Sweet 16 Recap

Heading into Thursday's games, I could have correctly predicted 6 out of the 8 possible games. I got 4 of those correct. All of my Final 4 teams are still in, which hasn't happened for me this late in the tournament for quite some time. But it's not a good feeling. The lack of upsets is unsettling. I knew it was coming too, but there's something in my DNA that doesn't allow me to be conservative or root for the favorite.

Thursday's games were exciting. Southern Illinois exhibited their excellent defense against Kansas. Unfortunately, a couple of calls went against them and a couple of balls didn't bounce their way. There was controversy at the end of the Memphis-Texas A&M game. With 3.1 seconds left, Texas A&M in bounded the ball and a Memphis player tipped it out of bounds. The clock continued to read 3.1 seconds. The referees eventually determined that 1.1 seconds ran off. Some believed that only a few tenths of a second should be subtracted because the ball bounced out of bounds immediately after being touched. Replays showed that the balled bounced out and then took a big bounce. But all of that is irrelevant. The whistle blew early and Texas A&M should have had more time to run the ball up and get a better shot on the last play of the game.

Ohio State impressively came back from down 20 to Tennessee. Greg Oden, who was in foul trouble for much of the game, closed the game out with a block. UCLA beat Pittsburgh. Friday saw Florida come back to beat Butler and Oregon hold off UNLV. UNC made a dramatic comeback against USC. USC coach Tim Floyd received a technical foul at the end of the game solidifying his team's fate. He's a moron. At least now he has more time to devote to defending O.J. Mayo.

Georgetown won in dramatic fashion. Down 1, with Roy Hibbert fouled out, Jeff Green was double teamed. The clock was fading fast. Green split the defense and banked home the winning shot. Seth Davis and Clark Kellogg called it a travel after the fact, because he lifted his stationary foot. It's not a travel unless that stationary foot comes back down, which it did not. Otherwise, every lay-up ever would be a travel. It's a shame that the so-called experts don't know the rules and worse that they have the power to tarnish a wonderful win for Georgetown. Hibbert and Green both had big second halves for the second straight game. The Hoyas can't get off to their customary slow start against the Tar Heels Sunday, and I don't believe they will.