Tourney Time:Weekend Recap

What a whirlwind of opening round action in the Big Dance. Who could have predicted before the tournament started we'd have the 16 teams left that we do now. Right now, I'm going to break down the number of teams left by state.

Texas-1
Kansas-1
Michigan-1
Indiana-1
New York-1
Florida-1
Wisconsin-2
Kentucky-2
North Carolina-2
OHIO-4

A quarter of the Sweet 16 from the Buckeye state is just unbelievable. The next four days will be nothing but battle talk between Cincinnati and Columbus, with the UC-OSU match-up. It's going to be explosive. And to have both Cincinnati teams still in the tournament is great. I hope that this helps repair the image of the figurative (and in Kenny Frease's case, literal) black eye the city has gotten since the Crosstown Shootout. Of course, Shootout II is still a possibility, however slight.

Other marquee match-ups (they're all marquee at this point, idiot) include UK taking on the only team to beat them in the regular season, the plucky team from Bloomington Indiana. OU gets the distinction of now being the lowest-seeded team left in the tournament. But they have a tough test in big, bad North Carolina this week.

Bonus Breakdown, teams by conference:
Big East- 4
Big 10- 4
Big 12- 2
SEC- 2
ACC- 2
Atlantic 10- 1
MAC- 1

My bracket isn't as torn up as I thought. I'm at 45 of 68 possible points. I've got 7 of 8 Elite 8 left and 3 of my Final Four, and my finals and winner are still intact. But I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't be upset if I lost 3 bucks and the locals kept going. What a cool ride that would be.

Excuse me sir, can I offer you some....ratings?

This is the line I used as I passed the News Director's office on the way in to work today. CBS has gotten the UC-OSU game on Thursday and both Xavier and UK's games on Friday. I posed the thought that we could do Bengals-like numbers. He hoped the same. Tune in folks, its gonna a wild ride to New Orleans. Hopefully some local teams can make it there too.

Today's Twitter profile: @Dan_Hoard

Dan is the play-by-play man for the University of Cincinnati's basketball and football teams. He also recently started calling the Cincinnati Bengals games on the radio. Dan is always excited when he calls a game. Regardless of who the opponent is, he always seems to feel as if the 'Cats and Bengals can win. Listening to some announcers can lull a person to sleep. **Take two Jim Nantz and call me after the Masters.**

But if you're looking for an upper, don't reach for a Red Bull. Just flip on a game Dan's calling. I was able to catch the last 10 minutes of UC's game last night on the way home from work. Every shot the Bearcats made was poetry. Hearing Dan call it made me feel like I was there. I didn't even go to UC, and I found myself punching the air every time Sean Kilpatrick hit a 3, and got goosebumps when Hoard called Dion Dixon's steal and dunk. Dan's got a verbiage only rivaled by Marty Breannaman and my pal Brad Johansen.

And Dan tweets how he calls a game. Always excited. Dan is full-throttle UC and Bengals. He really loves what he does and it shows. He also tweeted me back last night after I tweeted about my goosebumps. It's a little thing to do, but when you only have 140 followers, its neat when someone with nearly 6,000 gets back to you. Check him out for all your Bearcat and Bengal needs.