Doubleheader today at 4

Because Mother Nature looks like she wants to give us one more round of winter weather, the final two games of the BYU series will both be played today starting at 4:00pm. Goodbye, any potential afternoon productivity...

MWC goes 2-2.

Definitely reconsidering my, "Never fear a grown man named Jimmer" stance.

Well, we won't garner the millions that lyle hinted at yesterday in relation to MWC success in the NCAA tournament, but hey, at least we did better than the Big East, right? Thanks a lot, Georgetown. Liberal pieces of shit. Still, no MWC team looked dominant yesterday and, given the survivors' match-ups on Saturday, it looks like the MWCs time in the 2010 tournament could be more jitterbug than waltz. Here's a quick look.

Winners:

(7) BYU 99, (10) Florida 92, 2OT. Worked out my my lunch schedule so I could catch the end of this one, and it was a good one. BYUs Jimmer Fredette scored 37 points, including two HUGE threes in the second OT period to lead the Cougars into the second round. Florida had last second shots to win the game at the end of regulation and the first overtime but came up short. BYU's Michael Loyd, Jr, the loneliest player in all of division I sports, - seriously, Provo is the whitest place I've ever been to, and I've been snow skiing AND to the Masters - finished with 26 points including all six points scored by BYU in the first overtime. The Cougars will face second seed Kansas State in the second round after they blasted North Texas.

Next game - (2) Kansas State. Saturday, 7:10 PM.

(3) New Mexico 62, (14) Montana 57. Avoiding becoming the second 3 seed to lose their opening round game on the first day, the Lobos hung on to defeat the Montana Grizzlies by five, a game many thought might be a dark horse first round upset. Roman Martinez led all UNM scorers with 19 and Darington Hobson barely missed a triple double, finishing with 11 points, 11 boards and 6 assists. His low scoring output could be attributed to a sprained wrist, and unfortunately for the Lobos and the conference, his status for the second round remains unclear. I have a feeling he'll play since it is, you know, the Big Dance. Montana nearly overcame a 14 point second half deficit, trailing by only one point with under five minutes to go before New Mexico pulled away. The Lobos will play 11th ranked Washington in the second round after they defeated Marquette with a last second layup in regulation.

Next game - (11) Washington. Saturday, 4:50PM.

One and done:

(8) UNLV 66, (9) Northern Iowa 69. In another one of the day's many last second victories, UNLV dropped a tough one to Northern Iowa when the Panther's Ali Farokhmanesh - surprisingly not on any TSA lists - hit a three with under 5 seconds to go and UNLV's last second heave came up short. UNLV made it interesting late when Oscar Bellfield hit a corner three with under a minute to go to tie it at 66 but were unable to close the deal. Perhaps a viewing of Glengarry Glenross would've inspired them? Lyle informs me that this loss derives directly from UNLV Head Coach Lon Kruger's refusal to wear a tie on the sidelines.

(11) San Diego State 59, (6) Tennessee 62. Well, at least spitpurple will be happy. The Aztecs kept it close, cutting the Vols lead to one late in the game until Melvin Goins hit a three with 15 seconds left to push the lead to four and put the game out of reach. San Diego State, who advanced to the NCAA after winning the MWC Tournament, has yet to ever win an NCAA game.

So, 2-2 which isn't bad considering the considerable opening round upsets that occurred, but BYU has an extremely tough second round match with a Kansas State team who many have picked to win the West Region. Meanwhile, New Mexico should be favored against Washington, but with Hobson's health in question, the playing field is leveled considerably. Will BYU or UNM follow in the steps of UNLV in 2007 and make the Sweet Sixteen? The odds aren't for it, but it's probably worth checking out this weekend. Besides, what else are you going to do tomorrow, not drink and go outside?

Morning Dump

TCU outlasts BYU behind big bats Star-Telegram

IS TCU's Neidra Covington inches away from the Olympics? Star-Telegram

No. 4 TCU opens league play with win over BYU GoFrogs.com

TCU cruises to 10 stroke NIT victory Golf News

Frogs vs. BYU, today through Saturday

While we all cheer for the BYU basketball team in the NCAA tournament today (and hopefully Saturday), you can still get your fix of Mormon-bashing as the BYU baseball Cougars travel to Fort Worth for a three-game set with the 4th-ranked Frogs starting this evening (It's also acceptable to be a decent person and NOT heckle them about their religion, FYI).

Tonight's game, which will pit TCU junior Steven Maxwell (3-0, 3.15) against BYU's Justin Shutt (1-2, 8.15) at 6:30pm, is the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams, and represents the first chance for the Frogs to step toward a 5th consecutive MWC regular-season title. If you're into trivial milestones, it'll also be BYU coach Vance Law's 600th game at the school.

Freshman phenom Matt Purke (2-0, 3.74) will start for the Frogs tomorrow evening and sophomore Kyle Winkler (3-0, 2.11) takes the hill Saturday afternoon.

The past two weekend series, against Sam Houston State back in February and Texas Tech last year, have both broken the weekend attendance record. Over 10,000 fans passed through the gates at Lupton last weekend to see the Frogs sweep the Red Raiders, and with an average of just over 3,000 fans a game, TCU is 14th in the nation in attendance.

"You've probably done everything, haven't you?"

Completely not TCU related but for those of you needing to pass time before the tournament starts, Joslyn James has released new sexts from Tiger.

Click here to read

Warning, it basically takes you to a porn site so if you're at work proceed with caution.

