Here's a look at the biggest winners and losers from four non-stop days of madness.
CLOSE SportsPulse: While there are no real Cinderellas left in the tournament USA TODAY's Trysta Krick explains why that's okay and looks ahead to the Sweet 16. USA TODAY
WinnersDuke. The whole "survive and advance" mantra of the NCAAs couldn't be truer for this heavily favored Blue Devils team that escaped a monumental upset to No. 9 seed Central Florida. It was Williamson's bulldozing basket against 7-foot-6 center Tacko Fall and R.J. Barrett's put-back — both plays made in the final 14 seconds — that saved Duke's national title pursuit in the 77-76 thriller.
The whole West Region. Thought to be the weakest region on the bracket, all four of the remaining teams have yet to stumble in this tournament and are all good enough to cut down the nets in Minneapolis in two weeks. Gonzaga, Texas Tech, Florida State and Michigan all looked dominant in dispatching their second-round opponents, beating them by a combined average of 19 points.
Iowa, Maryland. Neither of these teams have any reason to hang their heads for losing their second-round games to better seeds. But it was how they lost that will sting well into the offseason. The 10th-seeded Hawkeyes stormed back from a 25-point deficit to force overtime against No. 2 seed Tennessee before exiting. And the Terrapins were ousted on an LSU game-winner that gave us our closest thing to a buzzer-beater in the first two rounds.
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