Welcome to the greatest damn show in the world!
It's the first day of the NCAA Tournament, assuming you don't count the silly play-in games, which I don't. Today is also game day for UConn's first game in its national title defense; we'll have a thread just for that game later tonight. In the intervening nine hours, we'll also be around to chat about all of the games, because we were smart enough to take this week off so as to watch 12 straight hours of basketball.
There are plenty of interesting storylines to watch today (even minus the Huskies' 9:20 game with Iowa State), including a certain center-less orange team playing its opener.
Below the jump, your Thursday NCAA schedule (and remember, all games are online at the NCAA's March Madness Live, which is free if you have your cable subscriber info; it's $3.99 for the whole tournament if you don't):
EARLY GAMES
12:15 p.m. - [6] Murray State vs [11] Colorado State, West Region 1st Round - Louisville, KY (CBS)
12:40 p.m. - [8] Kansas State vs [9] Southern Miss, East Region 1st Round - Pittsburgh, PA (TruTV)
1:40 p.m. - [4] Louisville vs [13] Davidson, West Region 1st Round - Portland, OR (TBS)
2:10 p.m. - [4] Wisconsin vs [13] Montana, East Region 1st Round - Albuquerque, NM (TNT)
approx. 2:45 p.m. - [3] Marquette vs [14] BYU, West Region 1st Round - Louisville, KY (CBS)
approx 3:10 p.m. - [1] Big Stupid Jerks vs [16] UNC-Asheville, East Region 1st Round - Pittsburgh, PA (TruTV)
approx 4:10 p.m. - [5] New Mexico vs [12] Long Beach State, West Region 1st Round - Portland, OR (TBS)
approx. 4:40 p.m. - [5] Vanderbilt vs [12] Harvard, East Region 1st Round - Albuquerque, NM (TNT)
6:50 p.m. - [1] Kentucky vs. [16] Western Kentucky, South Region 1st Round - Louisville, KY (TBS)
7:15 p.m. - [5] Wichita State vs. [12] Virginia Commonwealth, South Region 1st Round - Portland, OR (CBS)
7:20 p.m. - [7] Gonzaga vs. [10] West Virginia, East Region 1st Round - Pittsburgh, PA (TNT)
7:27 p.m. - [3] Baylor vs [14] South Dakota State, South Region 1st Round - Albuquerque, NM (TruTV)
approx. 9:20 p.m. - [8] Iowa State vs [9] Your Defending National Champion UConn Huskies, South Region 1st Round - Louisville, KY (TBS)
approx. 9:45 p.m. - [4] Indiana vs [13] New Mexico State, South Region 1st round - Portland, OR (CBS)
approx. 9:50 p.m. - [2] Ohio State vs [15] Loyola Maryland, East Region 1st Round - Pittsburgh, PA (TNT)
approx. 9:57 p.m. - [6] UNLV vs [11] Colorado State, South Region 1st Round - Albuquerque, NM (TruTV)
Enjoy the games.