BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A lot of face-saving was at stake when West Virginia took the HSBC Arena floor Friday against Morgan State. And eight minutes into the game, the faces were still gravely endangered.
The Mountaineers, seeded second in the NCAA tournament's East Region, were still testy about not getting a No. 1 seed after rolling through the Big East tournament last week. Meanwhile, their conference's reputation was on the line after a disaster of a first day Thursday, when the best news had been Villanova barely escaping an upset by Robert Morris.
Yet the next day, West Virginia came out of the blocks slowly and tentatively, missed its first nine shots and let Morgan State -- like Robert Morris a 15th-seed -- get momentum and a 10-0 lead. The Bears were still up 14-5 with 11:56 left in the first half. The Mountaineers didn't even hit a basket until nearly eight minutes had gone by, and Da'Sean Butler, on a roll coming into the tournament and the player Morgan State had to control if it were to have any shot at staying close, didn't hit a field goal until less than four minutes remained in the half.
However, whether it was rust, nerves, the early start time or an energized opponent, West Virginia had scraped all of them off by halftime. Once its jumpers started to fall, Butler's teammates started picking him up and the team's advantage athletically took over, West Virginia took control and kept it. By the time that first Butler field goal (a short jumper from the right of the lane) fell, West Virginia had taken the lead and was in the middle of a run of 11 straight points. The Mountaineers coasting in from there, led by 11 at halftime, and won 77-50 for a berth in the second round.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Louis Dale remembers when he first walked around the Cornell campus, he couldn't believe what he'd walked into. Dale casually asked students if they attended basketball games.
Say what?
Hockey was king. Lacrosse was a close second.
Stash the sticks. Hoops has quickly gained popularity over the past few years in Ithaca, N.Y., and the Big Red made history Friday. No. 12 Cornell kept the early NCAA tournament upsets in style, beating No. 5 Temple 78-65 here in the opening subregional game at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.
The Ivy League champion Big Red captured their first NCCA tourney game in history behind superb shooting from the outside and solid defense. It also represented the first win for the Ivy League since Princeton in 1998.
Dale (21 points) , a senior from Birmingham, Ala., and Ryan Wittman (20), son of former Indiana star and NBAer Randy Wittman, combined to score 41 points. The pair was 13 of 26 from the floor, firing away on more than half of Big Red's 48 attempted field goals, and combined on seven treys.
Cornell (28-4), which led by as many as 19 points, has won 16 of its last 17 and is 26-2 since Turkey Day.
"I think our mentality was we wanted to be the toughest team," Dale said. "We just wanted to -- we knew it was going to be a hard-fought game and that we just needed to stay poised and be tough."
This was not a surprise to anyone really that St. John's has fired coach Norm Roberts. This was his make-or-break year and eeking out a single NIT appearance just was not going to cut it. The fans stopped showing for the games, there was no optimism. Simply put, the team just did not win.
The games are underway again and work is effectively over. How distracted is everyone? Not even Tiger Woods could get in a dirty text message edgewise.
So, with your afternoon ruined, and having you done your part to put the economy firmly on the 16-seed line, join FanHouse writers, editors and readers for an afternoon tourney chat.
Topics of conversation to include likely upsets, how this tournament turned so crazy and which of the Gilligan's Island castaways was secretly plotting against the group.
With all of the speculation about expanding the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament to 96 teams, Dan Graziano sounds off on why Thursday's opening round should put an end to the talk. From buzzer beaters to huge upsets, Graziano reports the Tourney is just fine the way it is.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A lot of face-saving was at stake when 
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- 
This was not a surprise to anyone really that 
