Ok folks how have your brackets been holding up?  While there haven't been any earth shaking upsets or George Masons in the bunch yet, there have been some surprises. Now that we have the field wittled down to the Sweet Sixteen lets do a quick summary shall we?

East

North Carolina - The only ACC School to make the 16, first time that has happened since 1979.  The ACC turned out to be overrated this year and I don't think you can totally blame youth.  As expected, Hansbrough and Wright put on their hard hats and eventually overmatched Michigan St.

USC - Ah, here's a surprise from the unexpectedly strong Pac-10.  USC apparently has some great athletes in Taj Gibson and Nick Young who play physical defense. Don't sleep Tar Heels.

Vanderbilt - The Commodores beat Florida earlier this year and beat a top defensive team of Washington St.  Star forward/guard Derrick Byar is the man.

Georgetown - The Hoyas offense and defense is running like a Mercedes AMG V-8 but they haven't been challenged athletically yet.

South -

Ohio St - Despite a scare from Xavier, the Buckeyes are a force to be reckoned with and the key component is not Greg Oden but Point Guard Mike Conley Jr.

Tennessee - Athletically the Vols have had the advantage but the tandem of Chris Lofton and Wayne Chism are fundamentally good players as well.

Memphis - Superman Joey Dorsey and the boys getting' it done led by Mr. Calipari.

Texas A & M - Naismith Candidate Acie Law IV could march on Atlanta like Gen. Sherman.

Midwest -

Florida - The Gators have been getting by but not decisively.  They shouldn't take an experienced Butler team lightly.

Butler - Another surprise team but better than most give credit.  Fundamentally sound with good shooters.

Oregon - Aaron Brooks and company moving in a predictable fashion under his leadership.

UNLV - Maybe biggest surprise so far in the tournament.  Senior Wendell White is upping his production in the tournament.  The Running Rebels are led by Coach Lon  Krueger.

West -

Kansas - The Jayhawks have been the most impressive so far.  The trio of Julian Wright, Brandon Rush, & Mario Chalmers will be in the NBA real soon.  I would be very afraid of the Jayhawks.

Southern Illinois - Another sneaky team that very good, just not as good as Kansas.

Pittsburgh - The shooting of Ronald Ramon and hustle of Sam Young have paved the way.

UCLA - Aaron Afflalo, Darren Collison, and a big, physical frontline look to put the Bruins back into position to make a run to Atlanta.

     The winners so far have definitely been the SEC and Pac-10 conferences with three teams apiece in the sweet sixteen.  The losers are the ACC with only one representative out of seven teams chosen.  All the 1's are still alive.  In an upcoming article I will be discussing the pros of tournament expansion and this is one of the reasons, too many teams from so called power conferences getting the nod. That’s for a later discussion.  Look for this weekend's column advocating tournament expansion. 

    Stay tuned next week for the Elite Eight Summary with a more detailed team and player breakdown.