Elite Eight Predictions

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

There are eight teams left. Only four will advance to The Show in San Antonio. The Final Four is where all eight of these teams want to be.

Here are my predictions. Please leave your comments and views.

North Carolina over Louisville
Kansas over Davidson
Texas over Memphis
UCLA over Xavier

Sweet 16 Results

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

The men's Sweet 16 is has come. I went 5-3 (.625) for this round. Here are the results:

Here are the five I predicted correctly:
North Carolina 68 Washington 47
Kansas 72 Villanova 57
Memphis 92 Michigan State 74
Texas 82 Stanford 62
UCLA 88 Western Kentucky 78

Here are the three that I (and probably along with many others) missed:
Louisville 79 Tennessee 60
Davidson 73 Wisconsin 56
Xavier 79 West Virginia 75

The Elite 8 start tomorrow. Predictions will be up soon.

Sweet 16 Predictions

By Robert H. kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

The Sweet 16 starts today. Here are my predictions:

East Regional in Charlotte, South Carolina
North Carolina (1) over Washington State (4)
Tennessee (2) over Louisville (3)

Midwest Regional in Detroit, Miichigan
Kansas (1) over Villanova (4)
Wisconsin (2) over Davidson (10)

South Regional in Houston, Texas
Memphis (1) over Michigan State (5)
Texas (2) over Stanford (3)

West Regional in Phoenix, Arizona
UCLA (1) over Western Kentucky (12)
West Virginia (7) over Xavier (3)

The Sweet 16 Matchups

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

The first two rounds are completed in the 2008 NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Tournament. There have been a few upsets, but most of the higher seeds advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.

It has been a great tournament so far. Basketball fans have had numerous games to choose from, in addition to being able to watch any game they choose on CBSSports.com.

I will have my predictions up for the Sweet Sixteen before the end of the week.
All games will be played on March 27, 2008.

Now for the matchups in the Sweet 16!


East Regional in Charlotte, North Carolina

North Carolina (1) vs. Washington State (4)

Louisville (3) vs. Tennessee (2)


Midwest Regional in Detroit, Michigan

Kansas (1) vs. Villanova (4)

Wisconsin (2) vs. Davidson (10)


South Regional in Houston, Texas

Memphis (1) vs. Michigan State (5)

Stanford (3) vs. Texas (2)


West Regional in Phoenix, Arizona

UCLA (1) vs. Western Kentucky (12)

West Virginia (7) vs. Xavier (3)

I hope to bring some action from the Houston regional next weekend. I do not have press credentials for the games, but I should be able to get some coverage from Reliant Stadium.

Second Round Results for Sunday, March 23, 2008

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

One upset today took everyone by surprise. I went 7 for 8 (.875) today and am now 37-11 (.771) for the tournament.

Here are the results. The following seven games I predicted correctly.

Villanova 84 Siena 72: Villanova becomes the first double-digit seed this year to make it into the sweet 16. Davidson, San Diego and Western Kentucky will all have their opportunity later to join the Wildcats as double-digit seeds in the sweet 16. A huge effort from Scottie Reynolds, 25 points and 8 boards, had the Wildcats rolling all game long, holding a double digit lead for most of the game. There reward for winning is a game against #1 seed Kansas.

Tennessee 76 Butler 71: Butler gave it a good go after trailing by 13 early and by as many as 10 points in the second half. They rallied to tie the game to force overtime and even took a brief lead in the extra period on the strength of A.J. Graves' 21 points. A number of those points by Graves came down the stretch even while he was nursing four fouls. The Bulldogs didn't have enough at the end though, with the Vols going on for the win to advance to the Sweet 16.

Western Kentucky 72 San Diego 63: The Hilltoppers win, becoming the second #12 seed to move on to the Sweet 16 today. the game was close down the stretch, but Courtney Lee took over the game with his 27 points leading the Hilltoppers to a victory. Western Kentucky moves on to face #1 seed UCLA.

Louisville 78 Oklahoma 48: Louisville earns at least one more game, next weekend in Charlotte against Tennessee. The Cardinals earn that opportunity thanks to 11 players getting on the board and all 13 players getting in the game in the blowout. Terrence Williams led the way with seven points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block.

