Halftime on Day One

Purdue is in control over Baylor (80-63 with 3:55 to go). UNLV took care of Kent State in impressive fashion (71-58 win). Pitt is dominated Oral Roberts from start to finish (82-63). Pretty standard across the board.

Here's my look ahead at the evening:

• USC/Kansas State (6 v. 11 Midwest) - Mayo versus Beasley. Enough said.
• Duke/Belmont (2 v. 15 West) - Dukies can ease the pain of last season's first round exit.
• Stanford/Cornell (3 v. 14 South) - I'm somehow intrigued by this one. Cornell had a 22-5 season, went undefeated in the Ivy League, and are many experts' sleeper team for a Day One shocker. The Cardinal looked good in the Pac-10 tournament, but I think this one could be competitive.
• Washington St./Winthrop (3 v. 14 East) - It must be something about those 3/14 games this season. First, we saw Georgia and Xavier duke it out earlier today in a fantastic game. Then, I had a gut feeling about the Stanford/Cornell game. Now, it's darling mid-major Winthrop taking a talented 22-11 squad against at-large Washington State. Who knows? If it goes down, I'm asking for a recall in the 12/5 theory.
  
• Texas A&M/Brigham Young (8 v. 9 West) - This would probably be a better football game, but both teams had decent seasons. The battle to see who bows out to UCLA.
• Arizona/West Virginia (7 v. 10 West) - Arguably the best match-up - on paper - of the evening.
• UCLA/Mississippi Valley State (1 v. 16 West) - Ouch.
• Notre Dame/George Mason (5 v. 12 East) - As much as George Masons' name is synonymous with Cinderella and miracles, I think this is a tall task for the CAA Champs. ND finished the season awfully strong. I'm a big Harangody fan.
• Wiscons/Cal State Fullerton (3 v. 14 Midwest) - About the only 3/14 game I'm not thrilled with. OK, it's only because I have the Badgers going to the Elite Eight.

See you later on tonight.