Second Round Closes

Photo courtesy the NY Daily News.

The second round of March Madness ended Sunday with several thrillers in what has easily been one of the best NCAA tournaments in recent memory. The remaining number 1 seeds cruised (Duke past Cal, 68-53, and Syracuse knocked out Gonzaga, 87-65) and 2 seed Ohio State defeated 10 seed Georgia Tech 75-66 after having a sluggish first half. Fellow 2 seed West Virginia defeated 10 seed Missouri, 68-59 in a game that was competitive until the Mountaineers' Da'Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks made timely baskets for the victory.

If there's been a theme during this second round, it's beware the small schools. Northern Iowa stunned Kansas, St. Mary's shocked Villanova, and Butler barely squeaked by Murray State on Saturday. On Sunday, it was Cornell and Xavier's turn. Cornell, a 12 seed, surprised 4 seed Wisconsin, 87-69. Cornell, better known for its Ivy League education rather than its basketball, beat a Wisconsin team that's one of the best defensive clubs in the country. Cornell will be making the trip to nearby Syracuse for the East Regional part of the tournament. Xavier, a small Jesuit school in Cincinnati, beat Pitt 71-68, the team that knocked Xavier out of the tournament last year. While the final score was close, Xavier was up by as much as 15 before the Panthers started a furious rally that ultimately fell short.

Spokane, Washington hosted the two best games on Sunday. The first one was Michigan State vs. Maryland, a matchup of powerhouse schools and legendary coaches. This was how it ended (video courtesy CBS):



In the second game, a nail-biter between Texas A&M and Purdue that was sent into overtime, Purdue barely surives (video courtesy CBS):



And so ends the second round of March Madness. And if next weekend's games are anything like this weekend's, then "hang on to them hats and glasses", it'll be a wild finish. As far as the brackets go, there's no way a perfect bracket is left, unless you're Nostradamus or picked based on team name/colors. (Even if that were the case, Cornell should have been out of it in the first round. Big Red what?) That being said, one of my brackets has a 93% rating on ESPN.com, and I'm within the top 350,000 with that bracket (tied with President Obama).

Here are highights from the weekend (video courtesy CBS):


EDIT (3/23/10): Replaced one of the videos with another due to CBS copyright claim.