Texas 75 Miami (Fla.) 72: AJ Abrams was a dominant offensive force and had his way with 26 points on the afternoon. Augustin had a low key game, but hit his final free throw to give them the lead for good. They couldn;t have done it wothout Damion James and his 16 and 16. The Hurricane nation should be proud to call UM a basketball school, as Frank Haith has turned around this program before our very eyes. McClinton almost pulled off some more late game heroics, but Texas had an extra man on the floor, with the clock playing such a huge part in the ballgame. Ray Hicks came in to drop in a pair of big threes in the closing minunte, but the better team came out on top and the Longhorns are still have a serious shot at the elusive National Championship.


Memphis 77 Mississippi State 74: The Tigers tried to shoot themselves in the foot with poor free throw shooting, but still came out with the win when Jamont Gordon's desperation three to tie the game rimmed out to give the Tigers a 77-74 win. With three seconds left and down by three, the Bulldogs inbounded the ball to Gordon who dribbled from end-line to three-point line. His final dribble, however, betrayed him and he lost his rhythm as he went up to shoot. His shot was flat and hit off the glass and off the rim at the buzzer. It was close.

North Carolina 108 Arkansas 77: This was over before it started. The Heels eclipse the century mark for the second time in the tournament and advange to the Sweet 16 by defeating the Hogs 108-77. 5 Heels reached double digits. The Heels never trailed and the end result was never in doubt. Not a great way for the Razorbacks to end their season, but it was a good run for Coach Pelphrey's team. The Heels will take on Wash State in the Sweet 16.

Here is the one game I missed:

Davidson 74 Georgetown 70: This is an incredible upset. Most fans predicted Georgetown to make the final four (including me)…not anymore.

Now on the the Sweet Sixteen!!!!!

Second Round-Day 4 Predicitions (Sunday, March 23, 2008)

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications


My predictions for the second round (day 4) of the 2008 NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament. The contests will be listed in their respective regions.



Please feel free to post all comments and your own picks.



East Regional
North Carolina over Arkansas
Louisville over Oklahoma
Tennessee over Butler



Midwest Regional
Villanova over Siena
Georgetown over Davidson



South Regional
Memphis over Mississippi State
Texas over Miami





West Regional
Western Kentucky University over San Diego

Second Round Results for Saturday, March 22, 2008

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

A couple of upsets today probably messed up some people's brakcets. I went 6 for 8 (.750) today and am now 30-10 (.750) for the tournament.

Here are the results. The following six games I predicted correctly.

West Virginia 73 Duke 67: I wonder how many people picked this upset. Well, I DID. The three-point shot was not falling for Duke, as they get upset by the #7 seed West Virginia Mountaineers. West Virginia had almost as many offensive rebounds, (18) as Duke had total rebounds (20). Joe Alexander had a double double with 22 points and 11boards and Ruoff had a big second half ending the game with 16 points.

Xavier 85 Purdue 78: Xavier is able to hold on late, taking out #6 seed Purdue. A solid effort all around for Xavier, led mostly by the play of Drew Lavender, 16 points and 9 assists, and C.J. Anderson, 18 points and 7 boards.

Stanford 82 Marquette 81: Stanford wins the game and advances to the sweet sixteen. B. Lopez scores 31-points tonight and leads his team to victory. It is a tough loss for the Golden Eagles and a great effort by McNeal who finishes the game with 30 points and 6 boards.

Wisconsin 72 Kansas State 55: Wisconsin improved to 31-4 with their decisive 72-55 win over Kansas State and the Badgers are headed into the Sweet 16.

Kansas 75 UNLV 56: Kansas is moving on to the Sweet 16 after a 75-56 win over UNLV. The Running Rebels fought hard in the first half, but simply didn't have enough offensive weapons to hang with Kansas in the second half.

UCLA 51 Texas A&M 49: The Aggies, after dominating for most of the game just didn't have it in them when it mattered most. The Bruins go on to Phoenix to face the winner of two upstart seeds that upset their opponents in the first round, Western Kentucky and San Diego.

The following two games I missed.

Washington State 61 Notre Dame 41: I thought this one would be close. Instead, Wash State absolutely pulverized the Irish who had their lowest-scoring game ever under Mike Brey. Low, Weaver and Cowgill all end up in double digits but the defense led the way. They held the Irish to 24% shooting. After the 20-point win, the Cougars move to the next round.

