The 2008 NCAA Tourney opening round is starting to look familiar to the 2007 Tourney - no big upsets, but plenty of blowouts.

The closest excitement fans were treated to on Thursday was Belmont’s close call against Duke. The 15th-seed Bruins had the 2nd-seed Blue Devils on the ropes, but a bad inbounds pass and a missed last-second half-court shot allowed the Dookies to escape with a 71-70 win, and Belmont was banished back to Nashville.

But apart from those D.C. follies, it was a day of very little drama.

The anticipated Michael Beasley-O.J. Mayo showdown turned into a smackdown, as Kansas State slapped USC 80-67. Fans in Manhattan are happy that Mike will be wearing a Wildcats jersey for at least one more game. And Trojans fans are sure to see O.J. back in L.A. next year - in a Clippers uniform.

Marquette had some trouble with Kentucky, and Texas A&M outlasted BYU, but the rest of the matchups were ho-hummers. Some games were downright embarrassing.

Kent State only scored 10 points in the 1st half of their 1st-round exit to UNLV, while Winthrop only did one better in the 2nd half of their washout against Washington State. And Mississippi Valley State had a Delta Devil of a time with UCLA, only scoring 29 points in the entire game - the lowest tournament total in 62 years.

Hopefully Friday will bring back some Cinderella stroies, or at least some more exciting 2-vs-15 matchups. American, Austin Peay, UMBC - we’re looking at you.