Saturday, March 17
The Sweet 16 is already shaping up 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!

Look at what the Pac-10 has done in the tournament. The conference's stock is going way up. UCLA, USC and Stanford are in the Sweet 16, and Arizona is getting ready to go in Sunday. The Pac-10 also sent four teams to the Sweet 16 in 1997 and 1998.

Let's salute the Pac-10 schools who don't get enough notoriety or publicity. It's time to respect the Pac-10.

WEST REGION
Stanford 90, St. Joseph's 83: The Cardinal advance thanks to balance, balance, balance. The Collins twins, Jason and Jarron, combined for 37 points and 15 rebounds, while Casey Jacobsen showed his All-American self again with 21 big points.

	Jason Collins, right, had 22 points and nine rebounds to lead Stanford into the Sweet 16.

The Cardinal survived a scare as Marvin O'Connor had 37 points. O'Connor, who hit 15-of-20 from the floor, was sensational and is one of the most underrrated players in America. A lot of people don't who O'Connor is, but he can shoot the rock, baby.

In the end Stanford's size up front and ability to play smart basketball, turning the ball over only 10 times, were key differences. Also, the Cardinal hit 31-of-37 free throws to only 15-for-20 from St. Joseph's. That's a huge margin.

Stanford has the whole package. The Cardinal have so much balance it's unreal. They take on Cincinnati next in Anaheim, and the Cardinal won't have to leave the state of California until they can make it to the Final Four in Minneapolis.

Georgetown 76, Hampton 57: No. 15 seed Hampton was a Cinderella all the way after its big win over Iowa State. But Marseilles Brown, Tarvis Williams and company did not have enough to offset the depth and athletic ability of Georgetown.

The Hoyas had three people in double figures, led by point guard Kevin Braswell. He played an outstanding game and also rebounded well for a little guy, pulling down eight rebounds to go with his six assists. Georgetown's defense and depth wore down Hampton, and the game was Blowout City.

The Hoyas move on to take on Maryland. When you think about matchups that should take place each year but don't, there is Illinois-DePaul, Cincinnati-Ohio State, and this one -- Georgetown-Maryland. This time they have to play, man. It's Sweet 16 action, a D.C. classic.

Maryland 79, Georgia State 60: In the preseason, if you had told Gary Williams he had to beat George Mason, Georgia State and Georgetown on his way to the Elite Eight, he'd say, "Bring 'em on, baby." Well, there it is. All of Washington, D.C., which rocked with the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, now will be rocking with all kinds of noise and news waiting for Georgetown and Maryland to hook it up.

It was a big, big relief for Williams going against Leffy Driesell and Georgia State. At 47-47, the game looked like it would be a Maalox Masher. But Lonny Baxter took over on the interior, scoring 10 points in the last 14 minutes.

The Terps also did a great job containing Shernard Long. After he broke out for 16 big ones in the first half, he was really ineffective in the second half due to the defensive adjustments Maryland made.

Maryland's depth, size, great backcourt play and good feeding to the posty were the difference. Their inside attack was too strong for Georgia State.

Cincinnati 66, Kent State 43: The Bearcats move onto the Sweet 16 in Anaheim. The reason? Good inside play. In the first round, B.J. Grove stepped up big. On Saturday, it was Jamaal Davis, who went 8-for-9 from the field and had 10 rebounds to go with his 16 points.

We know about the Bearcats' solid backcourt play of Kenny Satterfield and Steve Logan. They have been the catalysts all year for Cincinnati. To win 25 games, those two have had to be outstanding. But now the backcourt seems to be getting help from their baseline. And offensively, they have been dynamite.

The Bearcats shut down Kent State's offense and closed out Trevor Huffman. Although he had 24 points in the first game of the tournament, Huffman was only 2-for-11 from the field against the dynamite defensive backcourt of Satterfield and Logan.

