Let the games begin -- March 21st -- Day 9

The weather didn't improve overnight, and when I went out in the morning to fetch our daily Starbucks (my morning routine when on the road) I found a half full water bottle frozen solid in the front seat. We had a late breakfast, then headed off to the Palace of Auburn Hills, the site of the second and third round games of the NCAA tournament (pictured at right). In the two afternoon games, Michigan State had an easy time of it with Valparaiso, and it seemed that Memphis would quickly dispatch St. Mary's, a small school from Moraga, California that came in second to Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference. Behind the entire game, the Gaels mounted a comeback and had they made a last second shot would have won, but they lost 54-52, by far the closest game of any that we've seen on the trip. Michigan opened the evening session against South Dakota State, a team that I at least was not taking too lightly, remembering the Huskies' fate in losing to the Jackrabbits during the 2011-12 season. Fortunately the Wolverines didn't take them lightly either and played well enough to win by a comfortable, if not overwhelming, 71-56 margin. We stayed for the first half of the last game of the evening between Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) and Akron , a team we later heard was missing two starters due to illness. VCU plays a very aggressive pressing defense, ranking first in the country in forcing turnovers, and had the game well in hand when we left at halftime. We should have called it an evening, but Max struck up a conversation with some people at the hotel bar, and one insisted that he buy us another round, thus extending the evening into the wee hours. I've taken to calling her "Miss Congeniality."