Frank Burlison

If your NCAA Tournament pool bracket had Wichita State, a No. 9 seed in the West Regional, advancing to a Sweet 16 game Thursday night in Los Angeles, take a bow.

If that same bracket sheet had La Salle, a 13 seed, knocking off Boise State in a First Four game last Wednesday night and picking up two more wins to join Wichita State as one of the four teams playing in L.A.’s Staples Center Thursday, raise both hands over your head and bask in the glory of your stunning skills of hoops prognostication.

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And the there were 24 . . . and one less No. 1 seed than was around when Saturday’s NCAA Tournament with the tip-off between the University of Michigan Wolverines and the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams at little past noon in Auburn Hills, MI.

The West Regional’s 8 (Pittsburgh) and 3 (New Mexico) were kicked to the curb on Thursday, with No.’s 4 (Kansas State), 5 (Wisconsin) and 7 (Notre Dame) going the tournament’s version of the “one and done” route on Friday.

Saturday night, in Salt Lake City, Numero Uno bid an excruciating adios.

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Sixteen second-round NCAA Tournament games gave us the following Friday:

*The eighth-ever No. 2 seed loss to a 15, with Georgetown and Big East Player of the Year Otto Porter falling victim to high-flying and crazy dunking Florida Gulf Coast University (78-68) – which has been a university since 1997 and was making its tourney debut;

*The South Regional’s top seed, Kansas, coming dangerously close to becoming the first-ever victim of a 16 seed before holding off Western Kentucky in Kansas City, 64-57;

*The continue superb collective effort of the five Atlantic 10 teams in the tournament, with La Salle (which knocked off Boise State in a First Four game Wednesday night) tripping up Kansas State (63-61) in a West Regional game played in Kansas City and Temple hanging on to beat North Carolina State (76-72) in an East Regional contest played in Dayton;

*Some of the West Regional’s top seeds continuing to make early exits, with No.’s

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When it comes to the world of sports, and especially the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament, “momentum” isn’t something you bring into a game with you:

It’s what you can build, and build upon, in 40 minutes.

That was the case in Thursday NCAA tourney second-round game played in Salt Lake City between Mountain West Conference champion and West Regional No. 3 seed New Mexico and Ivy League champion and 14 seed Harvard.

The Lobos, under the guidance of a coach (Steve Alford) who was the best player on an Indiana team that won a national title 26 years ago, were the choice of many to bag the four wins needed to go from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles (for the regional semifinals and final) and on to Atlanta for the Final Four.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – And now, on to that very painful process known as “round by round selections in the NCAA Tournament”.

Please don’t take out a second mortgage to show your faith in my projections!

 

MIDWEST

  Round 1: No. 16 Liberty d. NC A&T; No. 11 Saint Mary’s d. Middle Tennessee.

  Round 2: Upper, No. 1 Louisville d. 16 Liberty; No. 9 Missouri d. No. 8 Colorado State; No. 12 Oregon d. No. 5 Oklahoma State; No. 4 Saint Louis d. No. 13 New Mexico State.

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