Let's hear it for the Bobcats!

As a graduate of Miami University, I'm legally obligated to have mixed feelings about the Ohio Bobcats' mauling of Georgetown in what is undoubtedly the biggest upset of the NCAA Tournament so far. But the Miami-Ohio rivalry is far from Ohio State-Michigan, and any time a Mid-American Conference school pulls off a March Madness victory, it's good for the whole league. So I say, go get 'em, 'Cats.

The boys from Athens had already turned in one of the more improbable March runs I've seen in a long time, just by winning the MAC Tournament at the Gund Arena last weekend. They were just 17-14 going into the conference tourney, including a 7-9 record within the MAC, making them the 9-seed for the little dance. They needed overtime just to get past Ball State in the first round. Then they upset top-seeded Kent State, followed by my alma mater, before beating Akron in overtime to win the conference title. That alone was unlikely enough.

But to beat 3-seed Georgetown by 14 points in the NCAAs? Who could possibly have predicted that? The Hoyas came in at 23-10, playing in the much-tougher Big East, having lost their conference championship by just two points to West Virginia. How could they lose to a 21-14 team from the lowly MAC? ... That, my friends, is why we love March Madness so much.

The state's other two schools open play today. Xavier plays Minnesota at 12:25, and Ohio State faces California-Santa Barbara at about 9:35. The Buckeyes are a decent bet to go a long way in this tournament — but of course, that's what they said about Georgetown.

Can't stop Kent State

There were four games played at The Q yesterday, and three of them came down to fantastic finishes. The Miami Lady RedHawks pulled out a last-minute 70-66 win against Toledo, with Toledo-area native Laura Markwood hitting a big shot with 32.1 seconds left to break a 66-66 tie. They'll play Ohio at 1 p.m. today, after the Lady Bobcats needed double-overtime to beat Bowling Green yesterday, 68-66; Quintana Ward was the last-shot hero in that one. I did not see either of those games, as they were played while I was at work, but the title game is on Fox Sports Net. It should be a hum-dinger. Miami comes in at 22-10, Ohio at 20-12, and these are historic rivals. Being a Miami grad myself, I'm obviously biased, but whoever wins, I hope they go deep into the NCAA Tournament.

Akron easily handled Western Michigan last night, 73-62. The game was not as close as the final score indicates. The Zips will play Kent State in tonight's final, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, after Kent beat Miami 49-47 last night. Now THAT was one HECK of a college basketball game. Both teams played tough, tough defense throughout. It came down to the closing seconds. Kent's Al Fisher hit a running jumper with three seconds left. Miami's Tim Pollitz had a good look at a close shot at the buzzer, but he left it short.

Bless his heart, Pollitz collapsed in disappointment as he saw his shot go off the front of the rim, and the cameras caught him moping off the court afterward. On Sunday, in Miami's last home game of the year, Pollitz, a senior, bent down and kissed the RedHawk in the center of the floor as he was leaving the court for the last time. It was both very touching and a little gross. The 17-15 RedHawks are obviously not going to get into the NCAA Tournament, and have to be considered a longshot even for the NIT, which means Pollitz's brilliant Miami career is probably over. I can understand that he'd feel bad about ending his career on a missed shot that would have sent the game to overtime. But hold your head up, Tim. You've got a lot to be proud of -- not least of which is a fine Miami University education.

So anyway, it's an all-southern Ohio women's final this afternoon, and an all-northeast Ohio men's final tonight. I'm predicting the Miami women and Kent men will get the automatic NCAA bids, but I will not be surprised if either or both is upset.

Incidentally, of the 12 schools in the Mid-American Conference, exactly half are in Ohio. And yet, of the eight teams that reached the semifinals between the two genders, seven were from Ohio -- and the one team that was not from Ohio was the one team that did not manage to hang in. I might point out that Miami is the only school that had both its teams reach the semifinals, but I'll leave that to the reader to figure out.