Saturday update

The Memphis Tigers have advanced to the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament. They beat George Washington University 71-66 last night. As I watched the game, I noticed that the Tigers seemed comfortable at the tournament, and it felt like they belonged there, whereas last year they didn’t seem comfortable and were lucky to win their first round game. The Tigers move on to face 1-seed Virginia at 7:40 Sunday night on TNT. If the Tigers bring last night’s mindset into Sunday’s game, I think there’s a good chance they will knock Virginia off and Coach Pastner will see his first Sweet 16.

Not such good news in the other basketball game of interest yesterday: Not only did the Grizzlies lose to the Heat, but Marc Gasol left the arena in a walking boot with a sprained ankle. He will be evaluated Monday. Our playoff hopes look dim if we lose our best player at this time in the season.

Felicia Suzanne’s is celebrating their 12th anniversary tonight with a special 4-course dinner. Vegetarian, meat, and seafood options will be available. $65 per person plus tax and gratuity, and part of the proceeds will benefit Project Green Fork. Call 901-523-0877 to make reservations.

The federal government has denied the city of Memphis funds to demolish Foote Homes, Memphis’ last housing project, on Danny Thomas near Mississippi in the southeast part of Downtown. More information here.

The Grizzlies host the Indiana Pacers tonight at FedExForum at 7.

The BBQ team got some more good news last night. Our teammate Kao (Mardoqueo) from Monclova, Mexico, who has been with us since the beginning of the old Ques Brothers team, will be back with us this year. He had to take 2013 off to concentrate on business.

Holly has an excellent post about Alcenia’s, the soul food restaurant in the Pinch.

FiveThirtyEight has updated its predictions. Memphis is a 29% underdog against Virginia tomorrow. If the Tigers win that one, they have a 10% chance to get to the Elite Eight (they likely would have to beat Michigan State to get there) and a 4% chance of making it to the Final Four.

Off to Bardog for Saturday PBR drinking and tournament watching. My bracket is already shot so I can not worry about it and just enjoy some excellent basketball.