Michigan State 65 Pittsburgh 54: The Spartans knock off one of the hottest teams in the land and are headed to the Sweet 16 in Houston.. They do it with solid play, free throw shooting down the stretch, and great performances by Nietzel, Lucas and Suton. Limiting the Panthers to 33% shooting didn't hurt either. Solid free throw shooting by the Spartans down the stretch all but put this one away.

First Round Games Results for Friday, March 21, 2008

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

Day two games in the first round of the NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament are completed. I went 10-6 (.625) on my predictions today. Overall through the first round, I am 24-8 (.750).

Below is the scores and a brief recap of each game I predicted correctly. The six games I incorrectly predicted are listed at the bottom.

Games that I correctly predicted the outcome:

Tennessee 72 American 57: American University made a good go at it, tying the game at 40 with 11:15 remaining and trailing by only one with 6:00 left. It didn't have enough at the end, though, losing to Tennessee by a final score of 72-57. Carr scored a game-high 26 for the Eagles, but he didn't have enough help from the rest of the team.

Butler 91 South Alabama 61 South Alabama had a 23-22 lead 14 minutes deep into the first half, but that was when Campbell turned it on for Butler. From that point until halftime, Campbell scored 14 points, at one point making four 3-point attempts in a row. The Bulldogs never looked back from that moment, now able to look ahead to Tennessee in the second round. Despite putting in their bench players in the final minutes of the blowout, the Bulldogs still finished with 49 percent shooting from the field and a 15-for-30 line from 3-point range. They were led by Campbell's 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting, eight of those from outside of the arc.

Texas 74 Austin Peay 54: The Texas Longhorns exploded from the start of the game and the Governors never really had a chance as a result. The Longhorns will be met with a tough test in the second round, they will take on the Miami Hurricanes. Although the Hurricanes had a great game earlier, the Longhorns look untouchable. AJ Abrams is going to be the guy to look out for in the tournament. He is our player of the game and finishes with 26 points and one rebound. I can't wait for the second round to see how Abrams matches with McClinton

Georgetown 66 Maryland-Baltimore County 47: Georgetown came out and put up big numbers. This was just bascially a practice game for them and no one expected UMBC to be more than a quick laugh. The Hoyas, though, face the longest current win streak in the nation when they play Davidson and its star, Curry, who has the second highest scoring average in the nation. They will put the likes of Rivers, Crawford, and Sapp on him and hope that he has an off night. The Hoyas should be a tougher challenge than Davidson's first round matchup, mostly because of Hibbert and Wallace.

North Carolina 113 Mount St. Mary’s 74: This one was over before it started and the Heels left no doubt in their performance. Hansbrough dominated from the start and finished with 21 and 6 in only 26 minutes. A dominating performance all around, with four of five starters in double figures. Mount St. Mary's enjoyed the opportunity just to be at the dance and will have to wait till next year for a chance at a second song. Carolina freshman getting an extended stay on the floor and making the most of it. Wooten and Tanner pocket three balls and the lead remains to hover around the 40 point mark. Carolina just surpassed it's season high of 110 and the rich keep getting richer as Surry Wood breaks free for a hangaround slam. And it finally comes to a close. 113-72 Carolina moving on.

Arkansas 86 Indiana 72: Excellent coaching job by the Razorbacks John Pelfrey, particular in his handling of offense-defense substitutions in the second half. Every dead ball situation, Pelfrey had Steven Hill coming in to play defense, or leaving the court briefly in favor of offense, and it helped wear down D.J. White late in the game. Also, outstanding night on the offensive end for Sonny Weems, the game's high scorer with 31 points.

Louisville 79 Bosie State 61: The Cardinals advance to take on the Oklahoma Sooners on Sunday in the round of 32. They'll have to take better care of the basketball. They turned it over 16 times to a much weaker opponent. That is unacceptable. What they'd like to continue is the good 3-point shooting. They were 12-24 from deep and shot 55% from the field. Clark, Smith and Palacios each reached double digits in scoring. The Broncos were led by Nelson who had 17 points. Tiedeman failed to score in the second half after tallying 12 in the first. The Broncos are now 0-5 in the tournament all-time. That's all from Birmingham for now.

