UAB 82, LSU 68, Dickie V 0.

By John Marshall
AP Sports Writer

BOISE, Idaho -- Pressing, trapping and causing havoc, UAB's defense was at its frenetic best.

Yep, the Blazers could be ready for another deep run in the NCAA tournament.

Marvett McDonald had 21 points and hit five 3-pointers, and the 11th-seeded Blazers used their stingy defense to pull off another upset, knocking off LSU 82-68 on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

No disrespect to John Marshall, but that was more than a "knocking off" of LSU, that was an open-handed bitch slap. Little ol' UAB led the Tigers by as much as 26 points in the second half before kind of coasting to the finish. It seemed as though LSU's initial game plan was to try and challenge the Blazers' 40 Minutes of Hell tempo, but once it became apparent that wasn't going to work, it looked like they just sort of zipped up their coats and started mentally packing for the flight home. Long flight back to Baton Rouge, guys. Hatin' it for you.

And just to prove I'm never too nice or mature to be above rubbing someone's sweet face in it, let me call out Dick Vitale and the rest of the so-called ESPN "experts" who, on Selection Sunday, could do nothing but talk about all the teams that deserved a tournament berth more than UAB. And who would those be, Dickie? Miami-Ohio, who got punked by Texas Christian at home in the first round of the NIT? Notre Dame, who got whacked by Holy Cross, also at home, also in the first round of the NIT? Great picks, dude, nice. Sort of wish I had y'all in my bracket pool this year, I'd be making some money.

So anyway, bring on Arizona. I ain't scared of ya.