Welcome back to Dime’s NCAA Tournament live blog. For all of you who are stuck at work and can’t see the action, we’ll keep you up on Day 2 of this national holiday right here as it happens…

12:15 PM EST

As we prepare for the first slate of games to kick off – Dead-eye shooting Tennessee vs. the Patriot League’s American Eagles (12:15 PM EST), Stephen Curry‘s Davidson vs. Gonzaga(12:25 PM EST), Team Australia, b.k.a. Saint Mary’s vs. Miami (FL.) (12:30 PM EST), and everyone’s favorite 5/12 upset Western Kentucky vs. Drake (12:30 PM EST).

Here are some things to keep an eye out for:

* After yesterday’s straight-forward top-seed winners, will today throw everyone’s bracket upside down with upsets?
* Joe Crawford hung his hat on Marquette for 35 points, Baylor’s Curtis Jerrells had 27 in their loss, and Mike Beasley tossed in 23 points to help upset USC. Who will today’s standouts be? Stephen Curry is the easy choice – but what about Miami’s Jack McClinton, Tennessee’s Chris Lofton, American’s Garrison Carr, or maybe Drake’s Josh Young

The Tennessee/American game has two of the worst looking headbands in the nation. Wayne Chism is notorious for rocking his halfway up his head, but we didn’t know about 6-5 senior Travis Lay. He’s got no excuse to look like he just stepped out of a 1980′s aerobics class… We’ve got Bill Raftery on this game – around the office, he’s pretty much everybody’s favorite color guy. Check THIS link to a glossary of some of Raftery’s favorite terminology…A few minutes in we switch to Gonzaga/Davidson. Doesn’t Gonzaga’s big guy Robert Sacre look exactly like J.P. Batista a couple of years back? It’s got to be part of Mark Few‘s recruiting vision to find nondescript bigs with the same complexion…On his first catch, Stephen Curry couldn’t even settle himself before pulling a jumper – every time he gets it, he tries to get rid of it as soon as humanly possible. Gonzaga leads 10-8… The Bulldogs’ Austin Daye stepped onto the floor for the first time – his pops Darren Daye (part of an NCAA Finalist team, thanks Jim Nantz) played for UCLA. We’ve been totally perplexed by some NBA draft services, which projected Daye as a Top 5 pick in the ’09 draft. He’s 1-2 from the floor after bricking a three and then rattling in a 15-foot bank shot. He’s definitely not trigger shy… In addition to Curry, this Davidson team has the nation’s leader in assists, Jason Richards. At 8 assists per night, he’s definitely benefited from Curry’s shooting – but he can also get in the lane and spot open teammates… Over in the Tennessee game, Chris Lofton has only gotten one shot off (a miss), and the Vols trail American by 1, 13-12. Oh goodness, this would do even more damage than Duke’s near-collapse last night. Had the Blue Devils lost that game, Coach K would have strolled off the court with steam coming out of his ears, but if Tennessee were to lose, what would Bruce Pearl look like? Tennessee can’t get it going on the offensive glass, while American has 10 offensive boards!

1 PM EST
Haven’t the center court logos gotten out of hand? In the Gonzaga/Davidson game, the NCAA logo takes up 20% of the court. Goodness that’s a huge logo. I thought Texas A&M had the privilege of having the most obnoxiously oversized logo with their giant T, A, and M that stretches from one three-point line to another… We’ve never heard of this kid Steven Gray, but he’s raining from three feet away from the NCAA logo all over Davidson. He’s got 5 triples for 15 points, just about halfway through the first half. So here’s some info about him: 6-4 190 lbs. freshman from Bainbridge, WA. His season high was six three’s for 18 points against Santa Clara, and that’s just about all he’s done this year… It’s turning into a Curry/Gray duel, Gray with 15, Curry is 4-6 for 10 points after cutting the lead – 28-24 Gonzaga. Lefty Driesell said that he would start Stephen Curry over every other guard in the nation…Whatever Curry can’t hit in the lane ends up in the hands of 6-8 Nigerian forward Andrew Lovedale – dude has 8 points and 7 boards going into the half. Gonzaga up 41-36 going into the half…We’re switching over to the Western Kentucky/Drake game, where Western Kentucky is up 42-37. We’ve got a G-Man sighting! Former Dukie Mike Gminski is on the color for this one. It’s a freakin’ three-point shooting contest – we’ve been watching for one minute and seen four triples go down the chute. And it’s not just Courtney Lee who is putting in work for Western Kentucky. A.J. Slaughter was visibly shaking his hands waiting for a swing pass before netting a deep three…