Put on your MWC hat

While the thought of cheering for BYU makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach, I'll be waving the MWC flag as the Cougars begin their NCAA Tournament journey this morning in Oklahoma City because a win for BYU is a win for the Frogs. As was detailed in the article from the San Diego Union-Tribune in this morning's dump, every win by one of the MWC teams in the tournament this year will be worth over a million bucks to the conference over the next five years (approximately $222,000 per game, per year for five years). Just like bowl pay-outs benefit every team in the conference, so do tournament appearances. Except in the case of basketball, the pay out gets bigger and bigger the deeper the team goes.

All four teams are in action today:

(7) BYU vs. (10) Florida: 11:20am, Oklahoma City

(8) UNLV vs. (9) Northern Iowa: 6:10pm, Oklahoma City

(3) New Mexico vs. (14) Montana: 8:40pm, San Jose, CA

(11) San Diego State vs. (6) Tennessee: 8:45pm, Providence, RI

Morning Dump

TCU baseball streaking into Mountain West Conference play Examiner

UD women steady their nerves heading into 1st NCAA tourney Dayton Daily News

MWC may cash in with 4 teams San Diego Union-Tribune

Rivals strikes again

The UT rivals site released a revised version of their Top 100 players in the state for the Class of 2011 yesterday.

What caught my eye was that Houston St. Pius X cornerback Kolby Griffin, a TCU commit, who was #23 on the list back in January, slid all the way down to #59. To my knowledge, St. Pius X hasn't played any games in the past few months, so why the slide? Is it maybe because he spurned an invitation to a UT Junior Day and then committed to TCU? That's solid journalism.

It should be noted that the list is compiled by Geoff Ketchum, who is one of the biggest UT homers you'll find out there even though he went to Texas State (so add some Valtrex to your list when you go pick up your Propecia, G). While we're obviously all for homerism here at spitblood, at least we don't put ourselves out there as legitimate journalists or "experts".

Good for you, Channel 11

This isn't directly TCU-related, since the Frogs are sitting at home for a 12th consecutive NCAA Tournament, but I think it's worth noting since the local college sports programs have always been largely ignored by the local media.

KTVT, Channel 11, the CBS affiliate for Dallas-Fort Worth, was faced with a scheduling dilemma when the brackets were released- at 1:40pm on Thursday, they would have to choose between Baylor vs. Sam Houston State or UNT vs. Kansas State. Baylor, being a member of both the dominant conference in the region and a threat to make a deep run in the tournament, seemed like the obvious choice, right? I mean, whenever the local TV & radio stations, the Morning News or even the Star-Telegram are faced with the choice of covering local teams or the 'almighty' Big 12, they generally side with the Big 12, right?

But Channel 11 made the right choice and decided to support the local Mean Green, and Spitblood adamantly approves. If they did so just to force the awkwardness of Baylor fans going to bars to watch their game, even better.

Adding to the Big 12 whining...Channel 11 won't be carrying the aggy game on Friday afternoon, either!

Morning Dump

No. 4 TCU overcomes Oral Roberts, 6-4 GoFrogs.com

No. 4 TCU edges Oral Roberts KTUL Tulsa

These girls can shoot Outdoor Life

LaDainian Tomlinson on Jets "I've come here to win a championship" USA Today

Dwight Smith Video

After reading SWW's post and hearing the hype, I had to finally look at some highlights of this guy. I don't know if this has been posted already but here is one. He is #22 in red. Check out the stiff arm at 0:54 and the speed at 2:18. Crazy sick.

TCU-SMU on ESPN- Friday, September 24th

The SMU-Tech game being moved to September 5th has indeed shifted the TCU-SMU game. It will now be played Friday, September 24th and will be broadcast on ESPN, according to...ESPN. This now means that the Frogs' 4th OOC game, whoever it ends up being against, will most likely be on September 11th.

2010 Spitblood March Madness Bracket Challenge

2 more days to sign up here.

$10 a bracket, payout top 3, 70/20/10%.

All the money goes to the pot, email me at thefinch@spitbloodtcu.com for payment options.

Frogs vs. Oral Roberts tonight

The 12-2, 4th-ranked Horned Frogs hit the road tonight, heading up to Tulsa to take on Oral Roberts at 6:30 this evening. Temperatures are expected to drop into the 40s as the Frogs try to make up some ground in the overall series with ORU, which the Golden Eagles currently lead 25-14.

No word yet on who will be starting for the Frogs tonight, although Greg Holle has been handling the midweek duties so far this year. If he can continue to pitch like he did against UTA last week (7 K's, just 2 hits in 5 innings), he'll give the Frogs a 4th solid starter and will bode well for their upcoming midweek games against A&M, Baylor and OU.

SMU-Tech rescheduled; could affect TCU-SMU

SMU's season opener against Texas Tech has been moved from it's original date of September 4th to Sunday, September 5th to accommodate a national TV broadcast on ESPN. This could affect the Frogs' schedule, as they are scheduled to play at SMU the following week. The word on the street was that the TCU-SMU game might be moved to Thursday or Friday night to be on one of the ESPN networks, but that would now mean an extra-short week for the Ponies.

Morning Dump

TCU baseball reaches new height with No. 4 ranking Star-Telegram

Frogs have date with Dayton in Women's NCAA Tournament Star-Telegram

Purke named MWC pitcher of the week GoFrogs.com

TCU to face Dayton in NCAA first round Saturday GoFrogs.com

Pair of Horned Frogs jumping up the board Sporting News

Is it time to start considering the Mountain West a power conference? USA Today