First day of tournament thoughts

Well, I saw a good part of the Husky and Bulldog (Zags) wins today. Here are my impressions:

1) Pondexter is a very good player and if he does well, the Huskies will go far. From what I saw (and have seen) of Purdue, I think that the Huskies should beat the Boilermakers. Most of these Big 10 teams don't have a big-time scorer, and rely on their defense and tempo to win games.

2) Gonzaga is good, but perhaps their sluggish first half is a wake-up call to the team to not assume that they can coast to wins, even over lesser teams. Heytvelt is playing well as is Pargo, which is great for the Zags.

3) Akron would beat Mississippi State if they met on a neutral court. Akron doesn't have a great player, but a lot of depth and they take care of the basketball, unlike Mississippi State. Mississippi State was essentially a one or two man team in Varnado and Johnson.

4) Upsets will occur in the second round. The bigger schools can counteract a lack of experience with talent, unlike a few years ago, when guys went straight to the NBA from High School.