The opening round of the 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament is over! The opening round was amazing! Full of buzzer beats, OTs, upsets and magical moments!

How did you do in your brackets? I didn’t do as well as I did last year when I went 28-4 going into Saturday’s games but, considering I did my brackets in literally, 5 minutes, I’m not mad.

Now, it’s on to Round 2! For the Lucky 32 I’ve given a complete breakdown of all the teams and their matchups. Oh, and I threw in my bracket picks too so you can see how I’m doing!

Who do you have advancing to the Sweet 16? Leave me comment or send me a tweet @StilettosportsJ and let me know where you stand!

NCAA March Madness Round 2 Matchups: South Region

No. 1 Duke vs. California/Louisville

#2 Duke

• ACC Champs
• Location: Durham, North Carolina
• Nickname: Blue Devils
• School Colors: Royal (Duke) Blue and White
• Coach: Coach K, Mike Krzyzewski
• Fanatical Fans: The Cameron Crazies. You do not mess with these people. They will f&%$ you up.
• Rivals: UNC. It’s known as the Tobacco Road rivalry and is quite possibly the most famous war in sports.

California

• Pac-10
• Location: Berkley, CA
• Nickname: Golden Bears
• Mascot: Oski the Bear named for Okskee-wow-wow yell:
  “Oski Wow-Wow!
  Whiskey Wee-Wee!
  Olee! Muckie-eye!
  Olee! Berkeley-eye!
  California! Wow!”
• School Colors: Yale Blue and California Gold
• Coach: Mike Montgomery’

In My Brackets: Duke. One of my fave people in the whole wide world, Mark, is a huge Duke fan. I never root against Mark. Unless Duke meets KU….

No. 5 Texas A&M vs. No. 4 Purdue

Texas A&M

• Big 12
  
• Location: College Station, Texas
• Mascot: Aggies
• What the heck is an Aggie?: I always get the mental image of a witch. I have no idea why. But I was sad to find out that an Aggie is just slang used to describe someone that goes to an Agriculture College, ie Texas Agriculture & Mechanical College
• School Colors: maroon and white
• Coach: Mike Turgeon
• Howdy Partner: The official greeting of Texas A&M is “Howdy.” Seriously.

Purdue

• Big Ten
• Location: West Lafayatte, Indiana
• Mascot: Boilermakers
• What is a Boilermaker?: It’s actually an old slang term for engineering. Pretty interesting story
• School Colors: Old Gold and Black
• Coach: Matt Painter
• Players: Chris Kramer. Yum.

In My Brackets: Chris Kramer is so hot that he’s actually made me like Purdue. I didn’t think that was possible!

No. 11 Old Dominion vs. No. 3 Baylor

Old Dominion

• Colonial Athletic Association
  
• Location: Norfolk, VA
• Nickname: The Monarchs (not like the butterfly as I originally thought. It’s more like the Monarchy, elite royalty)
• Mascot: Big Blue
• Why is it called Old Dominion?: It’s actually an the nickname for the state of Virginia!
• School Colors: Slate Blue, Silver, Cerulean Blue
• Coach: Blaine Taylor
• Famous Alums: Ben Bailey, aka the host of Cash Cab!

Baylor

• Big 12
  
• Location: Waco, TX
• Nickname: Bears
• Mascot: Bruiser and Judge. also have two black bears named Joy and Lady
• School Colors: Green and Gold
• Why you may have heard of them: In 2003. Player Patrick Dennehy was murdered bya  former player becuase of a shocking illegal recruiting/drug scandal.

In My Brackets: Eh….. Um….. Eh….Well, since I picked Notre Dame to go to the Sweet 16, I’m kinda screwed no matter what.

No. 10 St. Mary’s vs. No. 2 Villanova

St Mary’s College of California

• WCC
• Location: Moraga, CA
• Nickname: Gaels (formerly the Saints)
• Mascot: Gael Force One
• School Colors: Red and Blue

Villanova

• Big East
  
• Location: Villanova, PA
• Nickname: Wildcats
• Mascot: Will D. Cat
• School Colors: Blue and White
• Coach: Jay Wright
• Rivals: Part of the Philadelphia Big 5, which is the rivalry between the schools of the city. “The Holy War” is the battle between Nova and St Joseph’s.
• Claim to Fame: When the famous Liberty Bell cracked, a new one was made called “the Sister Bell.”  Nova proudly houses the bell on their campus

In My Brackets: ‘Nova. Even though they don’t deserve it after they way they played in Round 1. But my boy Shelton, also one of my fave people, is a huge Villanova fan. And him and Mark are BFF. Those of you who tuned in to Stiletto Sports this time last year may remember the controversy that developed  as the Duke-Nova game approached. Well, I’m hoping for a rematch this year. With a different outcome.

About the author: Jennifer Taglione is the owner of this fabulous website Stiletto Sports. Despite writing well over 500 posts, she still maintains that she is not a sports writer! She is however a huge fan of Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Mark Sanchez, the Celtics, and totally kicks butt on March Madness brackets! Connect with her by following her on Twitter @StilettoSportsJ and subscribing to her weekly newsletter. For more info check out the About the Editor page!

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