March Madness Schedule, 2010 NCAA March Madness began with the highly anticipated Selection Sunday official picks on March 14 when college basketball team match-ups were announced at 6 pm ET on CBS and ESPN — followed by the opening round games on March 16.

The national championship will now be determined during a month-long battle of skill, determination, and dazzling performances by top competing college teams leading up to the final four games played April 3 – 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

2010 March Madness Venues

Opening Round: March 16
UD Arena, Dayton, OH

First and Second Rounds: Thursday and Saturday, March 18 and 20
New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, LA
Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, RI
HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA
Spokane Memorial Arena, Spokane, WA

First and Second Rounds: Friday and Sunday, March 19 and 21
HSBC Arena, Buffalo
Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, FL
Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
Ford Center, Oklahoma City, OK

Regionals: Thursday and Saturday, March 25 and 27
East: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
West: Energy Solutions Arena, Salt Lake City, UT

Regionals: Friday and Sunday, March 26 and 28
Midwest: Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, MO
South: Reliant Stadium, Houston TX

Final Four: Saturday and Monday, April 3 and 5
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN

March Madness Trivia & Fun Facts

The phrase “March Madness” was coined by Henry V. Porter in 1939 to describe an Illinois high school basketball tourney. Brent Musburger first used it during NCAA coverage in 1982 causing a legal battle almost as insane as the playoffs.

But everyone finally worked things out and the madness was official. There isn’t a good record of who first called the playoffs “The Big Dance”, but it does describe the action.

The 6 schools who have the winningest history in NCAA Division I Men’s basketball are:

WELLINGTON: New Zealand Vs Australia 1st Test Tomorrow, The first Test match between New Zealand and Australia will begin here tomorrow.

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Star Aussie batsman Michael Clarke will be seen in action for the first time after his broken engagement to Lara Bingle. He could not play the final three One-day Internationals due to this setback.

The first match of the two-Test series between the Black Caps and the Kangaroos will be played here at Basin Reserve from Friday.

Australia defeated new Zealand in the five-match ODI series.

Eight Test matches have so far been played between the two teams at Basin Reserve Wellington where the Aussies won two and the Kiwis one.

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Sydney: Australian and New Zealand sports organizations said Wednesday their athletes would continue to compete in India despite a purported threat by an al-Qaida-linked guerrilla group to target major upcoming sports events.

Officials said they would heed advice from their governments, international sports bodies and specialist security advisers over the level of threat associated with the forthcoming men’s field hockey World Cup, Indian Premier League cricket tournament and Commonwealth Games.

The Asia Times Online Web site published a message reportedly from guerrilla commander Ilyas Kashmiri, whose Kashmir-based 313 Brigade is an operational arm of al-Qaida. The message warns of potential attacks on the Hockey World Cup, the IPL cricket tournament and the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi later this year.

“We warn the international community not to send their people to the 2010 Hockey World Cup, IPL and Commonwealth Games. Nor should their people visit India — if they do, they will be responsible for the consequences,” the website quoted a translated message as saying.

The message was not verified.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and New Zealand’s John Key said Wednesday their governments were working closely with Indian authorities to monitor the level of risk.

“Indian authorities have pledged to implement strong security procedures for all upcoming sporting events in India,” Rudd said. “We, however, will be following this very, very closely.”

Key said his government could not instruct New Zealanders not to compete in India but would offer the latest security advice.

“The decision whether to travel or not ultimately rests with the sporting team. We wouldn’t stop a sporting team going but it’s important we are able to give them the best information possible so that they can assess that,” Key said.

The Australian and New Zealand field hockey organizations both said they would send teams to the men’s World Cup, to be held in New Delhi from Feb. 28 to March 13.

Australian cricket vice captain Michael Clarke said he and other Australian players heading for the Indian Premier League in March had confidence in the security advice they were receiving. Clarke said Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association were closely monitoring developments.

SYDNEY: Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf won the toss and put Australia into batting in the second One-day International here at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

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Australia retained the same eleven that took a 1-0 lead in Brisbane whereas Pakistan made one change as seamer Umar Gul replaced Mohammad Asif, who could not play due to hand injury.

Weather forecast says there would be a light showers in Sydney and Yousuf will go to take advantage of the seam-friendly conditions in the hope of giving his side a small chase.

Teams:
Australia: Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting (captain), 4 Michael Clarke, Cameron White, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin (wk), Nathan Hauritz, Clint McKay, Peter Siddle, Doug Bollinger.

Pakistan: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf (captain), Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Umar Gul, Mohammed Aamer, Saeed Ajmal.

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Australia Vs West Indies 1st Test Live Streaming, Simon Katich’s blistering 134-ball 92 put Australia on top on the first day of the first Test match against the West Indies here on Thursday. Katich was sent packing by Dwayne Bravo.

Haing elected to bat after winning the toss, Australia got off to a disastrous start as they lost Shane Watson without scoring.

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Katich and skipper Ricky Ponting then came together and put on a 126-run partnership to put Australia in the driver’s seat.

Watson was trapped LBW by Jerome Taylor.

The West Indies are playing without Ramnaresh Sarwan, who injured his back on the eve of the match.

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Teams:

Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Marcus North, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus.

West Indies: Chris Gayle (capt), Adrian Barath, Travis Dowlin, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Brendan Nash, Denesh Ramdin, Jerome Taylor, Suliemann Benn, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach.