1:30 PM EST
We’re thankfully over at the Tennessee/American game – but only for a moment. In that twenty-second clip, we got a pretty good understanding of what’s going on just listening to Verne Lundquist: the Vols blew a 3-on-2 break and his call was, “Oh! Oh no, no, no. Sometimes you’ve just got to play the game.” When J.P. Prince tried to get a shot up and it was tossed to the frank man, Lundquist rang in with an “Nuh-uh.” Does he have any ties to American?… Billy Packer, who talks like he’s played in the Final Four, just said that “As a passer, you have to know who the catcher is.” Thanks Bill. I think he was trying to emphasize that Boris Meno has rock-solid stone hands.

2 PM EST
Garrison Carr (19 points) rained two triples from what Lundquist described as “25 yards” out to tie the American/UT battle. But Pearl called a timeout and his boys responded with a 10-0 run on two three’s (Wayne Chism and JaJuan Smith) and a fast-break tip-in from Chism… Back at Gonzaga/Davidson, Stephen Curry strapped the Bulldogs on his back in the second half, ratcheting 22 points in the 2nd half, and he’s got 32 on the game! He single-handedly orchestrated a 17-6 run, bringing Davidson back to a 62-62 tie. He splashed a crazy three off-balance from the top of the key, and proceeded to pull his shorts up to show everyone his upper thigh. Not quite the baller celebration that you’d expect… Davidson takes their first lead of the day, 66-65 on a put-back from Stephen Rossiter. After going off from downtown in the first half, Steven Gray, tired of getting the business from Curry, sunk his seventh three of the game (21 points)…Every close-up on Curry has Lifestyle Editor Christian Grant-Fields asking if Curry is sick – even though he’s got 34 points right now, when he’s not getting buckets he has the 1,000-yard stare… Jeremy Pargo has taken two fall-away three’s and missed them both. It’s not what you’d want from a guy who was named WCC POY… Austin Daye, a.k.a. Building a House, a.k.a. Austin Daye-Vinci Code nearly broke the backboard on a miss.

2:30 PM EST
Curry made him pay on the other end, bottoming a three off an offensive board by Andrew Lovedale. Every time he does something crazy, they show his mom and dad – as nice as it is to see Dell Curry, it’s even nicer to see Stephen’s mom… After Lovedale dropped two free throws to put Davidson up, they panned to Adam Morrison in the crowd looking like Jim Morrison plus 20 pounds. Wow! If he had a cigarette in his mouth right now, you’d think he was The Crow… Lifestyle editor Christian Grant-Fields asked if Curry is a legit NBA player, questioning his handle. Then he put two dudes in a blender in the backcourt to get fouled… “Finish strong Stephen, Finish strong!,” yelled Sonya Curry as her son put in his 40th point – Curry just became the first to ever score 30 in half during the tourney, as Davidson’s upset of Gonzaga is officially in the books!… Back to the battle of the unknowns, where Western Kentucky is desperately trying to hold Drake off… Josh Young rattled off 5 straight points from one step inside the sideline. 86-85 WKU with 1:12 left… Drake’s Jonathan Cox, falling back, hit a triple to tie it 88-88!… Controversial offensive foul called on A.J. Slaughter and everyone in the office is screaming that it was either a great call (if they took Drake) or terrible if they took WKU…

