Davidson pre-game NCAA Tournament

Tipoff minus 1 hour

We are an hour out and my hands can barely steady themselves to type. I spent my morning breakfast in the hotel talking with some comrades about classic movie comedies. As soon as I got to the arena I went straight to the press room and bypassed the floor altogether. And then I opened Michael Kruse's thread on Davidsoncats.com. Dangit, I'm shaking now. No more message board today. Let's switch to some recaps of the last day in Raleigh.

The intrepid Lauren Biggers of View From Press Row fame got a little TV time yesterday as she asked UNC's Roy Williams about the Davidson-Gonzaga matchup. I already posted Williams' favorable response, but what I didn't know at the time was that the press conference was being shown live on ESPNews. By the time she returned to the team hotel, stories had already circulated among the staff and team of the reporter from "davidsonwildcats.com" and her question about the Wildcats.

Another high point of that press conference was my first meeting with CBSSportsline's Gregg Doyel. Doyel decided to shave his hair into a mohawk to distract from his premature bald spot. Coach Williams could not stop chuckling at his expense.

The RBC Center does not have a typical wireless access procedure. All of the media trying to get online have to find their M.A.C. address through some MS-DOS screen and send it in to the NCAA people who then allow their computer onto the network. Many of the media with less computer knowledge are having a tough time right now as we count down to tipoff. In other NCAA peculiarities, everyone has to pour their drink into an officially licensed NCAA cup since you can't see a Coke can sitting on press row during the tournament.

On the way in to the arena we saw some car flags from several cars up ahead of us that had red on them. I was amazed to see as we pulled closer that they were actually Davidson flags. Big-time is when you have car flags and magnetic logos. It's been a long ride Wildcat fans. I welcome all comers now. Hop on the bus.