Pre-game: Welcome Deadspiners, coming live from sunny California we'll be covering what could be the most anticipated game of the tournament, Xavier and Portland St.

This could likely be the least watched game of the tournament.

Xavier, a 4 seed, is the highest seeded mid-major along with Gonzaga. Led by NBA prospect, Derrick Brown, Xavier is a well rounded team

Portland St., the nation's first salmon-safe university (thank you wikipedia), is led by the diminutive Jeremiah Dominguez, listed at 5'6".

Pre-Game: California comrade here. Although Brett managed to get us awarded this game blog, his hands are a little sore from the hour-long handjobs he gave to each member of the Deadspin editorial staff...actually on second thought, we may have ot write this without any input from Brett at all. It seems his throat is too sore to talk. But hey, Brett, way to take one for the team.

19:00 and the X-men are out to an early 3-0 lead. Nice red backdrop there in Boise. Plenty of good seats still available.

We're all happy Ken Bone is coaching here.

18:00: And Ken's Boners hit a three to tie it up at 5. The opening weekend powered by Totino's Pizza Rolls and Pabst Genuine Draft

16:30: Dominguez is CLOSE TO the Floor

16:30: Note to my readers, Courtney Love did not actually graduate from Portland St. What did Courtney Love major in?

Commercial Break: Does McDonald's even market to white people anymore?

Commercial Break: McDonald's uses the crappiest parties with the least threatening black people I have ever seen. This is where Wayne Brady got his start

15:00: Xavier up 10. This could get ugly.

13:30 Xavier's defense is long and lean but some how Coach Bone knew this. And Dominguez hits a three.

12:40: Terrible flop. My comrades have been drinking at every flop. Three people vomited during the Duke game.

12:00: And the Boners are feeling frisky, down by four we go to the commercial break. We were discussing most loathed Duke player. Wojo was the consensus #1, I had Reddick 2 and Langdon 3.

Also so far worst commercial of the Tourny: The Axe motorcycle ad.

11:30: Xavier is FUNdamental. Good dish on the other end for Jones.

11:00: Reverse tea bag. GROIN TO FACE!!!! GROIN TO FACE!!!!

9:44: 22-18. This game has actually turning out pretty good. Good shooting by Xavier and Portland St. is hoisting up three's by the fist full. I think close to 200 people are getting this game. A corner of Ohio and the city of Portland.

Dominguez doesn't look as small as Mugsy Bouges did when he was playing. He gives 5'6" High School PGs everywhere hope of playing D-1 ball.

8:30: BJ Raymond to make it 4 on one end, Portland St. answers back on the other. 24-22

7:18: Back to back threes. And commercial break. Why is Ameritrade even advertising anymore? Also Jim Spanarkel is a VP at Merril Lynch. Maybe it is time for him to quit his day job.

7:18: Between Nelson and Dominguez I think I've played against these guys in an IM basketball game. And it's a festival of missed FTs. 30-25 Xavier.

5:45: Dominguez hits one in the lane, then bricks a three after an Xavier deep three miss.

5:00: Two layups for Xavier, 34-27 Xavier. Another Portland St. turnover leads to a Jackson three and its back to a 10 point lead.

Commercial Break: Why Does Taco Bell need three varieties of nachos under $1?

3:30: Turnover, miss, turnover, and then Portland St. Layup, a great pace or as Spanarkel called it: Spurtability

2:30: And 1 for Xavier's McClain. And We've had 3 commercials within 3 possessions.

2:30: Under what circumstances are these two guys in the same car together eating meals at Sonic all the time? Stake-out? Cross-country trip? Are they dating?

1:30: 40-29 Xavier. Missed layups by both teams, they're slowing down the pace.

1:02: Dominguez banks in the runner AND 1. The announcers have called Dominzuez short roughly 30 times.

Last Possession: Portland St. holds for the last shot, Murray hits a three and Xavier goes to the locker room up 7. 42-35.

Half Time: So one of the Comrades here in California has claimed that he had intercourse with a woman in 24 seconds (he counted in his head). He was proud of this fact for some reason. He called his ex-GF and called her to confirm this fact, which she did over speaker phone. Question to the tens of readers out there: A) Can anyone beat this time? 2) would you be proud of this ability?

Half Time: CBS just cut to the AZ-Utah game. Has anyone lost more draft stock then Chase Budinger? Is Chase the gayest name on earth?

