Three tickets have already been punched to Atlanta for the Sweet 16, where the South regional final will be held this year. Three of the top four seeds will be headed there as well, as the top-seeded Kentucky Wildcats, third-seeded Baylor Bears and fourth-seeded Indiana Hoosiers are all set for Sweet 16 action.
Needless to say, the fanbases for those three schools are quite excited. Glenn Logan over at A Sea of Blue offered some of his thoughts on Kentucky's win over Iowa State.
For Kentucky, this was the coming-out of Marquis Teague. I normally award the game ball after the jump, but in this particular game there was simply no contest. Darius Miller was also outstanding, as was Doron Lamb in spite of his foul problems, but Marquis Teague was ... he was just everything we could ever want tonight in a basketball player.
With this win, Kentucky gets to the Sweet Sixteen for the third straight year. I remember a time not that long ago when we would have taken that with no questions. Now, it's just another hurdle in the way of the true, and only goal of this basketball team -- the NCAA Tournament title.
Such expectations are certainly justified with the year Kentucky has had to date.
Meanwhile, the folks over at The Crimson Quarry seem to have a sense of relief following Indiana's thrilling 63-61 win over VCU.
I ndiana played the absolute worst possible game it could get away with and still win. Hulls, Oladipo and Zeller all struggled mightily to take care of the ball. But in the end a man's game from Christian Watford and Will Sheehey being in the right place at the right time sealed if for Indiana. I'm emotionally broken now, but damn it feels good to survive that. We've already won a ton off of house money, hopefully we go all in and get another win against Kentucky next weekend.
Lastly, Tim Watkins posted some of his thoughts about Baylor's win over Colorado over at Our Daily Bears.
When the Bears fell behind 54-51 with 11:12 left in the game, a change on the other end of the court helped the Bears on both sides. Drew went to his much-maligned zone defense, and the route was one. Baylor would go on to outscore the Buffaloes 29-9 to finish the game. Everything started to fall for the Bears. It was beautiful.
There's room for Cinderella in Atlanta, though, as either Xavier or Lehigh will advance on Sunday to take on Baylor.
Be sure to print out a tournament bracket, courtesy of SB Nation, and check out SB Nation's NCAA tournament coverage.