NCAA Basketball Tournament Pares From Sixty-Four to Sweet Sixteen
The first weekend on the NCAA tournament is over, and, as usual, upsets and close games have surprised some of the nation's premier teams. Betting pools and bracket charts across the country are wet with the tears of frustration from authors who thought they had picked a "can't miss" scenario.
Pittsburgh, heavily touted by ex-coach Bob Knight fell gently into that good night, dismissed with ease by Michigan State. Stanford survived an overtime scare to beat feist Marquette by one.
Perennial favorite Duke lost to West Virginia. The Mountaineers need to win quick, because now that Bob Huggins is coach, probation can't be far behind. By the way, Kansas State says thanks for leaving Michael Beasley to Huggins on his way out the door.
Conecticut and Drake each fell to lowly-regarded teams on last-second shots. Butler fought favored Tennessee to overtime, but could not quite stop the Volunteers.
Villanova, possibly the last team in, beat Clemson and Siena (themselves an upset winner over Vanderbilt) to make the Sweet Sixteen. And yet another 2 seed went down as dangerous Davidson took down Georgetown.
Unpredictability is a key part of the enjoyment the tournament brings to millions. Still, North Carolina won two games with ease, demonstrating why they are the top-ranked team, although UCLA is the betting favorite.
Next weekend will see crunch time turned up a notch, as the intensity increases and the quality of play rises ever higher. Look for epic Elite Eight battles between Louisville and Carolina, Memphis and Texas, and UCLA and Xavier. By the way, Memphis, time for extra practice on free throws, perhaps?
