Note - we've been under the weather and listed Pacific as moving on. Of course they lost to Kansas. Sorry for the confusion
Quite a day in the tournament - quite a two days, actually. Gone: 2
#1's, #1, #3, #4 in the Phoenix regional, #2 in the Atlanta regional, Georgia
Tech escaped B.C., and N.C. State had a horrible collapse against Vanderbilt.
Conference breakdown for the Sweet 16:
- ACC (3) - Duke, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest
- Big 12 (3) - Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas
- Big East (3) - Pitt, Syracuse, UConn
- SEC (2) - Alabama, Vanderbilt
- A-10 (1) - St. Joe's, Xavier
- Big West (1) - Nevada
- Big Ten (1) - Illinois
- C-USA (1) - UAB
Notably absent: any major Western powers, with the operative term being
Western. In this case Western means West of the Central Time Zone.
Only Nevada and Pacific made it.
The PAC-10 was completely shut out.
Very happy tonight: UConn, whose bracket is wide open, with only Vandy,
Alabama, and Syracuse left. UConn has underachieved all year, but it's
going to be hard for them to not get in, though they did lose to Syracuse at
Syracuse.
Georgia Tech, lucky to escape B.C., will get Nevada first. Nevada has
been very impressive in the tournament, to say the least. Not an enviable
draw.
Unlike N.C. State, whose collapse against Vanderbilt was almost entirely
self-inflicted, Tech struggled but won the game on an amazing clutch steal and
dunk by Jarrett Jack.
If State hadn't collapsed, and if Maryland had managed to come back just a
bit more, the ACC would have had five in the Sweet 16.
Chris Paul and Wake Forest are going to have a tough matchup with St. Joe's,
but they can just about match them man for man in the backcourt. Nelson
and West are tough, but Wake's guards are really good too, and someone has to
keep up with Chris Paul, who is bucking for greatness.