Well, the East has been thrown wide open.   South Carolina has knocked off the Duke Blue Devils 88-81 in Greenville, South Carolina.   The Gamecocks found themselves down 10 early in the second half, but came back – led by Sindarius Thornwell’s 24 points.  And now, a team that had not won an NCAA game in 44 years going into this tournament now finds themselves in the Sweet 16 in a region that has lost both its top 2 seeds.   Now, #3 Baylor and #4 Florida find themselves the favorites in a region that was figured to be won by either the ACC tournament champion or the defending national champion.

This is also big from a conference perspective as well – who would have figured when we started the tournament with 9 ACC teams, that only the regular season champion, the North Carolina Tar Heels, would be playing in the Sweet 16.