3:00 PM EST
Josh Young is playing out of his mind right now. After a shaky game, he’s scored all of Drake’s 6 points in the OT… Tyrone Brazleton responds on the other end to tie it at 96-96. Brazleton’s got 33 in the game. Western Kentucky’s Boris Siakam, who looks like he sleeps standing up, has the chance to put WKU on top… First one good…Second one good, Hilltoppers up 98-97 with 21.3 seconds to play…Jonathan Cox was legit fouled in a rugby scrum for a rebound, makes both free throws and Drake goes up 99-98 with 5.7 left…Get outta here!! Brazleton drove to the three line, left the ball for Ty Rodgers, who sunk a three from 27 feet! Western Kentucky wins 101-99, and Rodgers was actually purple screaming and pumping his fists. Crazzzyyy finish.

3:30 PM EST
We’re just getting underway here with the Georgetown/UMBC game and it’s a fitting beginning for those of us who believe that Roy Hibbert‘s feet are generally nailed to the hardwood. 5-8 munchkin Jay Greene snuck under him and grabbed a rebound from Hibbert off a missed free throw… The Hoyas are wearing a special GTown makeup of the Jordan 15′s, which are real hot in person, but kind of look like slippers on TV… It’s great to hear Jay Bilas call UMBC by their mascot name, the Golden Retrievers, when the, Golden Retrievers were trying to get the ball inbounds. Worst mascot in the Dance. If anyone tried to pick their bracket by the strength of their mascots, UMBC would never win a game… We were talking about the oversized NCAA logo earlier. Well it turns out that the logo’s are slippery, as Jay Greene tried to cross Jonathan Wallace, and hit the deck. Great job NCAA… The Texas/Austin Peay game is out of hand less than 10 minutes in. The Longhorns are up 20-5, as Austin Peay is 1-13 from the field (7.7% FG)… Associate Editor Austin Burton is livid that CBS switched off Georgetown in favor of UConn/San Diego… But he happily found the game live at CBS Sportsline. But if first possessions are any indication of what’s to come, the Huskies could shalack San Diego. Jeff Adrien scored an easy two on one end and then Rob Jones airballed a 16-footer for SD.

4 PM EST
We didn’t realize, but the last time the Huskies were on the floor in the Big Dance, they fell 86-84 to George Mason in the ’06 Elite 8. Could SD’s Gyno Pomare do to Hasheem Thabeet what Jai Lewis did to Hilton Armstrong? Every time Thabeet contests a shot in the lane, Pomare sneaks in and collects easy offensive boards for putbacks…When the Huskies look to Jeff Adrien as their primary option, they look lost. Neither possession in which Adrien got the ball on the block resulted in anything… Scary moment for UConn fans, as A.J. Price grabbed his left knee mid-air off of a hop step. He couldn’t put any pressure on it, and is sitting on the bench in agony. Not only does that leave the Huskies without their floor leader, but it’s also devastating for Price, who could prove himself yet again on this stage…The Torreros are working around Thabeet smartly – with Hasheem protecting the rim, Pomare has hit two easy 15-footers. It’s 22-22, and Pomare has 10 points. But when one of those little guards come flying in the lane, Thabeet will have NONE of it. When he gives help, he swings his arm through like Lawrence Taylor to punch shots…Out of the break, we got a shot of Price on the bench with a massive bag of ice around his knee. The tears in his eyes said that he’s done for the day and the tournament…

4:30 PM EST
The Hoyas have extended their lead on the um, Retrievers to 18 points, the largest of the game. Associate Editor Austin Burton, an unabashed Georgetown loyalist said before the game that the one area where his team might not be completely perfect is playing from behind. Well it doesn’t look like they have to worry about that…A little scuffle between Roy Hibbert and 32-year old looking Darryl Proctor breaks out, raising a couple of questions: a) Why is Hibbert throwing elbows when he’s up against the 15-seed? And second, doesn’t Hibbert look like he borrowed money to ride the bus to the game? Comb your hair, man… UMBC little man Jay Greene cut the lead to 15 points after sinking two three’s… Chris Wright seems to have stolen Austin Freeman’s minutes as the go-to freshman off the bench. That’s not a great sign for GTown fans – Wright is a young Steve Francis without the athleticism. He’s shoot first, shoot second, and then maybe look to pass.

