64 to 16

The second round of the NCAA men's tournament produced some expected results, along with some surprises.

Late Saturday night, UCLA won a game it should have lost, coming back from a 10-point second half deficit to get past the Aggies of the Texas Agricultural & Mechanical College, 53-49. The Aggies led for most of the game, but went cold from the field in the second half, costing themselves the game. This bodes well for UCLA, who is bound to play much better next week in Phoenix.

On Sunday, the biggest upset had to be in Raleigh, where Davidson sent Georgetown home, 74-70. The Wildcats advance to the Sweet 16 in Detroit, where Wisconsin awaits.

The last 16 teams left standing:

East: This region held true to form. All four top seeds survived the first two rounds. In the next round, North Carolina plays Washington State, and Tennessee plays Louisville.

Midwest: This is another wild region. Top-seeded Kansas is still alive, and they play 12th-seeded Villanova. In the other half of this region, 3rd seeded Wisconsin plays tournament darling Davidson.

South: This region almost held to form, as 5th seeded Michigan State is the lowest seed remaining. The Spartans next play Memphis, narrow winners over Mississippi State. 2nd seeded Texas plays 3rd seeded Stanford.

West: This is the psycho region, and it was almost wrecked even more before UCLA came back on A&M. UCLA plays 12th seed Western Kentucky. 3rd seeded Xavier plays old friend Bob Huggins and West Virginia.

How did the conferences do? The following conferences have teams left:
Big East: 3 (Louisville, West Virginia, Villanova)
Pac 10: 3 (UCLA, Stanford, Washington State)
Big Ten: 2 (Wisconsin, Michigan State)
Big XII: 2 (Kansas, Texas)
ACC: 1 (North Carolina)
SEC: 1 (Tennessee)
Sun Belt: 1 (Western Kentucky)
Atlantic 10: 1 (Xavier)
Southern: 1 (Davidson)
Conference USA: 1 (Memphis)

More basketball later...