By Sean Coyne / Staff writer

It’s around 2:30 p.m. and sophomore Anthony Portman is already knee-deep into March Madness. He’s watching the Georgia-Xavier matchup and there are 33.8 seconds left on the clock. Xavier is leading 68-61 and Georgia has just missed a much-needed three-point shot. All of this is while Portman checks up on scores and stats online.

“This one’s over,” Portman says. The CBS broadcast then switches from the Georgia-Xavier game to the Kentucky-Marquette game. “I wanna see Kentucky beat Marquette. I hate Marquette.”

All of this madness is nothing new to Portman, who says he was a Pitt fan from birth.

“I can remember watching Pitt in the NIT from the crib,” Portman says.

Earlier in the day, Portman had left his 1 p.m. economics class early to get home and watch the tournament.

“In high school I used to just dip out around noon to watch the start of the games,” Portman says.

While Portman’s fanhood may seem average for the male basketball fan, his girlfriend, sophomore Amanda Budd, may not understand or agree with the obsession.

“Sports are first in his life. He is so much of a fan that I’ve had to become a fan. It gets annoying,” Budd said.

“It’s kinda like osmosis,” Portman said.

Portman is taking phone calls from friends with bracket updates, bracket advice and tip-off time updates.

“Tip-off is at 3:05, not 2:50… I put Tennessee in the final at the last minute… Marquette won’t beat Kentucky,” Portman says into the phone.

Portman started filling out brackets religiously around the age of 6, and hasn’t missed a tournament since.

“My biggest upset this year is (12) W. Kentucky over (5) Drake in the first round. Actually, my biggest upset is having Pitt going all the way. If [Pitt] can just get past the Sweet 16 I will be happy,” Portman said.

As soon as CBS switches from the Kentucky-Marquette game to the Oral Roberts-Pitt game, Portman hangs up the phone saying, “It’s starting, I gotta go. Here we go, man.”

Pitt wins the tip-off and comes down the floor and DeJuan Blair misses a layup. Portman sits motionless on the edge of his maroon couch. After Oral Roberts hits a three-pointer, Pitt’s Sam Young answers with a three-pointer of his own.

“He is so sick,” Portman says monotonously, but showing the first signs of happiness. “He had to have taken a million jump shots this summer.”

At the 15-minute mark, Oral Roberts is ahead of Pitt 6-3. Portman brings his palms together and shakes his head as Pitt’s Keith Benjamin misses a foul-and-one opportunity just before the first media time out.

Portman nervously sips from his I.C. Light 16oz can, then explodes with a fury of claps as Pitt’s defense forces an Oral Robert’s turnover. Pitt then comes down the floor and scores two points off of a Gilbert Brown tip in.

“Gilbert Brown is so good, he’s such a great athlete,” Portman says as he proudly sips his brew.

Portman says he has had years where his brackets were ugly, but he claims that most of the time he is pretty spot on. Gilbert Brown then slams the ball into the hoop, and Portman jumps up off of his sofa.

“Yes!”

“See…that’s what he does,” Budd says, shaking a finger at Portman. “He jumps out of his seat and starts texting his friends.”

During the next media timeout, Portman calls one of his friends and begins to discuss the first 10 minutes of Pitt’s tournament play. His enthusiasm is masked by a soft-spoken, low voice, but his fanhood is never in question as he analyzes Pitt’s players over the phone.

NCAA March Madness has this effect on people. When it comes to class skipping and a need for total coverage of all the games, Portman is no exception.

“It would take blindness for me not to watch March Madness, but then I could just listen to it,” Portman says as he screams at CBS to put the Pitt game back on. “I don’t care about Kent St. Come on. Put Pitt back on,” Portman shouts as he settles back into his couch, takes a deep breath, takes a gulp of I.C. Light and prepares for a game that is slowly becoming a first round shootout.