Half Time: Cut away to the Louisville-Morehead St. A close game at half is all of a sudden not close. Is it safe to describe Rick Pitino as cadaverous? Thursday had exactly one good game, the VCU-UCLA. Thank god today has been better.

Half Time: When the historians eventually get to Paul Walker's career, are they going to have a tough time differentiating the two "Fast and Furious" movies?

Starting the 2nd half: 42-35 the Boners start with ball and misses a 15 foot jumper. Xavier hits a three in transition off the miss. 45-35.

18:00: Three in and out for Dominguez, then runner for Xavier, 47-35 Xavier.

17:00: 3-2 zone for the Boners. The rebounding problem of the zone immediately becomes apparent, Xavier dunk 49-37.

16:18: Portland St. hits 1 of 2 FTs, sloppy back and fourth turnovers at half court lead to a TV timeout. 49-38 Xavier

15:38: Back from commercial, Xavier inbounds from 1/2 court. Xavier gets a good shot but misses the layup, Portland hits a three in transition off the miss. 49-41 Xavier

14:00: Never date a girl who likes King of the Hill. Check her purse, she has Kodiak in there. Xavier by 12 53-41.

12:30: Coach Bone is pissed off about an out-of-bounds call. 55-45 Xavier

12:00: Runner in the lane increases the lead to 12, Dominguez gets fouled and we go to commercial. 57-45 Xavier.

Commercial Break: The sexual tension between Howie Long and the 12 year-old girl is palpable. Isn't he on Megan's List somewhere?

11:00: The Xavier bench is destroying Portland, 59-45 Xavier. This game is getting out of hand.

9:30: Dominguez is going to have to step up BIG right here to get Portland back in this game. Dominguez has been called short now 56 times. 61-45 as Dominguez misses two FTs.

8:30: StevePerry pysch out is doing a better job blogging this blog then I am blogging the game. Xavier is taking over. 66-45 Xavier. Dominguez takes the George Mikan hook shot.

7:45: Xavier has 11 points in a row. Portland State's 6 foot and under intramural champs are now on the floor in Boise as Portland goes small.

7:00: Portland state finally hits a three after a set of Xavier FTs. The American Rick Rubio steps onto the floor, Mickey Polis.

6:00: Here come the Boners, 69-52 Xavier. Polis scored a career-high 14 points against Lewis and Clark University. Sacajawea is soft defensively.

4:30: 16 point game. 9 guys have scored for Xavier, they are a well balanced. Portland St. is not.

4:00: Easy layup for Xavier, bad shot for Portland St. 71-53 Xavier.

3:00: The number of craptacular CBS shows that are advertised in any given game is off the charts. Our Binge drinking game has taken the rule "Drink when CBS shows an ad for a shitty CBS show" off the books. 71-54 Xavier

2:00: Brown throws it down on the easy baseline move. Portland St. scouting report apparently didn't include the fact that he's left handed. 75-56 Xavier. Warm up the busses.

1:00: Another dunk for Xavier. Dominguez was shut down the second 1/2 and that was the difference. Xavier is dominating the Vikings on the glass. 77-56 Xavier.

0:00: Polis hits a three to end it 77-59. Thanks for joining me.

2) Who let my little brother on the court? Look out for Brad Redford, a freshman who looks like he's 12 years old. Of his 54 baskets, 94% are from 3-point range. Redford was Mr. Basketball in Michigan, hitting 102 consecutive free throws his senior year.

3) Learning is good, you know Unlike all some programs, the players graduate. Who do they have to thank, a tough disciplinarian? Actually it's a nun; Sister Rose Ann Fleming took over as academic advisor for student athletes in 1985, and since then every senior basketball player has graduated. So whether they are ballin' in Moldova or patrolling your local mall, their diploma is in tow. — Rob Sarasua

PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS

1) You Can Practically Smell the Patchouli From Here Portland State is one of our nation's "greener" institutions of higher learning; some of the classroom buildings are designed to be "environmentally sustainable;" the Princeton Review calls it a "college with a conscience;" and it has won much acclaim—including being called a Salmon Safe University—for a campus-wide initiative that treats storm water runoff before that dirty, dastardly, stinking bilge reaches the local watershed. They even list their school colors as Forest Green and White. Evidently purple used to be one of the school colors too, but it was eradicated. It isn't known why. But I bet I know why—I bet it just wasn't green enough.

2) Someone Fact-Check This Unbelievable Nugget While perusing the list of notable alumni (Neil Lomax, anyone?) at the obvious place to GET such information—that is, Wikipedia...you may have heard of it—I came across one name attached to a piece of information that just blew me away. "Courtney Love—actress and rock musician" and THEN the parenthetical note: did not graduate. I know. I couldn't believe it, and I still haven't recovered.