EAST REGION
USC 74, Boston College 71: The third-seeded Eagles had a phenomenal year. Under Al Skinner, the national coach of the year, they exceeded every goal that people had projected from them in the preseason. But they ran into a real buzzsaw against the Trojans.

Southern Cal got a great performance from Jeff Trepagnier, one of the most athletic players in America, who had 18 big points. But another key player was Robert Hutchinson, who came off the bench to replace Brandon Granville, the Trojans' point guard who fouled out of the game with seven minutes left. Hutchinson, a 57-percent free-throw shooter, went 5-for-6 at crunch time to lead Southern Cal.

But what was the thinking at the end of the game, when Kenny Harley took the ball to the rack with BC down three? And then Troy Bell tried to dunk it. The Eagles never kicked the ball out to try and get a three to tie the game. Well, Henry Bibby and his kids will stay in the East, going to Philadelphia to play Kentucky.

UCLA 75, Utah State 50: Steve Lavin's team was 12-6 at one time. And it looked like NIT, baby. Everybody was talking "Pitino, Pitino, Pitino." But Lavin hung on. After being blitzed by California, Lavin's Bruins beat Stanford and then went on a run. Now in the tournament, it's Sweet 16 time.

The reason the Bruins sent Utah State to the sidelines was a great defensive effort that blanked the Aggies for 13½ minutes without any field goals. The Bruins also got super offense from the 1-2 combination of Jason Kapono and Dan Gadzuric, whose stock keeps going up and up. He had 16 points and 14 rebounds after having 14 points and 13 rebounds in UCLA's tournament opener.

Kapono was late for study hall and didn't start the game. Lavin made sure Kapono knew he wouldn't tolerate it. But when Kapono entered the game, he did was he does best, knocking down five big threes.

Now the matchup is set: UCLA and Duke. What a matchup, baby. The Dukies better have their "A" game. The word is that we could see Carlos Boozer in Philadelphia.

Duke 94, Missouri 81: The Dukies march on to the Sweet 16, but the score was not indicative of how tough the game was against the Tigers.

It was the pupil against the mentor. Yes, Quin Snyder got a chance to hook up against Mike Krzyzewski, the coach who taught him so much about basketball. They embraced before the game and have tremendous feeling and admiration for each other.

As Krzyzewski has told me numerous times, it has been an unbelievable feeling to see the growth of Snyder, going from a young guy Krzyzewski recruited from the state of Washington to becoming the young man Snyder is today, one of the bright young stars in the coaching fraternity.

Snyder had his players razor sharp, ready to perform big-time against his alma mater. But in the end, the best 1-2 tandem in America, Jason Williams and Shane Battier, were just too much, combining for 58 points. Williams had 31 and knocked down five trifectas. Battier, who played a little bit on the inside today, gave the Blue Devils some post presence and had 27 points, going 12-for-13 from the free-throw line.

Duke also outrebounded Missouri, but the Tigers got solid performances from Kareem Rush and Clarence Gilbert. They put points on the board big-time, teaming for 45 points to keep Missouri in the game.

Now Duke hopes to have Carlos Boozer back to give the Blue Devils an inside and post presence against UCLA in Philadelphia.

Kentucky 92, Iowa 79: Kentucky prevailed despite a super second half from Dean Oliver, who scored 23 of his 26 points after intermission.

Tayshaun Prince has been a real superstar for the Wildcats. Earlier this year when Kentucky was 3-5, Prince couldn't make a shot. Now he has become an absolute superstar and PTPer. He had 31 points on 9-for-14 shooting and seven assists. It's amazing how much his confidence has increased compared to earlier in the season.

Also giving a boost to Tubby Smith's team was Marquis Estill, who scored 22 points in 22 minutes, hitting 9-of-11 shots from the floor. Is there any doubt that Tubby Smith is one of the premier coaches in America? He has done a phenomenal job. When Kentucky was 3-5, there was panic. People in Lexington, Ky., couldn't believe it. But Tubby kept his poise and his patience, and now his team is going to the Sweet 16 to face USC. Smith is a flat-out superstar coach.