Ncaa Basketball Tournament

Tennessee's NCAA women's title defense ended sooner than expected, wrapping up the worst season ever for Pat Summitt's storied program. Ball State, seeded 12th, stunned the two-time defending national champions, 71-55, Sunday in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Bowling Green, Ky., ending one of the more remarkable streaks in college basketball history. The fifth-seeded Lady Volunteers (22-11) had never before lost on the opening weekend of the tournament, going 42-0 through the years.

USC's Marcus Simmons was alive and well, and upright, Monday afternoon. It was a dramatic change from when he was last seen, ice packs on his left ankle and left knee after spending three days chasing around smaller guards in the Pacific 10 Conference tournament. From California's Jerome Randle to UCLA's Darren Collision to Arizona State's Derek Glasser, it was a tiring, but rewarding, weekend for Simmons. "After that last game, I was exhausted," the 6-foot-6 sophomore said.

USC's basketball team is beef-jerky tough, something for Boston College to chew on. Those inside the Trojans' locker room are certain about that after facing "win-or-go-home" situations the last week, freshman forward DeMar DeRozan said. They found ways to win the Pacific 10 Conference tournament and now go to Minneapolis to face the Eagles in the NCAA tournament.

The way Josh Shipp sees it, he and his UCLA teammates pretty much got what they deserved after a few too many losses this season. "We didn't take care of business," Shipp said. "So we expected to get sent off." Sent off down a rocky NCAA tournament road, all the way to Philadelphia, where the sixth-seeded Bruins will face a potentially dangerous 11th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth in the first round of the East Regional on Thursday night.

Bob Burton isn't much of a believer in fate, even though fate seems to be on his side. The Cal State Fullerton basketball coach would rather have a roster loaded with blue-chip recruits and future NBA All-Stars as he heads to the NCAA tournament this week to face Wisconsin in a first-round matchup in Omaha.

Cal State Fullerton is going to Omaha. Nothing new there, but this time it's the basketball team heading to the NCAA tournament instead of the baseball team going to the College World Series. The Titans were seeded No. 14 in the Midwest Region and will play No. 3 Wisconsin on Thursday in Omaha, a city where the baseball team has become a fan favorite because of its 15 appearances in the College World Series and four championships.

It was up in the air for a while, but Cal State Fullerton's first appearance in the NCAA men's basketball tournament in 30 years will be carried live over-the-air locally by KDOC. When tipoff times for Thursday's opening-round games were announced, Fullerton initially appeared boxed out of local over-the-air television.

The allure of March Madness guarantees the NCAA will receive at least $3.8 billion from its CBS deal over the next five years. But the organization isn't about to leave any spare change on the men's basketball tournament court. While maintaining a firm stance against unregulated scalping, the NCAA has struck deals with online ticket resellers in a bid to share in the wealth being created as Final Four tickets change hands in the secondary market.

The basketballs have been stored, the scorer's table folded and even one of their coaches has resigned, but that didn't keep the UCLA and USC women's basketball teams from playing a key role in the NCAA tournament selections that were announced Monday.