America's SWEEThearts, March 21, 2011

After 52 college basketball games in five days, televised consecutively on four different networks, we have our Sweet Sixteen.

There was the First Four, where teams battled for low seeds and tournament berths, the Round of 64 where some high seeds stopped short, and the Round of 32, where David beat Goliath repeatedly in shocking fashion.

And then there were sixteen.

Those sixteen are:
5th-seeded Arizona
8th-seeded Butler
3rd-seeded Brigham Young (BYU)
3rd-seeded Connecticut (UCONN)
1st-seeded Duke
2nd-seeded Florida
10th-seeded Florida State (FSU)
1st-seeded Kansas
4th-seeded Kentucky (UK)
11th-seeded Marquette
2nd-seeded North Carolina (UNC)
1st-seeded Ohio State
12th-seeded Richmond
2nd-seeded San Diego State
11th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
4th-seeded Wisconsin

You've got three Number One seeds: Kansas, Duke, and Ohio State.

Kansas crushed 16th-seeded Boston University and then soundly beat 9th-ranked Illinois to make it this far, riding the strength of their three-point shooting and the parallel unparallelled skills of the Morris brothers, Marcus and Markief.

Duke, which has been in headlines for its recovery of star freshman point guard Kyrie Irving, who had been out of action since December after suffering a toe injury. Irving's return could have rattled a group that was truly gelling as a team during their ACC Tournament Championship run, but instead led them to a blowout victory over 16-seed Hampton University. They were met by a stiff challenge in the Michigan Wolverines in round two, the same Wolverines who beat 4th-seeded Tennessee by 30 points in the first round, and held them off for a 73-71 victory. ACC Player of the Year Nolan Smith led the defending-national champion Blue Devils with 24 points. The Michigan victory gave "Coach K" Mike Kryzewski his 900th career victory, just the second with that number after Bob Knight. If Duke wins out and repeats its national championship, Coach K would claim the all-time record, surpassing Knight's 903 wins.

Ohio State made mincemeat out of a pair of lower seeded teams, blasting First Four survivor UT-San Antonio 75-46 before pummeling 8th-seeded George Mason 98-66. Said Naismith Player of the Year candidate Jared Sullinger after the latter: "We can play better." This after a game where David Lighty scored 25, going 7/7 on three-point attempts, Sullinger and teammate William Buford each scored 18, and the team totaled 16 three-pointers. The Buckeyes are due, however, for a could-be classic matchup with fellow heavyweight Kentucky (a 4 seed) in the next round.

Two Number Two seeds advanced:
Mountain West Conference champion San Diego State made quick work of UNCO, the University of Northern Colorado, in the round of 64, then beat the Temple Owls 71-64 in double overtime to advance to the sweet 16.

The North Carolina Tar Heels, who won the ACC's regular season championship before losing the conference tournament championship game to archrival Duke, dropped 102 points on their first round opponent, 15th-seeded Long Island University (LIU), then clawed their way past the seventh-seeded Washington Huskies, 86-83, to move on.

Two Number Three seeds advanced:

While their brethren Threes were upset within a span of minutes of each other Sunday night, UCONN and BYU each gave impressive performances, the Huskies proving it isn't only their women's team that rocks with an 81-52 victory over Bucknell in the first round and a 69-58 defeat of conference rival Cincinnati in round two. Meanwhile, the Cougars JIMMERED their way into the Sweet 16 with arguably the nation's most popular player, scoring machine Jimmer Fredette. They beat Wofford 74-66 and Gonzaga 89-67, with Fredette scoring more than 30 in each game. He is arguably the front-runner for Naismith Player of the Year honors.

Number Fours Kentucky and Wisconsin each advanced, with the Wildcats nipping Princeton 59-57 in round 1 and avenging last year's shocking Elite Eight loss to West Virginia with a 73-68 defeat of the Mountaineers. Wisconsin beat Belmont 72-58 and then Kansas State 70-65, outlasting KSU point guard Jacob Pullen's tournament high 38 points.

5th-seeded Arizona beat Memphis (77-75) and Texas (70-69).

Last year's tournament darlings, the eighth-seeded Butler Bulldogs, scraped past Old Dominion, 60-58 in round 1, then upset #1 Pittsburgh 71-70 in an ending that will live in infamy. Butler was up 70-69 on the Panthers after a Josh Smith layup with 2.2 seconds left. But Pitt's Greg Brown, preparing to make a desperate final shot, was fouled at midcourt, 50 feet from the basket, with 1.4 seconds left, by Butler's hero-turned-goat Shelvin Mack. Brown made his first free throw, tying the game, and his second clanged off the rim and landed in the hands of big Butler forward Matt Howard, who was the hero of round 1 with a last-second layup that sent ODU home. This time, he grabbed the ball and turned, attempting to make a wild shot, while Pitt's Nasir Robinson grabbed his arms and back, trying to restrain him. The foul, with 0.9 seconds left, has made the unfortunate Robinson a popular figure over the past few days, primarily because Howard made one free throw to break the 70-all tie. Two fouls in 1.4 seconds gave Butler a most improbably win that has been the talk of the sporting world. Last year, Butler surprised everyone by appearing in the national championship game, and, with the help of one current-NBA rookie Gordon Heyward, nearly had a miracle finish, losing to Duke by just three. Their repeat hopes are gaining steam.

Tenth-seeded Florida State battered Number two Notre Dame, 71-57, in the round of 32, following a surprising defeat of Texas A&M in round 1, 57-50.

Late last night, two 11-seeds found their calling, as Marquette shocked #3 Syracuse, 66-62, and VCU, who had to claw their way into the tournament and then beat #6 Georgetown in round 1, crushed a heavily favored Purdue team (a 3 seed), 94-76, for their first Sweet Sixteen berth ever.

And twelfth-seeded Richmond dumped 13-seeded Morehead State, who had shocked #4 Lousiville in the first round, 65-48.

Much has talk has been made of how the city of Richmond now has as many schools in the Sweet Sixteen (Richmond and VCU) as the Big East conference has (UConn, Marquette), after the Big East landed an NCAA record 11 teams into the tournament.

The matchups Thursday and Friday will be as follows:
Ohio St. vs. Kentucky, Marquette vs. North Carolina, Duke vs. Arizona, and UConn vs. San Diego State; Kansas vs. Richmond, VCU vs. Florida State, Butler vs. Wisconsin, BYU vs. Florida.

The big ones to watch are OSU vs UK, UConn vs. San Diego, VCU vs. Florida State, BYU vs. Florida, and there's always a chance something wild will happen in Butler's game vs. the Wisconsin Badgers. They've just got a history...