Welcome back, everyone. I hope you enjoyed last night’s first installment of the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and our Dummy’s Guide to sounding somewhat intelligent in the company of people who watch more college basketball than you. I went 2-for-4 with my picks from last night, as Syracuse and Florida won their games and Cincinnati and Michigan State really took massive horse dumps in their respective matchups. But I also technically rode the fence on each game enough that I can say I was 4-for-4.

What can I say, I’m an expert.

We’re back at it tonight, and I know it’s a Friday and all, but I’ll still be live chatting the action up from the handy dandy portable intelligent telephone. I’ll be at the Orlando Magic game, per the usual, which will make it all more fun. Make your predictions, quips and witticisms in the comments and there will be free t-shirts and possibly other surprises to be given out.

Admit it, you’re excited.

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It’s hard for me to care about the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, but last night’s tilt with “mid-major” Xavier and the Big XII’s K-State was enough to make me stop pining for a BCS in college basketball, at least for a night. Kansas State won in a 101-96 double-overtime thriller. Jacob Pullen scored 28 points for the 2nd-seeded Wildcats. I was just kidding about that college basketball BCS, by the way.

“As good a game as I’ve ever coached or been a part of,” [Kansas State] coach Chris Mack said.

Trailing by three at the end of regulation, Xavier’s Terrell Holloway got fouled while heaving up a 30-footer with five seconds left and calmly made all three free throws. Xavier was down by three again at the end of the first overtime, but Jordan Crawford jacked up a 35-footer that hit nothing but net.

“It was just one of those moments,” Pullen said. –CBS Sports.

Also heading to the Elite Eight: Butler, who knocked off Syracuse, Kentucky, after stopping Cornell’s majestic run, and West Virginia. There’s video of Crawford’s big three after the jump. If it was any mightier, he would have needed a passport to shoot it. You know, Patriot Act and all. Read the rest of this entry »

I watched plenty of football on Saturday and Sunday, but this right here was the highlight of my sports-viewing weekend. I caught the final couple minutes of regulation and then overtime of the Puerto Rico Tip Off semifinal between Xavier and Virginia Tech with a couple of die-hard Xavier fans, and it’s hard to ask much more out of the end of a game.

If you haven’t seen this by now, don’t worry, you’re not alone. The stands are almost completely empty; I think I played seventh grade rec league games with more fans in attendance. You know, it’s almost like the fan bases of southern Ohio and backwoods Virginia aren’t inclined to travel to Puerto Rico for their college hoops teams.

[Edit: I originally wrote West Virginia instead of Va. Tech. I commonly confuse the two schools, partly because I don't care, but mostly because I'm retarded.]

Xavier point guard Drew Lavender (French for "the vender") was arrested and charged with drunken disorderly conduct and possession of marijuana this past weekend, possibly prohibiting his planned participation in a pro camp starting tomorrow and lasting through the weekend.

Cincinnati police say Lavender, a senior who helped lead the Musketeers to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, was drunk at an intersection in the 2700 block of Vine Street in Corryville when they told him to get out of the street several times and he refused.

When police arrested him, they also found marijuana on him. Lavender was "highly intoxicated," police documents note. [...]

Previous incidents with the law include a familiar-sounding arrest for public intoxication and marijuana possession (charges later dropped), and a disorderly conduct charge last summer when "he was accused of entering an Over-the-Rhine nightclub at 1130 Main St. and saying, "(Expletive) this white club.'"

I am SO bummed the James Dolan hired Donnie Walsh.  This kid would've fit in perfectly on the Knicks. 

Don't look now, but With Leather staff correctly picked 7 out of 8 of the Sweet Sixteen match-ups. I could point out who made the single mistake because of my his unnatural dislike of a militant sect of the Holy Mother Church, but we're a team here at WL. Anyway, the point is I'm on a roll people, so listen up:

UCLA over Xavier – It is getting slightly loathsome listening to Bill Raftery wax poetic about Kevin Love's (incidentally – Kevin Love was my stage name) inbounding skills, but I would rather spend one more weekend watching the blonde bombshells of the Bruins' spirit squad than some dirty Jesuits.

Louisville over North Carolina – Um, I pretty much have to pick Pitino's squad because I've been proclaiming that the Big East is clearly the top conference this entire season. I mean even a team that finished low in this powerful conglomeration of schools – for example, let's say the cagers who wound up 13th – would have no trouble finding their way to the Sweet Sixteen.

Let me drink sleep on tomorrow's contests. Enjoy the games, and do a shot every time Clark Kellog says 'spurtability', refers to the basketball as an orange, or states that a team is being 'judicious' in their 3-point attempts. -KD

Photo credit: Getty Images 

West Virginia and Xavier played the only closely contested tourney game last night, with the 3-seed Muskies getting the 79-75 win in overtime thanks to some clutch three-point shooting by B.J. Raymond.  The win puts Xavier in the Elite 8 (they'll play UCLA Saturday) and guarantees at least two more days of witty headlines using X-related puns.

There was much excitement at the end of regulation, as Joe Alexander (18 points, 10 rebounds) was fouled as he evened the game at 64 with a short jumper off the glass, but he missed the critical "and 1".  In overtime, the Mountaineers led 71-65, but poor free throw shooting and Xavier's three-point attack (11-for-19 compared to 1-of-11 for WVU) ultimately gave X the win.

I bet Bob Huggins is so fucking wasted right now.

Other games: Tennessee probably could have used a starting point guard in its loss to Louisville, while UCLA and UNC cruised to predictable wins.  Meh.  My March Madness is dissipating into more of a mild annoyance.