Oklahoma 72 St. Joseph’s 64: St. Joe's put on a great run in the second half, but it was too little too late as they fall to the Sooners. David Godbold was huge for Oklahoma, scoring 25 and hitting big baskets when it seemed to matter down the stretch. Oklahoma moves on to face the winner of the Louisville-Boise St. Match-up.

Villanova 75 Clemson 69: This Villanova team can be very dangerous down the road. I always say the teams with the better guard play will have a really good chance of winning games in this tournament and the Wildcats have a pair of excellent guards. The game against Siena should be very fun to watch this upcoming weekend.

Memphis 87 UT-Arlington 63: The Tigers have advanced to the 2nd round and will now face Mississippi State on Sunday in Little Rock. The Tigers shot 62 percent from the free- throw line tonight. Better than usual but they will need to do better than that if games get close

The six games I missed are below.

Davidson 82 Gonzaga 76: What a game. Stephen Curry is even better than his father Dell, who was one of the great pure shooters in the game. It is not often that the offspring is better, but this guy has already out-done his father in many people's eyes.

Miami (Fla) 78 St. Mary’s 64: The Miami Hurricanes looked like they were going to be upset by the St. Mary's Gaels today. However, this team really turned the corner in the second half. They were led by Jack McClinton. He had a point total that the NBA's elite would be very happy with. It's no surprise who the player of the game is. Jack McClinton finishes the game with 38 points, three assists and two rebounds. He only scored six points in the first half, so his 32-point second half effort went a long way. Actually, his second half effort matched the entire St. Mary's team.

Siena 83 Vanderbilt 75: The #13 Siena Saints made many media members look as smart as they always claim to be, upsetting the #4 Vanderbilt Commodores with ease. The Saints put the clamps down in the final minutes of the game and cruised to a 21-point victory. Kenny Hasbrouck (30 points, four rebounds, four assists) was incredible all night before coming off the floor with what looked like a minor foot injury. The Vanderbilt Commodores fell behind to start the game and never were able to catch the sharp-shooting Saints. Vanderbilt made a short 9-2 run late in the second half to climb to within nine, but the Saints answered with a 12-0 run of their own to finish things off. The Siena Saints will now face the winner of the #6 Clemson and #12 Villanova game.

Mississippi State 76 Oregon 69: Mississippi State overcame a 13 point deficit in the first half to run away from Oregon with a 76-69 win. Charles Rhodes had a career-high 34 points as he controlled the low post all game long. Jarvis Varnado had 4 blocks on the game and made Oregon think twice about driving the lane all game long. Oregon lived and died from their 3-point shot as they went ice cold in the second half. The Ducks make only 2-20 3-point shots as they kept on going to the well too often and not able to adjust. They gave their all in the first half, but just could not find a rhythm for the last stanza in their season.

San Diego 70 UCONN 69: Connecticut just could not get any offensive rhythm going today. Their defensive star, Hasheem Thabeet was a non-factor as numerous times San Diego was able to get around on the baseline for easy buckets. This marks the first time under coach Jim Calhoun that UConn will not be advancing to the 2nd round.

WKU 101 Drake 99: Drake got off to a very cold start through all of the first half and 5 minutes of the 2nd. Once they got going though and their defense tightened up they were able to tie the game up and send it to overtime. Despite very bad shot selection at times and some bad decisions on defense, the Bulldogs hung around. The three-ball put Western Kentucky in the lead, caused their collapse, and eventually won them the game. Western Kentucky shot 51% from the three-point line and it was the shot by Ty Rogers that sends them into the second round. Tyrone Brazelton led four players in double digits with 33 points. It was the Hilltopper bench that essentially won the game for them as they outscored Drake's bench 26-3.

See you tomorrow for more results.

Second Round-Day 3 Predicitions (Saturday, March 22, 2008)

By Robert H. Kelly

Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

My predictions for the second round (day 3) of the 2008 NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament. I will post the results from Friday's games as soon as possible. Yes, it will be before the Saturday games start.

There will be eight games on Saturday. The contests will be listed in their respective regions.

Here I go. Please feel free to post all comments and your own picks.

