Florida's Erving Walker

Rather than go into bunker mode and crank out a monster running live-blog for the first two days of the NCAA Tournament, we’re switching it up this year. For the opening-round action, every hour or two hours we’ll have updates on the games going on at the moment with other observations, predictions and analysis. Think of it like Big Dance Smack, all day long…

*** *** ***

* We get it started with BYU vs. Florida. The two questions going in: Exactly how good is BYU point guard Jimmer Fredette (21.7 ppg), and how will Florida stop him? Billy Donovan said the other day that Fredette impacts the game more than John Wall or Devan Downey. In the first half Fredette was getting to the rim against single coverage, but he wasn’t making his shots. In the second half he heated up, and as I’m writing this, he’s got 23 points with about four minutes left.

* BYU was struggling until Michael Loyd Jr. came off the bench and went on a 10-0 run by himself. Apparently there are some Black people at BYU; in fact there’s two of ‘em on this team, and they both have mohawks and a little swagger about them. You know how they say an NBA player up for free agency or a trade is auditioning for other teams? Loyd is auditioning for another program to transfer to. Why didn’t UNLV get this Las Vegas native?

* CBS’ Seth Davis with the first nonsensical announcer line of the day: “Diagnosing Austin Freeman‘s diabetes was huge for (Georgetown). I think they’re going to do well.” Um, OK.

* Villanova coach Jay Wright benched Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher for the start of their game against Robert Morris. Apparently “making a teaching point” is the new catchphrase for coaches this year, replacing “violation of team rules.” Whatever Reynolds did, he was on the court within four minutes as Rob-Mo turned out to be tougher than anyone thought.

* Kenny Boynton is getting all he can handle trying to guard Fredette and carry Florida’s offense. He’s got 23 right now, too, as BYU is clinging to a slim lead. Boynton is kind of like J.R. Smith in that he can fill it up, but he’s more streaky than a pure shooter. Sometimes the worst thing that can happen is if Boynton hits some shots early, because he thinks he’s hot and won’t stop shooting. (Florida actually has two guys like that with Boynton and Erving Walker.) KB was doing exactly that today, then all of a sudden he scored 14 straight Florida points in the second half and got them back in the ballgame.

* Florida big man Alex Tyus has some crazy male pattern baldness going. He should take a hint from LeBron and ditch his regular-sized headband for an extra-wide one that covers the hairline discreetly. Oh wait, are we not supposed to talk about LeBron balding?

* They switched over to the ‘Nova game too late to catch Bill Raftery’s “MAN-TA-MAN” call. It’s not officially the Big Dance until I hear that. On that note, is there really no way ESPN and CBS can work out an agreement to have Dick Vitale calling some of these games?

* “Old Dominion” sounds like some kind of foot condition that was prominent with guys who worked in the Pennsylvania steel mills decades ago.

* Scoreboard check: BYU leads Florida, Robert Morris leads ‘Nova, and Notre Dame and ODU are tied.