CARSON/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- #1MW-North Carolina, playing without star point guard Kendall Marshall, needed overtime to dispatch #13MW-Ohio.  The Tar Heels needed 20 points and 22 rebounds from Tyler Zeller, to overcome 24 turnovers, a missed go-ahead free throw by Walter Offutt with 25 seconds left (Ohio's only missed free throw), and a half-court buzzer-beating rim out on Ohio's last shot in regulation to advance to the Elite 8.  UNC will play #2MW-Kansas who nearly blew a late 10-point lead and missed nine free throws but got lucky when a high pass forced a #11MW-NC State player to slightly step out-of-bounds with 5 seconds left.  The Jayhawks nearly lost to a team seeded 8 spots lower than them for the fifth time in 8 years.

In the South Region, #3-Baylor jumped to a 22-4 lead but had to hold off #10-Xavier.  The Bears will play #1-Kentucky, who outlasted #4-Indiana in a shootout at the K-Y corral scoring 102 points to the Hoosiers' 90.  The Wildcats also made an incredible 35 of 37 free throws (94.6% - a tourney record with 30 or more attempts), keeping Indiana at bay late, trading easy baskets for two free throw attempts.

With all favorites winning (each team was picked by at least 71 entries), the race for first is spreading out with Larzby's percentage now down to 20.3% with Bigtenfan (2nd, 108) at 18.8% and EEChick1400 (17th-Tied, 96) at 10.9%.  Six have better than 25% chance to win money.  Just 17 can win 1st and 54 are still in the hunt for money.  The full list of all 128 possibilities are now up.  If you want to know YOUR possible winning outcomes (like my The Fabone in 3D or my wife's SpAva), post a comment to our blog or on Facebook.

In the race for the Bonus, the Big East leads with 12 wins (not including South Florida's First Four win which doesn't count).  Both the Big 10 and Big 12 can't get more than 13 wins.  The Big 10 going 1-3 in the Sweet 16 means just 40 entries can win the Bonus1.  Remember, it there is a tie (e.g., Big East 13 & Big 10 13, you have to have picked both -- whereas if you picked Big East 13 & Big 10 13 you only need one (or both) to qualify.

Please join our Facebook HWCI NCAA Pool Group or post comments on our blog.  Here you can join the group and meet your competitors, make new friends, set up NCAA watching gatherings, and post stuff to the wall (pictures, witty comments, etc.). 

   Tids 'n' Bits- Ohio hit 12 of 32 3-pointers and missed just one free throw (7 of 8)- that last one in regulation that would've put them ahead by one... Zeller had 22 of UNC's 56 rebounds (to Ohio's 26)... Kansas was just 1-for-14 from beyond the arc... UNC has won their last 11 Sweet 16 games... no one went 0-for-the-Elite-8 (only 3 have ever done so)... 62 can't win money or Bonus1... for the round, an average of 4.31 wins (5th highest) is slightly above the overall average... was working the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament at the Home Depot Center and I had the computer, so I was streaming both the NCAA tournament and the game I was watching (for replays) so I got to see more of the games than I would've if I was at home (thank you newborn :-))...