East Regional

Notre Dame (5) over Washington State (4)

Midwest Regional

Kansas (1) over UNLV (8)

Wisconsin (3) over Kansas State (11)

South Regional

Pittsburgh (4) over Michigan State (5)

Stanford (3) over Marquette (6)

West Regional

UCLA (1) over Texas A&M (9)

Xavier (3) over Purdue (6)

West Virginia (7) over Duke (2)

First Round Games Results for Thursday, March 20, 2008

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

Day one games in the first round of the NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament are completed. I went 14-2 (.875) on my predictions.

Below is the scores and a brief recap of each game I predicted correctly. The two games I incorrectly predicted are listed at the bottom.

Games that I correctly predicted the outcome:

Kansas 85 Portland State 61: Kansas will live to see another day as they dominate the Portland State Vikings. They shot will from the outside to take the win.

Xavier 73 Georgia 61: Georgia's Cinderella story has ended at the big ball. It is always exciting watching a team come out of nowhere. America loves the underdog. They really looked like they were going to win this game and upset the No. 3 seed, up until Xavier showed why they won 24 games this season. Duncan has to be the player of the game for Xavier, but they can thank their defensive intensity for this win.

Michigan State 72 Temple 61: The Spartans shot nearly 50% from the field and Raymar Morgan leads the charge with 17 points.

Marquette 74 Kentucky 66: Great start to this always exciting tournament. Kentucky should hold their heads high in the loss, especially Joe Crawford and his career high 35 points in defeat. Both squads were lights out from downtown, with Marquette holding the edge at 50% to 40. Hayward and McNeal combined for 38 and 15, but it was Dominic James with some timely shooting down the stretch that iced it for the Golden Eagles. Kentucky will say goodbye to Bradley and Crawford and look for the future of the program to be a bright one.

Pittsburgh 82 Oral Roberts 63: Pittsburgh built a big lead at halftime and had it on cruise control from there. Five Panthers reached double-figures, led by Levance Fields' 23 points on 8 of 14 shooting (4 three-pointers).

Washington State 71 Winthrop 40: Winthrop had a valiant first half behind the efforts of McCullough and Gaynor. The defensive adjustments made by the Cougars completely confused the Eagles in the second half and held them to just around ten points for the whole half. Once Derek low figured out how to defend Gaynor, Gaynor did not score not one more point. After a dominating first by Weaver and Baynes, Robbie Cowgill came out in the second for the Cougars and just filled in immediately.

Kansas State 80 USC 67: Mayo misses a long desperation three and Sutton takes it the length for the door slamming jam. OJ comes right back with the nifty layup, but the Wildcats stopped playing defense a while ago. Kansas State will go to 13-1 when they score at least 80. Mayo continues to pad his stats, but it's a team game, isn't it. The first upset of the day as the Trojans fall.

Stanford 77 Cornell 53: Stanford led this game wire to wire taking out #14 seed Cornell Big Red. Cornell shot poorly in the first half and never recovered, trailing by 20 at the half and never getting any closer.

Texas A&M 67 BYU 62: Thrilling game this evening as the Cougars and Aggies battled back and forth throughout. But in the end, timely shooting and athleticism got the job done for the lower seeded Aggies. This game marks the first time that a lower seed has won thus far in the NCAA Tournament.

Duke 71 Belmont 70: The way the game ended, with Belmont taking a late run to outscore Duke 35-29 in the second half, it seemed like the Blue Devils were the ones to pull off the upset by holding on for a one-point win. Belmont suffers a heart-breaker, although Henderson's final driving layup was in itself worthy of a Duke victory.

Notre Dame 68 George Mason 50: Notre Dame has a complete team with Harangody in the box and Ayers and McAlarney on the perimeter. The only George Mason player to even show up was Will Thomas, who had over 25 points and half his team's points.

Wisconsin 71 Cal State Fullerton 56: CS Fullerton's 15 minutes of fame is over. The Badgers just playing keep away at the end of the game.

UCLA 70 Miss. Valley St. 29: This one was over before it started and #1 seeds are now 93-0 against #16 seeds all-time. The Bruins earn the right to face the Texas A&M Aggies in their next game on Saturday. I have UCLA going all the way in my bracket. They haven't disappointed me yet. Texas A & M should be a much tougher task.

