March Madness, Round of 32

Monday:

Third-seeded Kansas was utterly demolished and embarrassed by USC, 85-51.

Second-seeded Iowa was handily defeated by Oregon (95-80)

The kids from Abilene Christian had no more gas in the tank after their emotional defeat of the Longhorns on Saturday. They were pummeled by UCLA, which now finds itself in the Sweet 16 despite a mediocre 11th-seed.

Oral Roberts is the only long shot left in the South/West bracket. All of the others are seeded 7 or better, and both number 1s are alive. On the other hand, the East/Midwest bracket is filled with surprises, including a #1 left on the roadside. Surviving are two 11s and a 12.

Monday’s summary

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Sunday: more upsets

Illinois became the first #1 seed to fail, as Loyola Chicago (8 seed) bested them handily. It was another great intrastate match-up won by the David against the Goliath.

West Virginia (3) fell to Syracuse (11)

Florida (7) became the second team to be upset by lowly, 15th-seeded Oral Roberts

Oklahoma State (4) wasn’t even competitive against Oregon State (12)

Two other teams with top seeds, Houston (2) and Arkansas (3), came very close to losing as well. Houston was down by 4 to Rutgers (!!) inside the two-minute mark. Arkansas only won because Texas Tech missed two routine layups in the last 37 seconds.

Summary of Sunday’s games