Xavier took mighty Ohio State to the brink before Ron Lewis hit that amazing three-pointer to send the game to OT. Then Mike Conley, Jr., took command scoring the first seven points for the Buckeyes, lifting them to a 78-71 win over the Musketteers. Pitt needed an extra period to overcome Virginia Commonwealth, rallying behind Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields to win 84-79. Vanderbilt managed to upset Washington State, but needed double overtime for Derrick Byars and Shan Foster to lift the Commodores past the Cougars 78-74.

But even with all this excitement and drama, CBS announcer Gus Johnson very nearly ruined the entire day for me. Is there a bigger ass in all of college sports announcing? In all of sports announcing period? Seriously, Gus gives Joe Theismann a good run for his money. He just prattles on about whatever extraneous ideas that pop into his head, missing calls in the process. How many times do we need to hear about Thad Matta leaving Xavier?

But Gus’ biggest problem — one shared by all of the worst play-by-play announcers on TV (which is to say nearly all of them) — is that he doesn’t realize we’re watching the game too. With Xavier leading by three with seconds to play, you don’t have to make that seem any more exciting than it is, Gus. You don’t have to work it. You don’t need to break a sweat to make us understand that #1 Ohio State might get knocked out of the tournament. We’re here, watching the same game as you, we can feel the drama building.

And I’m glad to see that I’m not alone here. Grant Wahl from SI.com makes a good observation this morning on Johnson, noting that Gus “started sounding like A.C. Green on his wedding night.”

Today looks like it might hold the same potential for some great matchups, especially with Texas and USC going head-to-head, Tennessee and Virginia, and upstart Winthrop taking on Oregon. But please, CBS Sports, please keep Gus far away from these games; I’d suggest maybe keeping him tied up in a closet.

If this were a really well-organized operation, you might get to read some insightful previews of todays games, such as Maryland vs. Butler (you can’t stop those Bulldogs) or Virginia Commonwealth trying to upset Pitt (yeah, right). This is clearly not the case, though.

But you will get two things here at oddsnark that you probably won’t get from most of those cool-ass sports blogs out there. For one, we’ll let you know that Ellen Halverson is still in the running for the Red Lantern Award in the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race as she slogs her way from Kaltag towards the finish at Nome. Yes, Lance Mackey won the race four days ago, but the Last Great Race doesn’t end till everyone is in, and there are still 16 mushers trying to finish, so keep on the trail Ellen.

And second, we revive the story of Louisville cheerleader Becca Manns, who lost her picture phone and ended up with nude photos of herself plastered all over the Internet a couple months ago. To refresh your memory, here’s one of the tame pics from the series:

and for your obligatory NSFW pics, you can go to the NSFW site.

The Cardinals, in case you’re wondering, play a tough Texas A&M team later today. Too bad Becca won’t be cheering them on.