Today Michigan played in the first round of the NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament. The best 68 teams in the US are invited to play in this tournament to see who is the best college basketball team in America. We played against Oklahoma State University. OSU is rated the best team in college basketball for its offensive efficiency. In other words, they are a scoring machine, scoring more times on a percentage basis when they have the ball than any other team in the US. Poor little Michigan having to go against this scoring powerhouse of a team. Especially after Michigan had to play four games in four days in the Big 10 Conference Playoff that ended last weekend. It just is not fair. Added to that, our star player is playing with 5 stitches in his knee from a cut he got when the team’s plane crashed during its takeoff, skidded down the runway, crossed a road and ended up in a ditch that was right in front of some trees. He cut his knee when someone threw out of the plane the emergency hatch and it struck him on his knee. Ouch!! You can see the large bandage he has to wear while playing basketball on the photo posted to this blog.

While I was not able to listen to the game since we are overseas, I could watch GameTracker over the Internet as it posted each score as it was made. By the way, if anyone knows how I can listen to the NCAA games over the Internet while overseas, please let me know. Michigan is barred by the NCAA from directly broadcasting its games while in this tournament. I usually listen to our basketball and football games from the U of M website. I tried various options offered by the NCAA but none of them would allow me to listen to the game. Our next game is this Sunday, since we eked out a 92 to 91 victory. Whew, that was one close and intense game!