First and foremost, I am mad I spotted a fan in the crowd with a Stanford hoodie on ... the nerve. After getting embarrassed by the Cardinal last year in the Big Dance, it's the last thing I want to see. Then again, it might work to our advantage. Throughout the past couple days, players like Ryan Wittman, Louis Dale and Jeff Foote talked about how bad they felt about after last year's season-ending loss. They felt that they let not only themselves down, but the entire Ivy League. Maybe that guy sitting right under the basket will be a little reminder and serve as motivation. But motivation won't do it alone — here are some keys to a Red win.

1. Ball Control

So every year, there is one team that switches up their look for the NCAA Tournament and this year its Marquette. If you don't see this on television right now, they are all pretty much bald. I guess that's cool. It shows team unity, even though defense and passing would already indicate that but that's fine. I did a video story about that as well which you guys will be able to check out later on as well. When I spoke to standout guard Jerel McNeal about his coach not shaving his head, he said "Don't worry, he will be bald by Friday" ... sure enough he is. Now, I am down with the team haircuts and all but if I'm the head coach, I'm keeping my full head of hair as long as I can.

It's been a media whirlwind in Boise Idaho ... interview after interview, story after story and you guys will see what I am talking about in the next couple days. But right now, all eyes are on Taco Bell Arena. The Red will try and launch its name into March Madness lore with a win over Missouri.

But right now, I'm sitting courtside at the Marquette vs. Utah State game. Even though Marquette is a 6 seed and Utah State is an 11 seed, its clearly a home game for Utah State considering how close it is. I was predicting a Marquette win on my brackets but after seeing this, my opinion has to at least consider changing. For the Red's sake, let's home Utah State wins because if these fans stick around, they are cheering for the underdog and might give us that extra "umph" we need.

Its 7:47 in the morning over here in the great potato state and we are hours away from what could be an epic day in Cornell Athletics. Stay tuned here as I will be blogging live from Taco Bell Arena. Also check out under the Video tab as I will be posting videos from this whole experience. All right, time to prepare for a long day ... Stay tuned.