Io Pavo!

It's what the sports fans call "March Madness" time again, and I got into it just a little yesterday. I caught most of the second half of the Washington State-Arizona State men's game in the Pac 12 conference tournament in Las Vegas. Neither team was the greatest, but they were good enough, and quite evenly matched. It was fun to watch.

Today things get a little more serious for me, as the men of my undergrad alma mater, Saint Peter's University (which was a mere "college" when I attended), take on Rider in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) tournament in Atlantic City. The winner of that tournament gets to play in the "Big Dance," the national tournament that's just around the corner. The Metro team usually gets bounced out of the nationals in the first round, but you never know. 

Now, I can't say I follow the Saint Peter's squad, known as the Peacocks, all that closely. But I did stumble upon one of their games earlier in the year, and my boys from Montgomery Street in Jersey City were stone cold ballin', as the kids might say. Highly entertaining, and of course I still bleed peacock blue, so I was cheering.

Last year, the Peacock hoopsters went down in the second round of the MAAC, losing by a mere 2 points to Iona, who went on to win the tournament. This year, the Peacocks find themselves in a nice spot. They're the no. 3 seed, and numbers 1 and 2 have already lost. And so on paper, SPU is now the best team left in the show.

If I'm reading the bracket right, today's opponent, Rider, is the 11 seed, and if Peter's gets past them, they'll face no. 7 Fairfield tomorrow night. Okay, but one game at a time. Today let's show Rider how it's done. Where the heck is Rider, anyway? OMG, Trenton? Go Peacocks!

UPDATE, later that morning: I just noticed that the Saint Peter's women are playing today, too. Approaching halftime, they're in a tight contest with Iona. Go Peahens!

UPDATE, later that morning: The Peahens, trailing at halftime, ran up a 24-5 third quarter and held on to beat Iona by 11. Next up for the women is Rider, tomorrow.

UPDATE, late afternoon: It was pretty much the same story with the Peacock men, who pulled away in the second half for a nice win. Fairfield's next.