All the top seeds made it through.
Duke will watch the rest of the tournament from the couch.
George Mason is gone, but three double-digit seeds with George Mason-like dreams remain.
After Sunday’s games, there are only 16 teams remaining in the NCAA tournament, though many of the story lines that existed when the bracket came out are still alive and well.
The conversation starts with the No. 1 seeds.
UCLA, Kansas, Memphis and North Carolina all made it through. The Jayhawks and Tar Heels did it most impressively, winning their four games by an average of 28. Memphis and UCLA, meanwhile, looked vulnerable in their second-round victories.
The Bruins, in fact, lost two points on Sunday even though they didn’t play. NCAA officials said the final score of their Saturday-night win over Texas A&M should be 51-49 instead of 53-49 because a meaningless, last-second dunk by Russell Westbrook didn’t come before the buzzer.
“We’ve been getting everybody’s best game,” Bruins coach Ben Howland said after UCLA barely escaped. “That’s why this is the greatest sporting event in all of American sports, because anybody can beat anybody.”
Speaking of which, UCLA’s next opponent in the West Regional is Western Kentucky, one of three double-digit seeds remaining in the tournament. The 12th-seeded Hilltoppers were part of the craziness in Tampa, where upsets reigned and 12th-seeded Villanova also advanced out of the Midwest Regional.
The Wildcats were one of the final bubble teams to make the tournament, and wound up as one of the few pieces of good news for the Big East, which took eight teams into the first weekend — more than any conference — and left with only three.
Louisville rolled through its two games, including a 78-48 win over Oklahoma on Sunday, and West Virginia also advanced with an upset over second-seeded Duke.
The Mountaineers play Xavier next in the West.
Stanford plays Texas in the South Regional in Houston. The other South game pits Memphis, a 77-74 winner over Mississippi State, against Michigan State.
The Spartans, after being a popular pick to win the Big Ten, didn’t live up to expectations and played much of the season under the radar.
In the Midwest, Big Ten champion Wisconsin will take on the NCAA’s other double-digit surprise. That would be 10th-seeded Davidson, which beat Gonzaga for its first tournament win since 1969, then knocked out another No. 2 seed, Georgetown, for an encore.
“I’m numb right now,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said.
Kansas plays Villanova on the other side of the Midwest bracket.
In the East, No. 3 Louisville plays No. 2 Tennessee and No. 4 Washington State plays No. 1 North Carolina.
Form held perfectly there, though the Volunteers struggled mightily against both American and Butler, while Washington State was surprisingly impressive in blowouts over Winthrop and Notre Dame.
“Big step for our program,” said Wazzu coach Tony Bennett.
Even bigger steps will be taken beginning Thursday in Phoenix and Charlotte, N.C., then Friday in Detroit and Houston.
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