So Devin didn’t have to run, but I don’t think he can hide. He got it exactly right in his pre-Tournament analysis of his Duke team. It can lose to anyone and almost certainly will—if not to West Virginia this weekend then soon after. Coach K looked like he was already moving on, contemplating the U.S. match-ups against Spain and Argentina this summer in Beijing.

Belmont provided pretty much the only drama of the day, though there were a few decent entertainments (Xavier-Georgia, West Virginia-Arizona). Still, not a single upset, if you don’t count K State—and I don’t, 'cause if I picked it in my pool, it couldn’t have been much of a surprise. The much anticipated frosh showdown between O.J. Mayo and Michael Beasley showdown was basically a bust; while Beasley flashed his talent after being hampered by foul trouble early in the game, Mayo is not yet ready for prime time and I’d recommend he remain at least one more year at USC before he leaps to the NBA.

I proved as prescient about my alma mater, Cornell, as Devin was about his. I said Cornell would fare better than it did in its last turn around the Big Dance floor 20 years ago when it lost by 40 points to Arizona—and the Big Red did, losing by only 24 points to Stanford. Our resident Jayhawk, Mr. Coatney, had a lovely line, waxing sentimental about this tournament and how it reconnected all of us to our college days—nostalgia at play across the nation. Of course, that’s hogwash. While it may be true for him, Devin and other diehards from a handful of basketball schools, it’s not really what this madness is about for the rest of us. It’s just another gambling fix—easier to access than your local casino and far less complicated than poker—which is why, as folks get eliminated from contention in their pools, TV ratings will plummet.

Frankly, even for us genuine sports fans, the show this week is only as good as the upsets and the buzzer-beaters. Other than Belmont’s near-miss, there wasn’t very much compelling about yesterday’s games—certainly nothing to keep me from flipping to Dallas and the second most exciting basketball game of the evening, with the Celtics completing a remarkable Texas sweep. And I also spent time in Nashville where the U.S. was playing a critical soccer match. Long ballyhooed Freddy Adu, still just 18 years old, is beginning to live up to his hype. He scored twice, bending two free kicks just like Beckham, as the U.S. punched its Olympic ticket to Beijing with a 3-0 thrashing of Canada.

Nevertheless, I’m game for 12 more hours today. But I fully expect that when the clock strikes midnight, I’ll still be mooning over Belmont-Duke and what might have been.