime against UNLV. I'm sure glad I didn't pick Kent State as a Bracket Buster team. Yep...I'm sure glad of that.

4:08 pm - These 2:30 games are all disasters right now! Pitt is up by 23, UNLV is up by 25, Purdue is up by 19, and Marquette is up by 9. No wonder the ratings have gone down the last couple of years. I need to start drinking to make this more interesting. Bring on the spelling errorz!!!

4:11 pm - Did you know that Len Elmore has a law degree from Harvard? One finds these things out during blow-outs in the Thursday afternoon games.

4:14 pm - Pitt isn't going to show Oral anything new or special here, they want to have a few surprises for teams down the road in the Tournament. I fully expect Jamie Dixon to pull a Milton Berle here in the second half...only putting (pulling) out enough to win.

4:26 pm - I just spent over 10 minutes trying to find a good link about that Milton Berle urban legend and I can't find a good one. When I do, I'll let you know. This is what I'm doing with my day now. And to think that people are out there right now at work using their skills and abilities to build self-esteem and support their families. By the way...Pitt 61 - Oral 37.

4:32 pm - This sad display by Oral Roberts is making me even more angry that they defeated IUPUI in the Summit League Championship game, costing me a valuable Conference Champion pick.

4:35 pm - CBS keeps cutting away to the Marquette vs. Kentucky game during timeouts in an attempt to sell us on the idea that an 8 point game is "competitive" compared to the 20+ point blowouts going on everywhere else right now. People might actually go outside or spend time with family if the games keep going like this.

4:44 pm - Although all of these games suck right now, this is still fun. But Phil...this would be ten times more fun if we could sit around all day and watch these games together while bs'ing, making fun of each others picks, and commenting on various announcers and coaches. Someday we will.

4:50 pm - Marquette beat Kentucky, it was never really close. Levance Fields has 23 points and Pitt is leading by 23. I'm more interested in the Pittsburgh Steelers cutting Cedrick Wilson for allegedly punching his ex-girlfriend at Patrone Mexican Bar and Grill in Wexford, PA. For those who don't know...Wexford is in the north suburbs of Pittsburgh and is about 12 minutes from my house. This north-suburb crime is getting out of hand! Didn't Santonio Holmes do the exact same thing a few years ago? But because it happened out of state and because he was a 1st round draft pick, he's still on the team. Gotta love the Rooney family setting different standards depending on the quality of their players.

4:56 pm - No upsets so far today. Back in the day I remember it almost being the rule that there was a notable upset during the afternoon session of the Thursday NCAA Tourney games. The top teams are just too good. As much as I hate to say it, I'm feeling a lot of chalk over the first two days this year.

4:58 pm - As I expected, Dixon didn't throw anything new at Oral Roberts in the second half. (Oral has actually outscored Pitt in the second half so far, 36-33) He knows that there are scouts from Michigan State and Memphis in the crowd, he's not letting them see anything until they potentially see it for the first time. Smart move. The Pitt lead has "shrunk" to 20, Pitt 80 - Oral 60.

5:05 pm - PITT WINS! PITT WINS! PITT WINS! After unloading his bench and putting in the walk-ons, Pittsburgh defeats Oral Roberts, 82-63. Another outstanding game by the Pitt defense. The only thing Oral had going for them was their three-point shooting, and once Pitt was able to defend that properly and shut them down, Oral didn't have a chance. The coaching staff did a great job preparing for that game, Pitt made it look downright easy. Outstanding game by Levance Fields. Michigan State is next on Saturday. I like this Pitt team's chances. By the way...Pitt was only an 8.5 point favorite here, so they easily covered the spread. I don't know why the hell I didn't put $50 down on this game, my mistake. Well done boys. Now I need a cigarette and a bathroom break.