March 26 NCAA Elite Eight and NCAAW S16 Open Thread, D-II and WBI Championships, Friday Results

So if you can imagine the world shaking and towers crumbling and citizens screaming in terror over a fundamental shift in topography... well, it kinda happened last night. In fact, while we haven't the time to research every single tournament to make sure, it's entirely probable that last night was the first time ever that all four games in one session of a seeded Sweet Sixteen resulted in upsets.

Two top seeds, highly-touted squads which some argued might have the chance to cut short UConn's run, are suddenly on their way home a week early. Although Notre Dame did close the final margin to only six points, they spent much of the game being routed by a resurgent Stanford (who themselves had just survived a scare from 12th-seeded South Dakota State earlier in the week). South Carolina, which looked for all the world just like UConn when they demolished K-State last weekend, got dumped by Syracuse.

But there were also a pair of 3-7 games last night in which the 7 prevailed. Neither Washington nor Tennessee had any trouble with Kentucky or Ohio State. And as a result, the Sunday half of our Elite Eight will feature two 4-7 games for the right to go to the Final Four.

Wacky.

As for the men, we're basically suffering from the opposite complaint entirely. As the Sweet Sixteen expired last night, we were left with complete chalk, at least by seeding. (Gonzaga, the 11 seed, was actually favored over 10th-seeded Syracuse in Vegas.) As a result, the men's Elite Eight consists of all four top seeds, a pair of twos, and two interlopers whose paths were cleared not by themselves but by teams in the first two rounds.

Who'd have thought the men would be wearing the boring and predictable hat?

Our countdown now has us with only 44 college basketball games remaining before the lights go out (45 if the CBI goes three games). The only action last night on the men's side was the Sweet Sixteen games, so we'll get right to the tabulature:

Friday's Women's Results

There was only one game outside the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, and it was a doozy. In the final game of the WNIT's third round, Saint Louis kept building leads and Western Kentucky kept erasing them. The Hilltoppers finally had the lead late, but two Sadie Stipanovich free throws -- yes, that's Steve's daughter -- tied the game with two seconds left and forced overtime. The lead changed five times during the final two minutes of the extra frame; with just one second left Olivia Jakubicek popped a mid-range jumper to give the Billikens a 76-75 lead and a celebration was in the works.

Of course, that's where the women's game timeout rule comes into play. Able to inbound in the front-court, Kendall Noble found Sidnee Bopp open in the corner, and Bopp -- who hadn't made a shot from the field all night -- drained a buzzer-beating three, and it was Western Kentucky's turn to celebrate.

Today's Men's Schedule

Things are very straight-forward for you today, friends. Simply turn on CBS at 2pm and watch basketball all day. Your party starts with the Division II men's championship, followed by the Sooners taking on Oregon and then Villanova up against Kansas. And that's it; no other men's action on this Saturday.

Today's Women's Schedule

Of course, there's stuff going on before (and during) that if you're so inclined. The second half of the women's Sweet Sixteen wisely begins at 10:30am, although that first game is UConn's expected destruction of Mississippi State. Texas and Baylor are in action during the afternoon. So if you turn on ESPN, you can just keep hitting the "last" button on your remote repeatedly and cover seven of the eight college basketball games taking place today.

The eighth is the championship game of the Women's Basketball Invitational, where Weber State visits last year's winner, Louisiana-Lafayette. The Cajuns will try and repeat, but if you want to watch you'll have to stream it.