West Virginia 75 Arizona 65: Budinger answered the call for his Arizona team and Hill stood out with 16 and 10, but the shooting of West Virginia was too much for anyone to handle. Even with superstar in the making Joe Alexander, having a sub-par outing, the combo of Alex Ruoff, Darris Butler and of course De'Sean Butler put together 54 points on 22-31 shooting.

Games that I incorrectly predicted:

Purdue 90 Baylor 79: Purdue was able to get significant contributions from all of their starters both defensively and offensively. Dunn was the only bench contributor for the Bears, while the Boilermakers had several bench players leave their mark on the game.

UNLV 71 Kent State 58: UNLV advances to the second round of the Midwest Regional Saturday to face top-seeded Kansas. The Jayhawks defeated Portland State earlier today 85-61 after scoring 49 points in the first half.

Check back tomorrow for the results and game recaps of day two of the first round.

First Round Games Predicitions (Friday, March 21, 2008)

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

Below are my first round predictions for all the games on Friday, March 21, 2008 in the NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament. As in my previous post, they will be listed by their respective regions. I have listed four upsets of lower seeds defeating higher seeds. Well, here I go. As always, feel free to leave your comments and your our predictions.

East Regional
North Carolina (1) over Mount St. Mary's (16)
Arkansas (9) over Indiana (8)
Louisville (3) over Boise State (14)
Oklahoma (6) over St. Joseph's (11)
Butler (7) over South Alabama (10)
Tennessee (2) over American (15)

Midwest Regional
Villanova (12) over Clemson (5)
Vanderbilt (4) over Siena (13)
Gonzaga (7) over Davidson (10)
Georgetown (2) over UMBC (15)

South Regional
Memphis (1) over UT-Arlington (16)
Oregon (9) over Mississippi State (8)
Saint Mary's (10) over Miami (7)
Texas (2) over Austin Peay (15)

West Regional
Drake (5) over UKU (12)
UCONN (4) over San Diego (13)

First Round Games Predicitions (Thursday, March 20, 2008)

By Robert H. Kelly

Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

My first round predictions for all the games on Thursday, March 20, 2008 in the NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament. They will be listed by their respective regions. I have listed four upsets of lower seeds defeating higher seeds. Well, here I go. Please feel free to leave your comments and your our predictions.

East Regional

Notre Dame (5) over George Mason (12)

Washington State (4) over Winthrop (13)

Midwest Regional

Kansas (1) over Portland State (16)

Kent State (9) over UNLV (8)

Wisconsin (3) over Fullerton (14)

Kansas State (11) over USC (6)

South Regional

Michigan State (5) over Temple (12)

Pittsburgh (4) over Oral Roberts (13)

Stanford (3) over Cornell (14)

Marquette (6) over Kentucky (11)

West Regional

UCLA (1) over Mississippi Valley State (16)

Texas A&M (9) over BYU (8)

Xavier (3) over Georgia (14)

Baylor (11) over Purdue (6)

West Virginia (7) over Arizona (10)

Duke (2) over Belmont (15)

I will post my predictions for the second day of the first round games by Thursday.

2008 Men's NCAA Division 1 Basketball Tournament

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

TexSport Publications returns in 2008 for its predictions and commentary on the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Tournament.

This year, we will maintain two separate blogs for the men's and women's tournament.

Please click here for our blog on the 2008 Women's Division 1 Basketball Tournament.

Check back soon for our first round picks in the men's tournament.

2008 Play In Game: Mt. St. Mary's-Coppin State

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

Tonight Mount St. Mary faced off against Coppin State in the "Play In" game of the 2008 NCAA Mens Division 1 Basketball Tournament. The winner earned the right to face number one seed North Carolina State and the chance to advance to the second round of the tournament.

After 48 minutes of play, Mount St Mary (19-14) held on to defeat Coppin State (16-21) by the score of 69-60. The Mountaineers Jeremy Goode scored 21 points to lead Mount St. Mary to its first NCAA tournament victory.

In its two other NCAA appearances, Mount St. Mary's lost to Kentucky by 46 points in 1995 and to Michigan State by 23 in 1999. Coppin State (16-21) was the first team to qualify for the NCAA tournament with 20 losses

Now with this "Play In" game out of the way....ON WITH THE TOURNAMENT.