3) Get Back And Play Some D Portland State is actually in the top 100 of Division I schools in terms of shooting the basketball, putting up 45.4% from the field overall and 38% from three (88th and 32nd in the nation, respectively). Unfortunately they need a little help on the other end, as opponents shoot 45.5% from the field and 34.5% from beyond the arc (270th, and 179th, respectively). One thing they have going for them in the first round is that the game is played in Boise, which is significantly better for the Vikings than it is for opponent Xavier. If Xavier can lose at Charlotte (which happened on 2/19), then there's no reason to count out Portland State for a first-round upset over the
Musketeers — Rush The Court

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First last night: Dallas Green (no relation to the former Yankee manager, I hope) hit his only basket of the game with 2.5 seconds left to give Robert Morris its first tournament appearance in 17 years.

"He probably was the fifth guy on the floor I would have picked (to take the shot)," coach Mike Rice said. "His nickname is the screen machine, for all the screens he sets."

Thanks for believing in me, Coach! Then out west, Julius Thomas dunked his game-winner with 3.5 seconds left to give Portland State its first tournament appearance in 1 year. Happy day for the Vikings!

Later today, the Big Ten and ACC kick off their preliminaries while the Big East enters day three. Again, it's mostly first- and second-round games (53 of them!), but now legitimate bubble teams begin fighting for their lives. This is all leading up to the big weekend where I lock myself in a room filled with Fritos and Coke Classic and curse myself for not being able to afford that 150-inch big screen TV that I so richly deserve. One man enters, only one fatter red-eyed man leaves.

Bracket Racket 3/12: The [Storming The Floor]
College Basketball Scoreboard [ESPN]

KANSAS JAYHAWKS

1. Joe Morgan disapproves. According to the VORPies over at Basketball Prospectus, Kansas has the #1 Pythagorean winning percentage in all the land. In addition, they are ranked #1 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. I have no idea what this means (other than Mario Chalmers clogging up the bases, obviously), but, hey: We're #1!

2. Seniors Rule. In a stark contrast to the youthfully exuberant Kansas teams of the past couple years, this year's team features six seniors, four of whom see significant minutes somewhere outside of practice. Much has already been written about Sasha Kaun, Russell Robinson and Darnell Jackson. Brad Witherspoon, Jeremy Case, and Rod Stewart, on the other hand, toil in obscurity. Why? Because they're not as good as the other guys. Witherspoon is a gritty walk-on from Humboldt, KS who I am sure plays the game The Right Way and probably pulls more tail in a week than I did in all my many years of college. Jeremy Case is the last remaining link to the Roy Williams Era. I hear he's been lighting it up in practice. I have, however, been hearing that for five years. Rod Stewart takes the downtown train (didn't see that one coming, did you?) and has finally found a place in the rotation as a defensive specialist, several seasons after transferring from USC.

3. 20 years. It was 20 years ago that Kansas, led by Danny Manning and coached by Larry Brown, won the 1988 NCAA Championship just down I-70 in Kansas City. The team was feted at halftime of the Colorado game several weeks ago. In a delicious bit of coincidence, the broadcaster assigned to the team was none other than former Oklahoma star (and former Rockford Lightning head coach) Stacey King, whose heavily-favored Sooners team lost to Danny and the Miracles in the aforementioned championship game.

Bonus tidbit: Which former coaching stops of naturally coiffed Bill Self will not be joining KU in the NCAA tournament? Tulsa and Illinois. Suck it, Illini! — Pete Gaines

PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS

1. Ok, so what's the deal with P. State? After 12 years in the NCAA hinterlands, your Portland State Vikings are ready for their national media close-up. Why do I say "your" Portland State Vikings? Because, inevitably in the run up to the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament game next week you will be inundated with stories (and a likely CBS video montage) about the plucky Big Sky champions and by the time you're done hearing about the Vikings pint-sized point guard and the school that couldn't even get respect in its home town you're going to want to drop everything, buy a Jerry Glanville mask and move to Portland. It's the largest public university in Oregon (bigger than Oregon and Oregon State) and is nestled in downtown Portland in the lovely Park Blocks. Pretty much everyone and their mother in Portland has at one time or another taken a class there, but few claim the commuter campus as their school. (We call it PSU, not P-State, Nittany this, Lions!).