CENTURION: at SuperSport Park here on Friday in the first semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy.

Ricky Ponting’s men will enter the duel as the favourites — Australia drubbed England 6-1 in an ODI series that followed the Ashes — but England has been a rejuvenated side in the competition.

Interestingly, the last ODI between the two sides — on a pitch assisting spin — was won by England with off-spinner Graeme Swann scalping five. The wearing surface at Centurion could encourage spin.

Andrew Strauss’s men have fitness concerns though. Key all-rounder Stuart Broad has a suspect torn buttock muscle.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Prior, however, appears to have recovered well from a viral fever. If Prior still misses out, Eoin Morgan could don the big gloves again to lend the side balance although England has a regular ’keeper, Steven Davies, in the stand-by list.

England will need its pace spearhead James Anderson to fire. The paceman has been bowling with remarkable control.

England will need left-arm paceman Ryan Sidebottom to maintain the pressure from the other end. If Broad does not recover, England might field leg-spinning all-rounder Adil Rashid.

Brett Lee could influence the game for Australia in these conditions. He too can bend the ball back tellingly.

Australia is bound to miss Michael Clarke, particularly in the conditions at Centurion. He is a wristy player, who can work the ball into the empty spaces. David Hussey has been added to the squad as Clarke’s replacement.

The side winning the toss is likely to bat. Chasing under the lights in a huge game can be demanding in itself. The pitch too could play tricks in the second half of the match.

SOUTHAMPTON: Australian batsman Cameron White scored a trouble-free century to consign England to a six-wicket defeat in the third one-day international in Southampton on Wednesday.

Chasing England’s 228 for nine, White (105) put on 143 for the third wicket with captain Michael Clarke (52) to take Australia to the brink of victory and the tourists rounded off the win with nine balls to spare.

Australian opener Tim Paine contributed with 29 and Callum Ferguson (20 not out) sealed the result as England’s bowlers struggled to capture wickets under the floodlights.

England captain Andrew Strauss once again led from the front with a solid 63 though he was poorly supported by the top order, and only Eoin Morgan (43) batting at six and Tim Bresnan (31 not out at eight) really took any fight to the Australian attack.

Mitchell Johnson bowled a controlled 10 overs, taking two scalps for 39 runs, while Shane Watson picked up three wickets later on in England’s innings.

The tourists now lead the seven-match series 3-0 and a win in the fourth one-day international at Lord’s on Saturday would clinch the series.

NEW YORK: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has topped the list of world’s 10 top earning cricketers compiled by Forbes, which also features
Dhoni and Sachin four other players from the sub-continent – Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.

Raking in $10 million, Dhoni is at the top of the chart followed by Tendulkar at the second spot with earnings worth $8 million in the list of ‘The World’s Top-Earning Cricketers’.

While Singh and Dravid are at the third and fourth spot, respectively, Ganguly and Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting share the sixth place.

“Paycheck figures include club and national team salaries and commercial endorsement income over the last 12 months,” Forbes said.

According to the magazine, Singh earned $5.5 million while Dravid and Ganguly raked in $5 million and $3.5 million, respectively. Ponting also earned $3.5 million.

“With its deep-pocketed owners and global appeal, nine of the 10 highest-paid cricket players call the Indian Premier League (IPL) home, the publication added.

At the fifth spot is England’s Andrew Flintoff with earnings of $4 million followed by Australia’s Brett Lee and English cricketer Kevin Pietersen – both at eighth place – and Australian Michael Clarke is ranked tenth.

While Lee and Pietersen raked in $3 million each, Clarke earned $2.5 million.

“Take Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who plays for the Chennai Super Kings and tops our list as cricket’s first $10 million-a-year man (that’s $5,426 for each run scored).

“His $8 million in endorsements, from the likes of Reebok, General Electric and Pepsi, is 45 per cent more than any other player.

“Among all Indian athletes and entertainers, Dhoni’s 17 corporate sponsors is second to only Bollywood star and co- owner of the Knight Riders, Shah Rukh Khan,” Forbes said.

About Tendulkar, the magazine said the holder of numerous offensive records, is considered among the greatest batsman in cricket history.

“… he’s one of five IPL players who have been bestowed ‘icon’ status, meaning he automatically receives a paycheck 15 per cent larger than his highest paid teammate.

“Tendulkar’s $ 1.1 million salary from the Mumbai Indians helped push his total earnings to $8 million over the last 12 months,” it added.

SYDNEY: Captain Ricky Ponting, vice captain Michael Clarke and six other members of the Australia team at risk of losing the Ashes were named Saturday in the country’s 15-man Champions Trophy limited-overs squad.

Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, Michael Hussey, allrounder Shane Watson and bowlers Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle were also included in the squad for the Champions Trophy in South Africa from Sept. 22-Oct. 5.

Australia, as defending champions, will play its first match in Group A against West Indies on Sept. 26. It plays India on Sept. 28 and Pakistan on Sept. 30 to complete the first round.

The one-day event will be Australia’s next assignment after the current tour of England. In the deciding test, Australia trails by 172 runs on first innings, with England to resume its second innings Saturday at 58-3.

Australia squad: Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Clarke (vice-captain), Nathan Bracken, Callum Ferguson, Brad Haddin, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White.