CERRITOS, CA (smt)- For the 5th time in 7 years, #1S-Duke fizzles in Round 3, upset yet again, this time by a bruising #4S-LSU. I guess we can dispel the refs favor Duke theory as none of the 10 clean Tiger blocks were called fouls. While Duke choked, JJ Redick was a joke. The worst stat? Not the 3 of 18 shooting. Or 0 for 9 within the arc. Nope. Zero assists. Zero. Meanwhile, #1W-Memphis continues to march on, easily dispensing of Cinderella #13W-Bradley, 80-64.

The second pair of games provided one of the most exciting finishes that I could remember. #6S-West Virginia hit two threes in the last minute to tie #2S-Texas with five seconds left. But Texas didn't call a timeout, came down the court, and Kenton Paulino hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. At the buzzer. This was the first game-winning buzzer beater in three years. What an ending. What could top that?

I guess there's something in the Westwood water because #2W-UCLA's basketball team plays just like their football team did. Let's see... no field goals in the first 8:43 of the game, down by 17... down by 9 with 3:26 left and no time outs. Piece of cake. UCLA goes on an 11-0 run to end the game capped by Jordan Farmar's inexplicable steal of J.P. Batista and pass to Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (what a name!) put UCLA up for the first time with 10 seconds left. The Bulldogs also didn't call a timeout and ran down the court, to disastrous results as Derek Raivio lost the ball. Fan favorite (could they be the new Cubs?) #3W-Gonzaga collapsed like no other team could. The most amazing stat? Up by nine, Gonzaga didn't shoot another free throw the rest of the game. UCLA never had to foul because Gonzaga would turn the ball over.

The refs seemed to favor Gonzaga for most of the game but UCLA got the last laugh with the phantom foul by Batista with 20 seconds left... a silly and dumb foul, if it was a foul. In the last minute, Duke allowed LSU to rebound a missed LSU free throw three straight times, a pitiful display of heart. Texas outrebounded WV 43 to 15 but WV balanced that by hitting 11 more 3-pt shots (15 to 4). The top two scorers (Redick & Zag's Adam Morrison) are out. As for Memphis, yawn. Now they get a tough opponent in UCLA.

AGENT 86 OF CONTROL (9th-Tied, 88 pts) and KANAKAKIDZ (59th-T, 74) went an incredible 4-0, with the latter moving from 81st place. But it's still BASKETBALL JONES with the lead at 96 pts. Our esteemed pool co-administrator THE MIGHTY MOBELFAKTA continues to rise and is now all alone in second place with 92 pts. POOLRAIDER drops a spot to 3rd with 91 and can't win 1st place! Ten went 0-for-4 and DTERP (82nd, 58) will go 0-for-the-Final Four with Duke's loss. Just eight picked LSU while 51 picked UCLA. Four picked both Memphis & LSU.

Twenty-six (26) more entries bit the dust (including both of mine and my wife's) and just 18 can win 1st. BBALL JONES has a 57.2% chance of winning money and almost a 30% chance to win 1st. Three others have a better than 30% chance for money (THE MM, BAMAG (9th-T, 88), and COBI'S CRUSADERS (4th-T, 90)). Five still have all Final Four teams. VENDETTALESS sits in 79th place (66) but still has a chance to finish 3rd.