2. Jerry Glanville is here. The school just moved to D-I in 1996, but hiring Glanville got our football team some serious press earlier this season. But this doesn't mean Portland State gets any respect, even from the local press. I ran into Portland's premier sports columnist en route to a game a few years ago and even he had no idea where the gym the Vikings play in was. This is a gym so small most high school's couldn't even hold assembly there and so outdated that bomb shelters would take offense if you compared the two. Amazingly, the Vikings can't even fill it. When the team won the right to hold the conference tournament by rolling through the regular season with a 14-2 conference record, the conference made them find a larger venue. Even with a surplus of local media coverage that would make Paris Hilton blush, the Vikings barely filled a fifth of the Rose Garden arena.

3. We are good because our coach hated it here. Why would a head coach leave a year after winning the regular season championship to become a glorified assistant coach? Would Jack Bauer hand the reins over to Chloe so he could kick it in CTU? I think not. But that's exactly what former PSU coach Heath Schroyer did three years ago though. Dude had just had enough. His departure opened the door for current head coach Ken Bone. Bone, who kinda looks like Ichabod Crane, has overcome local high schoolers' refusal to even consider PSU by luring some impressive transfers and his rapid success already has Viking fans fretting about his imminent departure to a bigger program. The two transfers who've led the team to the best season in school history are point guard Jeremiah Dominguez and forward Deonte Huff. Combining the best of Mighty Mouse and Astro Boy into a 5-foot-6 frame, Dominguez became the first player in Big Sky history to win Newcomer and Player of the Year honors this season after sitting out last year as a transfer. Huff is the Vikings high-flyer who does a little bit of everything while sporting a refined version of Chris Partlow's haircut from The Wire. — Ian Ruder

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2. Jerry Glanville is here. The school just moved to D-I in 1996, but hiring Glanville got our football team some serious press earlier this season. But this doesn't mean Portland State gets any respect, even from the local press. I ran into Portland's premier sports columnist en route to a game a few years ago and even he had no idea where the gym the Vikings play in was. This is a gym so small most high school's couldn't even hold assembly there and so outdated that bomb shelters would take offense if you compared the two. Amazingly, the Vikings can't even fill it. When the team won the right to hold the conference tournament by rolling through the regular season with a 14-2 conference record, the conference made them find a larger venue. Even with a surplus of local media coverage that would make Paris Hilton blush, the Vikings barely filled a fifth of the Rose Garden arena.

3. We are good because our coach hated it here. Why would a head coach leave a year after winning the regular season championship to become a glorified assistant coach? Would Jack Bauer hand the reins over to Chloe so he could kick it in CTU? I think not. But that's exactly what former PSU coach Heath Schroyer did three years ago though. Dude had just had enough. His departure opened the door for current head coach Ken Bone. Bone, who kinda looks like Ichabod Crane, has overcome local high schoolers' refusal to even consider PSU by luring some impressive transfers and his rapid success already has Viking fans fretting about his imminent departure to a bigger program. The two transfers who've led the team to the best season in school history are point guard Jeremiah Dominguez and forward Deonte Huff. Combining the best of Mighty Mouse and Astro Boy into a 5-foot-6 frame, Dominguez became the first player in Big Sky history to win Newcomer and Player of the Year honors this season after sitting out last year as a transfer. Huff is the Vikings high-flyer who does a little bit of everything while sporting a refined version of Chris Partlow's haircut from The Wire. — Ian Ruder

You've got to find out what the total commitment is. Jerry Glanville can not come here and win one football game. If Jerry Glanville comes here it's the power of we over me and if you get everybody grabbing a hold of that rope and pulling in the same direction and you have a support group that's going to turn this into something special that it should be then you're very interested. Now in turn, they may talk to me and not like me. Nobody's offered me this job. They may say that guy's crazy, which is borderline half right.

Why can't we get 20,000 people five days every year to guarantee me that were gonna be on your worst behavior. I can walk into a high school and tell a kid if you come to this game, no adult will tell you to sit down and shut up we'll tell you to bring the roof down. Let's have some fun. We can turn this into Green Bay, Wisconsin for I-AA football.

The Green Bay for I-AA football. Now there's a goal! Actually, we think Portland State is to college football what Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl is to legitimate football video games. Take the job, Jerry! What could possibly go wrong?

Glanville Radio Transcript; Must-Read Articles [OregonLive]
Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl [AllGame.com]

(UPDATE: YES! He's taking the job!)

(SECOND UPDATE: Ha. The Run And Shoot was invented at Portland State. Makes sense!)