We are not going to say much about the UCLA game, okay? We're just... not. My bracket is a shambles, of course it was a flyer to pick a #6 to go all the way, and so be it. Meanwhile, there was some great basketball; I watched 'em all (at least partially):
- Villanova(3) blew out UCLA(6) - 89-69. Painful. I'm going to say FS=35:00*, and I mean it.
- Memphis(2) in a laugher over Maryland(10) - 89-79. Not fun to watch, FS=20:00+.
- UConn(1) steamrolled Texas A&M(9) - 92-66. Third straight demolition (fast forwarding a lot). FS=20:00+.
- Purdue(5) squeaked by Washington(4) - 76-74. Finally a good game, as the Huskies came back in the second half and kept it exciting to the end. FS=00:20.
- North Carolina(1) pulled away from LSU(8) - 84-70. A nice close game, with LSU thinking they could do it until about five minutes to go, when UNC pulled away cleanly. FS=05:00.
- Oklahoma(2) powers by Michigan(10) - 73-63. A really physical game, not pretty to watch... FS=03:00.
- Duke(2) grinds it out over Texas(7) - 74-69. The best game of the day, really well played. That save going out of bounds was the play of the tournament, and probably won it for Duke. FS=00:10.
- Gonzaga(4) wins at the buzzer over Western Kentucky(12) - 83-81. Close and evenly matched all the way, with a bank shot at the end to win it. The perfect end to Saturday's games. FS=00:00.
- Syracuse(3) handled Arizona State(6) - 78-67. Not pretty but it worked; Syracuse are pretty physical. Arizona State kept hanging around but had too many turnovers to win. FS=03:00.
- Xavier(4) over Wisconsin(12) - 60-49. A defensive struggle, with Xavier finally getting on track at the end. You kept thinking maybe Wisconsin could do it, but FS=02:30.
- Kansas(3) blew out Dayton(11) - 43-60. This game was really never in doubt. FS=12:00.
- Arizona(12) cleanly defeated Cleveland State(13) - 71-57. A match between two over-achievers, with Arizona looking like they belonged. I fear they won't be able to handle Louisville, but we'll see. FS=03:00.
- Pittsburgh(1) survived Oklahoma State(8) - 84-76. Much closer than anyone thought, a fun game. FS=01:00.
- Michigan State(2) overpowered USC(10) - 74-69. A close hard-fought battle, I was rooting for 'SC of course and they almost pulled it off. FS=00:30.
- Louisville(1) just nips Sienna(9) - 79-72. Seemed like Louisville was cruising but then Sienna caught them and made it really interesting before Louisville won the foul shot battle at the end. FS=00:15.
- Missouri(3) by a nose over Marquette(6) - 83-79. Only saw the end of this one, but it was great. FS=00:00.
* As before FS means "fridge score", the time at which the game is no longer in doubt.
And so pretty much the seeding ran to form, with only Arizona (a #12) a surprise amongst the sweet 16 teams (and I picked them to do it, yay me). A great great weekend of basketball, I don't know how it happened but the best games each day came at the end. And despite the crapload of commercials I do think CBS did a nice job of switching around; given they could only show one game at a time (!) they did pretty well.
See you next Thursday, same time, same channel!
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