NCAA Men's Second Round in Providence

Naturally, our game time for the NCAA Men's Basketball Round 2 was the first one at noon on another beautiful day in Providence, so we woke up early to get started on some of the beers lurking in Coach and AG's refrigerator.  By the time Nick and Caitlin arrived, the cornhole set was out in the front lawn!

As we entered the Dunkin' Donuts Center today, we noticed they were far more prepared in terms of the bathroom situation for the gentleman by transforming a few of the underused ladies rooms to men's rooms.  Now why don't they ever do that when the woman's line backs up, I'm not sure?

Anyway, the first game of the day was (2) Villanova Wildcats vs. (10) Saint Mary's Gaels.  If you recall from Round 1, the Wildcats barely took care of business while the Gaels completely took over their game.  Of course, the crowd was completely behind the Gaels despite a small section of Villanova loyals.  

Saint Mary's came out strong leading the first half while 'Nova looked just as bad as Thursday.  By the end of it, they both looked pretty awful, but down 3 points, 'Nova had a last effort chance to seal the victory.  But it  was blocked by Samhan who earned or should have earned the MVP of the Providence games!  Saint Mary's pulled out their second upset heading to the Sweet Sixteen!  Samhan even made his way into the crowded showing his love for their support.  Incredible.

Next up, we saw (14) Ohio Bobcats vs. (6) Tennessee Vols.  Both teams played pretty poorly and I think everyone in the building was just hoping this game would end with a run by Ohio, but Tennessee took control at the end with some pretty sweet dunk shows.  That was pretty much it in a nutshell.   

Post-game, we headed to the closest bar to catch the end of the other games including the spectacular finish by University of Northern Iowa against Kansas with the Ali Farokhmanesh 3-pointer.  We also drove up to the Wickenden Pub where Coach has a plaque on the wall for completing the 99 Beer Club.  This dive bar had an incredible beer selection!  The night ended up with a some "healthy" pizza action and the Stout Challenge III (which I sat out this year due to being sick but from what I can remember, it was a rough finish).

What an incredible trip...looking forward to the next time when we get to see Coach dressed up in a suit, but AG will certainly steal all his thunder as that's what we women do.  See the rest of my pictures from Round 2 in my photo album.