NCAA Tournament Mid-Game Report: Cincinnati Crushing Texas

The game looks to be another blow-out in a March Madness that has had few Cinderella stories and upsets so far, as Cincinnati is up 31-17 over the Longhorns heading into the locker room.

The Bearcats jumped to a lead early in the first period of play, and UT has had no luck recovering from that initial surge, looking absolutely inept in the first 20 minutes.

Elite Cincy forward Yancy Gates, a senior, and talented junior guard Jaquon Parker are predictably running the show for the Bearcats, while no one on Texas has stepped up to lead the team during this first-round 2012 NCAA Tournament game.

Gates has notched 8 points, 6 rebounds and two blocks, while the Longhorns' J'Covan Brown is carrying his team with 9 points thus far.

Texas is going to need to see some other players come alive in the second half of the match-up.

The Longhorns did step their game up a little bit after being down 16-2 with 7:30 left in the first half, at least evening the lopsidedness a bit, but Texas still has a long slog ahead if the 11-seed hopes to somehow pull out an upset over the six-seeded Bearcats.

Cincy had a spectacular end to its season, upsetting both the ranked Georgetown Hoyas and the dominant Syracuse Orange in the Big East Tournament, shocking the world with the massive wins.

The team finished the season 24-10, while the Longhorns ended the year 20-13 with no wins over ranked teams but managing to seize some momentum with a big win March 8 over Iowa State, which was a strong favorite in the late-season game.

So though Cincinnati looks well-positioned to pull off a first-round win and most likely play the surging Florida State in the next round, this is March Madness, and as we all know, anything can happen.