Ncaa Basketball Tournament

After spending all night doing the dirty work on defense, Trevon Hughes got a more glamorous role: Shooter of the crazy, spinning bank shot with the game on the line. Otherwise known as the game-winner for Wisconsin. Hughes' twisting shot over Florida State's outstretched arms dropped with two seconds left to lift the Badgers to a 61-59 victory in the first round of the NCAA East Regional on Friday night at Boise, Idaho.

Lazar Hayward scored 26 points and Marquette made 10 consecutive free throws down the stretch to defeat Utah State, 58-57, on Friday in the first round of the NCAA West Regional at Boise, Idaho. Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews each scored 14 points for sixth-seeded Marquette (25-9), which squandered a 14-point lead and fell behind by six points before rallying to win. Jared Quayle led Utah State (30-5) with 18 points.

It is evident the moment you leave south Philadelphia's grimy streets for the reality of the Wachovia Center parking lot. On Thursday, before Villanova's first-round game NCAA basketball game here, in dropping temperatures and spitting rain, dozens of Wildcats fans were outside cooking hot dogs and drinking beer. I have never seen an NCAA tournament game where everyone felt so much at home.

Something about watching UCLA on videotape impressed the Villanova players. "I mean, their defense is just amazing," guard Scottie Reynolds said. "They like to get up in you and create havoc." Forward Dante Cunningham saw it too. "They battle," he said. That toughness makes the Wildcats think of UCLA -- which they face in the second round of the NCAA tournament this morning at the Wachovia Center -- as another Big East Conference team.

Taj Gibson was playing like the point guard he used to be, back in Brooklyn before he sprouted into the lanky 6-foot-9 monster he has become for USC. He was yo-yoing up and down with the ball as the final seconds ticked off in a 72-55 victory over Boston College in the NCAA Midwest Regional first round Friday. As he dribbled, there were a few things on his mind. "I redeemed myself from last year and that first-round loss to Kansas State," Gibson said.

Gerald Henderson finally will find out what the second weekend of the NCAA tournament is like. Henderson scored 24 points and made three free throws in the final minute to help Duke beat Texas, 74-69, on Saturday night in the second round of the East Regional. Kyle Singler had 17 points and Jon Scheyer made a heady play in the final minute for the second-seeded Blue Devils (30-6).

The hangover begins. The UCLA basketball team awoke Saturday from three consecutive Final Fours with a throbbing headache, quaking dizziness and a stomach that wouldn't stop leaping and pounding. Call it Villa-nausea. The hangover begins, and, man, it's already a doozy, three years of March greatness morphed into 40 minutes of fetal position.

UCLA on top of the world one minute, then down in the dumps and sent packing the next. USC proving the Pac-10 tournament wasn't a fluke. The Cowboys of Oklahoma State and the Volunteers of Tennessee trading last-minute haymakers like Ali against Frazier, their final round, their final fight. This is a beautiful time of year. Sit back, breathe in March Madness, enjoy.

Another victory and Tim Floyd will have more NCAA tournament wins than any other USC coach. But before anyone starts chiseling a statue, the next win would give him . . . four. To put it in perspective: USC won 12 NCAA games before Floyd. Across town, UCLA had won 11 national championships. "You've got to do it over a period of time," Floyd said. "We're still young at it."

USC and Michigan State have had similar, disjointed, wildly inconsistent and successful seasons -- if that makes court sense. Both schools were hammered by early injuries. USC fought through ankle injuries to Marcus Simmons and Leonard Washington and Marcus Johnson's bad shoulder. Raymar Morgan, Michigan State's standout forward, was leveled by walking pneumonia.