Ohhhh My! It's the Shockers...

My favorite team in the Sweet 16 so far has to be the Shockers of Wichita State. Are they this year's West Virginia? I like them for a couple reasons...one, they are the Shockers. Shockers. Is there a better mascot than the Shocker? Second, they beat Tennessee...more specifically, they beat Bruce Pearl. That's awesome.

Duke advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 9th consecutive year...not so awesome.

Ah, anyway...West Virginia had no problem disposing of Southern Illinois on Friday. They looked fresh and ready...I'm very optimistic at this point. Especially considering they will play 14-seed Northwestern State in the 2nd round. Who had Northwestern State beating Iowa on their bracket? Be honest. That's right...you didn't. Best parts about the win? Pittsnogle looked good for most of the game. Gansey was still playing at the end...and finally hit a couple 3's. The bench play was surprisingly strong...I think Summers got more playing time than he had in most of the games this year and Beilein, Ruoff and Nichols all received playing time. Overall, a strong performance. Hopefully Gansey continues his upward momentum.

Anyone who didn't believe in Wisconsin-Milwaukee learned to believe...until they played Florida. But I never said they'd get beyond the second round...I just knew they'd beat Oklahoma. And how about the contest that Albany gave UConn? Closer than I would like to see from my predicted national champions.

Bradley beating Kansas hurt my bracket a little. But Bucknell's upset win over Arkansas was welcomed. All in all, looks pretty good. I still have 14 of my Sweet 16 alive and no one has lost that I have advancing beyond that point...but there's still a lot of games left today and tomorrow. And if Illinois loses, that hurts. Syracuse has been my most devastating loss so far. Why would I have them advance after the curse I put on them the other day? I don't know. I'm an idiot.

But, anyway, that's about it. WVU will most likely be in the Sweet 16 again this year which is awesome. It will be the first back-to-back appearance for the Mountaineers in the Sweet 16 since 1959-1960. That's a long time ago. Everyone better be enjoying this...we're living in the modern Golden Age of Moutaineer sports.