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Sweet Sixteen, Baby!

© Chris Lin

Well, March Madness has rolled in, and we’re already in the Sweet 16! After four days of exciting action on courts throughout the country, there has been no shortage of absolute madness!

The memorable moments are pouring in from every direction. On the first day, Lefty Driesell’s Georgia State squad squeaked past Wisconsin. Holy Cross made it interesting against Kentucky before Tayshaun Prince turned it up a notch. Utah State knocked off favored Ohio State. Maryland received a huge scare from little George Mason. And that was just the first four games. Who can forget Tarvis Williams’s winner in crunch time as #15 Hampton knocked off #2 Iowa State? How about Casey Calvary’s tip in against Virginia to put the Zags in Cinderella position once again? How about Kent State with the second half turnaround to stun #4 Indiana? The first round saw 13 lower seeds advance, and several other games in which the favored team won were still worth the price of admission.

The second round also brought plenty of excitement. Even though Duke was able to knock off Missouri, as Coach K went up against Quin Snyder, Kareem Rush put on a show. #6 USC dominated the boards against #3 Boston College. But the game came down to the last shot with BC down three, and an inexplicable two-point attempt did not go down, and Southern Cal survived. #1 Stanford looked like it was in control against St. Joe’s, but the underdog made a comeback on the shoulders of Marvin O’Connor, who was absolutely tremendous until he fouled out. Then, two of last year’s Final Four teams, North Carolina and Florida, were knocked off by surprise teams Temple and Penn State. And let’s not forget the Zags, who beat Indiana State to reach the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row. Led by sweet shooter Dan Dickau and big man Casey Calvary, Gonzaga may finally have shed that Cinderella status en route to legitimate contendership.

Through all of the close games and tight action, some teams have barely broken a sweat. Illinois looks dominant thus far, winning easily in the first two rounds. Michigan State also has had a relatively easy time, pulling away against an overmatched Fresno State team in the second round. Arizona has put the pieces together as well, and has cruised into the round of 16. UCLA has been very impressive in the second halves of both of their games. Kansas absolutely demolished Syracuse in the second round after an impressive win over Northridge. Other teams came off tough first round victories with extremely strong showings in the second round. Kentucky easily beat Iowa as Prince had another MVP performance and Marquis Estill was unstoppable. Maryland was too much for Lefty Driesell’s team, as Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter, and Terence Morris have formed a formidable scoring combination. Georgetown put down the hopes of a partial Boise crowd as they squelched Hampton in the second round.

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