5 PM EST
We just saw the G-Man, Mike Gminski for the first time, and he should be ashamed of his necktie. There are knots on people’s shoes that look better… Jeff Adrien started the second half with a miserable turnover, and strolled over to the bench full-on pout mode. What does Jim Calhoun say to him on the bench right now? In his best Daniel Plainview voice (There Will Be Blood) “If you don’t wipe that look off your face, I will drink your milkshake.”… After tearing up on the bench with a 15 lbs. ice bag on his knee, A.J. Price is on the bench wearing a neoprene brace looking like he’s willing to play through terrible pain… Gyno Pomare has kept the hot hand, and thus kept SD on top – they’re leading 42-33 with just under 17 minutes in the second half…As the Hoyas close out a twenty-piecing of UMBC, UConn can’t seem to get anything going. Gminski makes a good point: “There’s a lot of bad body language out on the floor right now.”… After Calhoun ripped into his boys, they pushed the issue in transition and cut a 44-37 lead to 44-43 on runners from Craig Austrie and Jerome Dyson… It’s almost embarassing that Hasheem Thabeet hit his second field goal of the day for a total of 5 points… With the shot clock down to 3, the Torreros Brandon Johnson rose and fired from wayyy downtown to put SD up 49-46. And another one from Johnson! Dude has his team’s last 8 points and all of their three’s.

5:30 PM EST
Gyno Pomare has been killing UConn on that same pick-and-pop play, where he hits a 17-footer before Thabeet can get out and get a hand in his face… Clock under 3 minutes now and it’s tied 54-54… Amaaaazing play by Rob Jones of SD to go up two on an acrobatic reverse lay-up – in which he tangled with Thabeet before spinning the rock high off the glass and in! He just added two more points on a runner to go up 58-54 with 50.4 seconds left…Jones is actually the grandson of the cult-leader Jim Jones, not the dipset ‘Ballin’” Jim Jones… Jerome Dyson took a circus lay-up with the Huskies down three, but Jeff Adrien followed with a lay-in and cut it to a 59-58 SD lead with under 20 seconds to play… Dyson went right back to that left dribble after the Torreros went 1-2 at the stripe… with the game tied 60-60, Thabeet altered a lay-up, which rimmed out to go to OT… In the extra period, Brandon Johnson saved a ball going out of bounds and grabbed his, um, you know, and the play-by-play opted to call it his “lower abdominal region.” Come on man, just say what it is!… Gyno Pomare sunk another deep jumper, but fouled out on the next play, trying to stop Thabeet from getting an easy bucket. Pomare finished with 22 points.

6 PM EST
As the one-minute mark approaches, Jeff Adrien made a great feed to Jerome Dyson at the rim to put the Huskies up one. But Jones came back and made another ridiculously athletic play on Thabeet, this time getting fouled. However, he missed the backside of the and-1, leaving the Torreros up one, 68-67… Dyson came down to the other end and got fouled by Brandon Johnson, which was his 5th and final foul…Dyson sunk both, leaving the Torreros down 69-68 with 5.2 seconds left, and without two of their best scorers – Pomare and Johnson. Look for Rob Jones…
Goodness!! De’Jon Jackson went two dribbles and stepped back on Stanley Robinson and sunk a 16-footer with 1.2 seconds left!… 1.2 seconds for a prayer… But it’s picked off by Jackson and San Diego deservingly comes away with a win, 70-69.