Sweet 16 | featured news

Gorgui Dieng swatted away the West Region's top seed to send Rick Pitino into another regional final.

All anyone can talk about regarding North Carolina is the status of Kendall Marshall, quite obviously. The sophomore point guard fractured a bone in his wrist in Saturday’s round of 32 win over Creighton, and while he had surgery on Monday morning, it is unclear whether or not he will actually be sitting out or if my some miracle of modern medicine he’ll be able to get on the court.

Instead of parlaying an historic day of upsets into a second weekend filled with small schools, the NCAA tournament now looks like a who's-who of major college programs.

The Big East was a bust. The Jimmer lived up to the hype. There are plenty of 10s, 11s and 12s left in the bracket, along with a handful of talented freshmen and a few familiar faces from Tobacco Road. The second week of the NCAA tournament will be sprinkled with the typical blend of favorites and underdogs, the familiar and the obscure, with a notable lack of Big East flavor in that mix.

J.T. Tiller scored a career-high 23 points — 15 more than his season average — and Missouri held off Memphis’ frantic rally for a 102-91 win Thursday night in the semifinals of the West Regional.

The men’s tournament has been as predictable as a 401(k)’s decline. The four-day basketball binge that each year makes up one of the best stretches in American sports has ended. Now that the dust has settled after the first two rounds of the N.C.A.A. tournament, the residue looks chalky.

Your first Sweet 16 participant: Villanova. Dante Cunningham and the Wildcats routed UCLA on Saturday to punch their ticket.