Syrupy sixteen (women)

Ouch. My year-in-advance pick to win it all, Oklahoma, lost in the second round. Now I wonder how long coach Sherri Coale can keep going without that Pantene endorsement. Sooner? No, later.

The ACC did very nicely; Virginia and Florida State came painfully close to joining Duke, UNC, and Maryland in the Sweet 16. That would have been 5 teams, which is the exact number of survivors the Big East can now boast. (Impressive.) Like the ACC, the SEC has 3 teams remaining, while the Big 12 got two and the Pac-10 one. Old Dominion and George Washington went colonial on the bracket to join the group, but all in all, it was very chalky.

The women's Sweet Sixteen:

East (Greensboro) Regional
01. Connecticut
08. Rutgers
09. California
16. Virginia
17. Old Dominion
24. George Washington

South (New Orleans) Regional
02. North Carolina
07. LSU
10. Oklahoma State
15. Louisville

Midwest (Oklahoma City) Regional
03. Tennessee
06. Texas A&M
11. Duke
14. Oklahoma
17. Notre Dame

West (Spokane) Regional
04. Maryland
05. Stanford
12. Baylor
13. Vanderbilt
21. Pittsburgh