LOS ANGELES/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- While #1S-Duke (9 straight) and #5E-Washington (2 straight) once again reached the Sweet 16, six teams made their first appearance in the Sweet 16 in at least four years led by #7S-Wichita St.'s first S16 in 25 years. #2W-UCLA (last S16 in 2002), #3W-Gonzaga (2001), #4S-LSU (2000), #3MW-Florida (2000), and #4MW-Boston College (1994) will try and reacquaint themselves to a rare second weekend of action.

Gonzaga and Florida buried some demons by avoiding the 1st/2nd round upsets of the past four years with the latter rolling to an easy victory (as did Duke & BC). #4E-Illinois blew a late 11-point lead while UCLA, Gonzaga, and LSU nearly blew comfortable late leads as well. #2S-Tennesseee, a questionable 2-seed, ran out of luck, falling to Wichita St. after nearly getting upset by #15S-Winthrop on Thursday.

Big FT disparities helped Wichita St (23 made v Tenn's 9), Washington (28 made v Ill's 9), and Gonzaga (32 made v 2 for Indiana) and nearly helped #10W-Alabama (19 v 5) upset UCLA, who late in the game missed 6 straight free throws, a big no-no in tournament play. Indiana finally got to run coach Mike Davis out of town thanks to Gonzaga proving they are not a one-man team. And what's with the big setup at the end of the game just to take a very long 3-point shot? Can't you do that normally without calling a timeout to do that? It failed miserably with Illinois' Dee Brown (for the tie) but LSU's Darrel Mitchell amazingly converted for the win.

POOLRAIDER kept the top spot with 71 pts with BASKETBALL JONES (69) and BLUESTARS1996 (67) close behind. Eight are tied for 4th with 66 pts. Ten went 7-1 while DTERP (51) tied a record low with a 1-7 record. DTERP went from a tie for 2nd to a tie for 77th!! That's a drop of 75 places in one day! Unheard of. On the flip side, FRANK GRIMES and BOMBARDMENTBOMBARMNT moved from a tie for 65th to a tie for 33rd (61). ANGRY HAWAIIAN regained sole possession of last place (43), which is probably not what she wanted.

Just 8 picked Wichita St. while 20 picked Washington. SAMURAI JACK (26th-T, 62) was the only one to pick both the Shockers and Huskies. Interestingly, though, he only got 6 of 8 correct (missing Oklahoma & SD St., both eliminated in the 1st round). Almost everyone picked Duke (84 of 85, SOURCE (61st-T, 56) being the rebel) and UCLA (80).

Sixty-one entries still have all four Final 4 teams alive while KEEP CHIEF ILLINIWEK (33rd-Tied, 61) lost 3 of 4 teams including both finalists (Illinois, Kansas, Syracuse). Eighteen still have all Elite 8 teams alive and 83 still have their champion.

After tomorrow's games, we will know which entries will be officially eliminated from money (not including the Bonus). And on Monday, things will become official with the prize money distribution (total pot is $850) soon to follow. Also, the explanation of the Bonus Prize (dealing with conference wins) will be fully explained (again), which will especially be of interest to those who are eliminated (since only eliminated entries are eligible).