NCAA Sweet 16: 6 Underdogs, 11 Conferences

The first four days of the NCAA tournament were incredible for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is how it produced a Sweet 16 that'll feature 11 different conferences, notes CBSSports.com Senior Writer Gary Parrish.

As we move forward, Cornell, Saint Mary's, and Northern Iowa will receive much of the attention, but Purdue advancing to the second weekend should get similar treatment because it's just as good of a story - because the Boilermakers lost their best player, Robbie Hummel, in February.

Three double-digit seeds are headed to the NCAA tournament round of 16. The underdogs who made it to the next round include No. 12 Cornell, No. 11 Washington and No. 10 Saint Mary's. Other upset winners moving on to the regionals include No. 9 Northern Iowa, which ousted tournament favorite Kansas, and No. 6 Xavier and No. 5 Butler, two of five mid-major teams that advanced.

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Xavier punctuated four days of upsets in the NCAA tournament. Jordan Crawford scored 27 points, sending the sixth-seeded Musketeers to a 71-68 win over third-seeded Pittsburgh in a West Regional second-round game in Milwaukee. Xavier will face second-seeded Kansas State in a round-of-16 matchup in Salt Lake City.

Chris Kramer's layup with 4.2 seconds left in overtime gave fourth-seeded Purdue a 63-61 win over Texas A&M and a berth in the regional semifinals. Kramer is Purdue's leader with Robbie Hummel out with a knee injury. Kramer finished with 17 points. Texas A&M's B.J. Holmes got a final, frantic chance to win the game with a rushed 3-point try that fell short in the second-round game in Spokane.

Brian Zoubek's sixth double-double of his career sent top-seeded Duke past California 68-53 in a South Regional game in Jacksonville. The Golden Bears have been ousted in the first round of the tournament for the fourth time in as many appearances.

Cornell used another upset win to reach the round of 16 for the first time. The 14th-seeded Ivy League champions advanced with an 89-69 win over fourth-seed Wisconsin 89-69 in the East Regional in Jacksonville. Louis Dale had 26 points and Ryan Wittman 24 for the Big Red.

Evan Turner just missed his third triple-double of the season and scored 24 points in leading second-seeded Ohio State to a 75-66 win over Georgia Tech in the Midwest Regional in Milwaukee. He missed the milestone by an assist and rebound.

Da'Sean Butler scored 19 of his 28 points in the first half to lead second-seeded West Virginia to a 68-59 victory over 10th-seeded Missouri in an East Regional game in Buffalo. Butler accounted for 19 of the Mountaineers' 30 points in the first half.

Michigan State is bound for the round of 16. The Spartans got a buzzer-beater from the top of the key by Korie Lucious to defeat Maryland 85-83 in Spokane. Maryland's comeback from a 16-point second-half deficit fell short.

Syracuse eased into the round of 16. The Orange raced to a first-half lead and easily beat Gonzaga 87-65 in Buffalo. The West Regional top seed got 31 points and 14 rebounds from Wes Johnson. The Orange made 12 3-pointers, while Gonzaga shot 3 of 21 from long distance.


More Coverage:

CBSSports.com: Sunday's Scoreboard
CBSSports.com College Basketball Blog
Obama Picked Kansas to Win Tournament
CBSSports.com: West Region Analysis
CBSSports.com: East Region Analysis
CBSSports.com: South Region Analysis
CBSSports.com: Midwest Region Analysis