Like Belmont should’ve done Duke yesterday.

Jim Calhoun suffered his first 1st-round NCAA tournament loss as the Huskies coach. At the press conference after the game, he found about a thousand ways to say that his 4-seeded Huskies gave the game to 13-seeded San Diego by playing crappy defense.

Not very gracious. Looked to me like San Diego handled their business.

And that wasn’t the only upset in Tampa today. The 12-seeded Western Kentucky upset 5-seeded Drake.

That means UCLA, if (when) they get past Mississippi State, will face either a 12-seed or a 13-seed in the Sweet 16. Can’t get much sweeter than that for the Bruins. Although

THEN, 13-seeded Siena upset 4-seed Vanderbilt.

By nature, I’m a fan of underdogs, and I love games like these because they put the Mad in March. I can’t even feel too bad about my brackets being all busted up. Cause no one else in the family pool picked all those upsets, so we’re all in the same boat. (I’m sure there’s some geek out there who figured each of those upsets through some mathematical probability matrix or something.)

Now, we’ve got 5-seeded Clemson playing 12-seeded Villanova. In Tampa. And guess who’s ahead? Riiiiiight… Villanova’s up 56-55 with 8:24 left in the game.

Other news while I’m waiting to see if higher seeds are cursed in Tampa. North Carolina put up 113 points on Mt. St. Mary’s. The good news for the Mount, though, is that they actually scored 74 points.

Total dominance by Texas, Tennessee, and Memphis in their games.

The 10-seeded Davidson beat 7-seeded Gonzaga, which is an upset, but not a huge upset. The big news is that Davidson’s baby-faced point guard Stephen Curry (ESPN refers to him as “the guard the big schools didn’t want”) hit 40 points (read it and weep, Michael Beasley). He strapped his team to his back and carried them into the second round, where they’ll face – yikes! – Georgetown. Well, whatever. Davidson might not have an answer for Roy Hibbert, but Georgetown better have an answer for Mr. Curry or it might not matter.

In other news, Indiana fell to Arkansas. Not an upset. But you have to feel for Hoosier nation. After the Kelvin Sampson mess, the new guy, Dan Dakich, steps in and still gets the team into the tournament. Then, what does the University do? They announce this week that they’re putting together a search committee for a new head coach. That’s just bad mojo.

Back Villanova and Clemson. Clemson at the free throw line with 1:55 to go. Ties it up at 66-66. But Clemson’s James Mays just fouled out, following teammate Trevor Booker. So the Tigers’ leading scorers are on the bench. Ouch.

Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds has been the MAN. Not to mention, this has been one hell of a comeback for Villanova: Clemson had been up 36-18 at one point.

Villanova’s up 70-66, with 59 seconds left. Villanova’s got the ball. Missed shot. Rebound Clemson. Clemson misses a 3-ball, and Sykes goes for the tip-in instead of the rebound, but Villanova ends up with the rebound. Clemson foul, Villanova at the free-throw line. James Mays has tears in his eyes — makes ME want to cry, too. ‘Nova makes both free throws and the score is 72-66. Clemson’s Ogilsvie misses on two 3-point attempts. Villanova rebound and another foul. One foul shot made. Villanova up 73-66. Clemson finally sinks a 3-ball with 7 seconds left, and the score is 73-69. Villanova inbounds, Clemson fouls and puts Villanova at the line once again. Two more free throws made by Villanova.

Game over.

History made in Tampa, as four lower seeds move on. Brackets busted everywhere.

Any my Jayhawks, if/when they get past UNLV, will be in the same position as UCLA, facing either a 12- or a 13-seed in the Sweet Sixteen. I said before that it can’t get much sweeter than that, but the other side of that coin is this: any team that makes it to the Sweet Sixteen is for real, and all bets are off.

That’s why I love this tournament.