As the dust settled on the best game of the day – Central Missouri's 77-76 overtime win over Missouri Southern – the Mules coaches and players stepped to the podium to dissect two hours of drama. And through the exhaustion and relief, one sound cut through – Darth Vader's theme song.

Welcome to Day 1 of the MIAA tournament, where Kim Anderson's postgame comments take a brief pause for obnoxiously loud ring tones. Missouri Western coach Tom Smith was the most entertaining interviewee, but the Mules' press conference was the most entertaining experience. Anderson also fielded a question about how good he thought Southern was deep down in his heart. Welcome to the MIAA tournament where we get in touch with our inner feelings.

To keep the press conference momentum going, Mules point guard Alex Moosmann, who blocked a shot to with one second left to preserve the victory, went on to share that he doesn't know what he vertical leap. He added, “I can dunk a basketball, but that's about once every couple of months.”

Anderson shared his thoughts on the regional rankings: “This is my seventh year, but I have yet to figure out the formula,” and his team's switch to a zone, “There isn't going to be a video sold on this zone because we didn't play it that well.”

Then when Southern coach Robert Corn sat in front of the microphone, he explained (at least in between the lines) how MIAA officials don't understand physics. Late in the game, Central tried to beat shot clock. The ball missed the rim, the Mules got the rebound, the foul and the free throws. According to Corn, the official told him the ball hit “the bottom of the rim,” which seems improbably at best on a high-arching, perimeter shot.

Other random tidbits from the opening round of the men's MIAA tournament.

--- Maybe it's because I watched four college basketball games in one day, but I saw an inordinate amount of missed layups Thursday. In every game, players were missing point-blank shots over and over.

--- The MIAA's freshman of the year – Southern's Jason Adams – had a tough, tough time Thursday. It looked as if the Municipal Auditorium stage got to him a little bit. He went 4 of 11 from the floor, 0 for 3 behind the arc and turned it over four times compared to one assist.

--- Moosmann's block of Price at the buzzer was clean from my vantage point, though Price should probably think about shooting layups from the left side of the basket with his left hand next time.

--- The most distraught coach of the day award goes to Omaha's Derrin Hansen, who looked haggard and exasperated after his team's 66-56 loss to Fort Hays State. Baptist's Jeff Guiot was analytical and Corn defiant after their respective losses.

--- And finally, your best promotional moment gone wrong came in the first session when a kid tried to sling shot a rubber chicken into a washbasket (Maybe you had to be there). He pulled the rubber band back, fell over and shot the chicken into his gut. Welcome to the MIAA tournament, where the rubber chicken injuries are self inflicted.

Log back on Friday night for a running diary from the first round of women's play.