Major time constraints with Pitt the first game, and a media round-up on that coming.

In my old X-Men comics from the ’80s there was an overused, cliched phrase that went something like, “the battle was fierce and intense, but the outcome never truly in question.” That pretty much describes the game George Washington gave Duke. GW played hard and made Duke work at times, but Duke was going to win.

Florida had a surprisingly easy time over U Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Just too much talent.

The upset that didn’t surprise many as Wichita St. beat Tennessee. No question that Tennessee was overseeded as a 2, but I would also say that the Shockers were underseeded as a 7. A very good game that felt like a 4-5 matchup.

East Coast Bias may have played something of a role in assuming that Illinois would cruise. Instead it was Washington in a game of huge swings. Both teams getting on huge runs. Illinois fans and Coach Bruce Weber will be fuming about the free throw shooting discrepancy for a while.

Boston College took out Montana, who could only hang for one half. Al Skinner finally gets his team past the first weekend, on the back of Craig Smith. Smith was the reason BC somehow got past Pacific and in this game he led the team in points, rebounds and assists.

For the sake of basketball games that doesn’t make your eyes bleed to watch, LSU pulled it out against Texas A&M. They had the game, let it slip away and then got it back on a closing second 3. A&M couldn’t answer.

Not sure what got into Alabama, but they played nothing like the team that stumbled around most of the regular season. UCLA ultimately hung-on to advance, but they did not go away.

Gonzaga beat Indiana, but I don’t see them going any further than the Sweet 16 with the way they play defense.