Sunday, March 18
There were still some surprises left for Sunday. Temple took advantage of a depleted Florida team with its tough matchup zone and came through with a lopsided win over the Gators. But the biggest surprise of the day came in the last game. Penn State overcame an early deficit and withstood a furious charge to fend off North Carolina and upset the No. 2 seed in the South.

The Sweet 16 is set with some great matchups: Duke-UCLA and USC-Kentucky in Philadelphia, and Georgetown-Maryland and Stanford-Cincinnati in Anaheim. I can't wait until Thursday, baby!

Another great matchup in the Midwest region will be Illinois and Kansas. The Illini moved on as expected, and Roy Williams and his Jayhawks are playing as well as anybody in the tournament.

The Pac-10 continues to impress as Arizona becomes the fourth team from the conference to reach the Sweet 16 on the strength of a dominating win over an outmatched but gutty Butler team.

MIDWEST REGION
Mississippi 59, Notre Dame 56: Rod Barnes and the Ole Miss Rebels, who none of the prognosticators had rated in the top 25, move on to the Sweet 16 in a hard-fought battle against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Rahim Lockhart, with 24 big points, was a major factor on the interior. Ryan Humphrey had a big game with 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Irish.

But it was the little guy, Jason Harrison, who hit the three that put the dagger in Notre Dame's heart. Listed at 5-foot-5, he plays more like 7-foot-5 when the rock is in his hand. The Rebels did a great job playing team defense and showed great pride as they march on to the Sweet 16.

Arizona 73, Butler 52: Arizona had too much of everything for Butler on Sunday. Too much balance, too much size on the interior and the great play of Gilbert Arenas, who has become as good as any two-guard in America. Loren Woods played solid on the inside, Michael Wright was physical in the low blocks and point guard Jason Gardner controlled the rock.

Arizona is heating up at the right time and overwhelmed Butler. It was a gutty effort for a while, but Butler succumbed to Arizona's physical, multiple attack. The Wildcats were phenomenal from the free-throw line, hitting 17 of 18. They also dominated the glass, ripping down 39 boards to Butler's 20

Illinois 79, Charlotte 61: To all those who were screaming that Charlotte could pull the upset: Forget about it! Brian Cook certainly didn't buy it. He went out with his second strong performance in a row, which is great news for Bill Self and the Fighting Illini. Cook scored 16 points. A solid perimeter game for Frank Williams also contributed to the win.

Illinois goes to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1989. That was the team with Marcus Liberty, Kenny Battle and Kendall Gill that lost to Glenn Rice and Rumeal Robinson in the Final Four. This year's Illini team has balance, depth and defense. Self has done a great job in his diaper-dandy year. When Cook and Cory Bradford are playing well, it usually means a win for Illinois.

Kansas 87, Syracuse 58: The Jayhawks were absolutely brilliant Sunday, dominating Jim Boeheim's Orange on the glass. Kansas out-rebounded Syracuse 56 to 23 and put an embarrassing beating on the Big East entry.

Preston Shumpert and DeShaun Williams combined for 14-of-39 shooting and Syracuse's two-three zone was taken apart by the great balance of the Kansas starting five. Drew Gooden was dominant on the inside with 17 points and the Jayhawks got good perimeter play as well, with 16 points from Jeff Boschee and 15 from Kenny Gregory. Every phase of the game was A+ for Kansas as they have been brilliant in the first two rounds of this tournament.

Kansas has now returned to the Sweet 16 for the first time in four years. This year's edition is playing its best basketball at the right moment. They have balance, toughness inside and can rebound. They will be a very tough out in the next round

SOUTH REGION
Penn State 82, North Carolina 74: The Tar Heels, who faltered at the end of the season, could not get out of that funk as Penn State responded to the challenge. After being down early, the Nittany Lions came back to take a nine-point lead. That lead disappeared, though, and Carolina took a four-point lead.

But Titus Ivory, who grew up in Charlotte dreaming of playing in Carolina Blue, returned to the lineup and sparked Penn State to a 7-0 run by making some very big shots. Joe Crispin and Gyasi Cline-Heard pitched in as well. Upset City, baby! What started out as a fantastic year for Matt Doherty and the Tar Heels turned sour at the end.

Penn State, on the other hand, adds another big-time victory to its resume. With wins over Illinois, Michigan State and Kentucky, the Nittany Lions notched the biggest of them all Sunday, an NCAA Tournament win over the No. 2-seeded Tar Heels. They're dancing in Happy Valley, baby, and it's not because of the pigskin!

Temple 75, Florida 54: John Chaney and Temple put on a clinic Sunday. I still say Chaney belongs in the Hall of Fame. He does it year in and year out without the budget and exposure of other big-time programs. Think about 1988, '91, '93 and '99 when the Owls got to the Elite Eight.

Now this year Temple took it to Florida to get to the Sweet 16. The Gators had a fantastic year but Temple had them down by 20 at the half. The Owls' matchup zone was effective. They controlled the tempo of the game, and when they're making shots they're almost unbeatable.

Once again it was the Lynn Greer-Quincy Wadley show. They put 44 points on the board and Greer continued his great free-throw shooting, going 17-for-17 over the past two games. They out-rebounded Florida 37 to 31. Once again, Temple turned the ball over very infrequently. Against Florida's pressure defense the Owls only had nine turnovers. That's a credit to Greer's ballhandling on the perimeter.

The Gators -- who were without Brent Wright and Justin Hamilton as they have been for much of the year -- just did not have enough to come back from such a big deficit.

Gonzaga 85, Indiana State 68: This was a battle of two clubs without the national reputation, even though Gonzaga has made it to the Sweet 16 three straight years. Casey Calvary, a high-jumping, dynamite inside performer has been on all three of those teams. Calvary had 24 points and was a major factor in the post.

Calvary was joined by the backcourt whiz, Dan Dickau. Without much publicity, Dickau has become one of the country's premier point guards. Remember the name. Dickau went 12-for-12 from the free-throw line to break open a close game against a tough Indiana State team. He was brilliant in the second half, scoring 17 of his 20. He's a PTPer who loves to do it when the pressure is on the line.

The Sycamores battled, led by Matt Renn and Michael Menser (16 and 15 points, respectively), but Gonzaga had too much on the inside and dominated the glass. Gonzaga marches on the Sweet 16 under Mark Few. They're dancing with joy in Spokane, Wash., baby!