I’d love to say that I was the one taking these photos live from the Final Four at Ford Field, but no, I was at the Symphony in Florida.

However, my March Madness buddy Erik flew from sunny Sarasota to cold Michigan to see the games and he sent me these fantastic shots of the festivities in Detroit! He promised to hook us up with some National Championship Title Game pics on Monday night too!

The bastard got upgraded to special Floor Seats!

Chillin' with all 70,000 State fans!

The Road to the Final Four ends at Ford Field

The 2009 NCAA Men's Final Four at Ford Field

Connecticut: 746 Miles Away

Villanova: 572 miles away

Michigan State 92 miles away : Priceless

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Let’s get ready to rumblllllleee….

The largest Final Four attendance in the history of the tourney!

About 70,000 screaming State fans. And about 7,000 cheering for the three other teams!

Erik reported that “It was insane last night… I was trembling for an hour after the game… literally shaking. Durrell Summer’s dunk brought a roar from the crowd that literally shook the place like an earthquake! And when the fight broke out after Travis Walton’s hard foul… 70,000 fans were jeering at the Husky to watch his back on the way to the team bus… You don’t mess with a State boy. Detroit don’t fuck around!”

Final Score--Michigan State 81 UConn 73!

Just updated! Erik sent over some  Live from Detroit Championship Game photos!

Also, check out:

One Shining Moment 2009: March Madness Compilation Video

North Carolina Becomes Best College Basketball Team in Nation

UNC Tar Heels National Championship Gear

Live From Detroit, It’s Saturday Night Final Four Pictures! is a post from: Stiletto Sports

Busy, busy day….some would even call it madness!

Hope everyone has been enjoying Round 1 so far! It’s been crazy! Right now, I’m 15-1—came really close to being 16-0! Yay! Well, okay, depending on the bracket pool that I’m in since I have like 8 going.

Here’s what we have so far–just a quick recap. I’ll try to fill in more tomorrow if I get a free moment!

#1/#16 match-ups

#1 UNC beat #16 Radford 101-58*

#1 UConn beat #16 Chattanooga 103-47*

*Awww…. who else would have rather watched a UNC-UConn and Radford-Chattanooga match-up based on the scores! Total unnecessary massacre of a smaller team. Not cool, guys, not cool.

UConn was actually playing without Head Coach Jim Calhoun who has been hospitalized for illness.

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#2/#15 match-ups

#2 Memphis beat #16 CS Northridge 81-70

First off, the score is definitely not a reflection of the game. Second, I’m still not sure I can really talk about this game. Serious heart failure throughout. Northridge came out swinging and Memphis stood there like a punching bag. Northridge even had the lead going into the final stretch of the game. Finally, Calipari’s team got it together and went on a huge 10 point run to pull ahead and shut down Northridge. But there had to be hundreds of panic attacks across the country watching this game. I know I was having one. Like I said, I did 8 brackets—all 8 of them would have been completely destroyed if Memphis didn’t pull this off.

#2 Duke beat #15 Binghamton 86-62

#2 Oklahoma beat #15 Morgan State 82-54

This game could take game of the day only because of the crazy Wrestlemania show that Morgan State’s Ameer Ali decided to put on in the second half of the game when he tangled arms with Oklahoma’s God Blake Griffin. Rather than let go and move on, Ali grabbed a hold of Griffin and flipped him over his back and on to the court. Griffin hit the court hard on his back. Ali was immediately ejected.

Talk about unsportsmanlike conduct.

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#3/#14 match-ups

#3 Villanova beat #14 American 80-67

This is another score that doesn’t accurately reflect the game. American totally dominated Nova for most of the game, much to the horror of most fans. Finally in the very end of the game Nova managed to rally back.

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#4/#13 match-ups

#4 Washington beat #13 Mississippi State 71-58

#4 Gonzaga beat #13 Akron 77-64

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#5/#12 match-ups

#5 Purdue beat #12 Northern Iowa 61-56

This one was pretty close to being a bracket buster. Norther Iowa gave Purdue quite a battle and it was great to watch.

#12 Western Kentucky beat # 5 Illinois 76-72

The Fighting Illini certainly fought back. They were so far behind that most of us had given up and were about to go to bed. And then, they went on a crazy run and  gave West Kentucky quite a scare. But it was too little too late.

What people will be talking about:

The in-bound pass with 1:21 left in the game. W. Kentucky was inbounding it was deflected and Illinios gained possession of the ball

How come Illinois got two points when they didn’t make the basket?

This was the  blocked shot that wasn’t. Western Kentucky’s Anthony Sally went to block the shot, but since the ball had already touched the back-board, it was considered goal-tending–meaning interfering with a shot illegally–and Illinois got 2 points without having to sink the shot.

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#6/#11 match-ups

#6 UCLA beat #11 VCU 65-64

And yes, it was that close and that good.

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#7/#10 match-ups

#10 Maryland beat #7 California 84-71

The first 7/10 upset of the tourney! Who else will follow?

#10 Michigan beat #7 Clemson 62-59

#7 Texas beat #10 Minnesota 76-62

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#8/#9 match-ups

#8 LSU beat #9 Butler 75-71

#9 Texas A&M beat #8 BYU 79-66

Both games were good but the LSU-Butler game was definitely more edge of the seat. The only problem was they played at the same time as Memphis so this game definitely took a back burner. It really could have gone either way. Part of me really wanted Butler to break out because they have really been making a name for themselves in the last few years. But I’m okay with LSU!

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NCAA Tournament Live Updates: Round 1 is a post from: Stiletto Sports