Wow! What a weekend of college hoops. Despite the talk of expanding to 96 teams and the criticism that college basketball is water down. The first two rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament delivered plenty of exhilarating drama as usual. 

Here are some of final takes from the first four days of the tourney:

KENTUCKY – John Calapari has had his boys ready to play. After knocking out East Tennessee by 29, the Wildcats beat Wake Forest by 30 points. Eric Bledsoe’s eight 3-pointers in the first game was one of the best shooting displays in Kentucky’s storied history. For the critics that have insisted that despite its talent, UK is too young and inexperienced to win it all shame on you. Talent always wins when it plays to its fullest potential.

XAVIER – Sean Who? In his first season as head coach Chris Mack did something former coach Sean Miller couldn’t - beat Pittsburgh. The Muskies have made their way back into the Sweet 16 for a third consecutive season with an exhilarating win over the Panthers. Jordan Crawford is making a name for himself on a national scene here for something aside from dunking on LeBron James. He put up another 27 points in Sunday’s win.

KANSAS – Count me amongst the nearly 44 percent of people in America (according to ESPN.com’s online pool) that bought into Kansas being the team to beat. They failed to put 40 minutes together in Thursday’s opening round versus Lehigh and only had a lead at the 2-0 mark as they got knocked out by Northern Iowa, 69-67.

OHIO STATE – With Kansas officially out, the Buckeyes are the top team in the Midwest Region and they are playing like it. Not only are the Jayhawks out of the mix, but so too have gone No. 3 Georgetown and No. 4 Maryland. Evan Turner shook off one of the worst night’s of his career by tossing up a triple-double 75-66 win over Georgia Tech.

CORNELL – The Big Red followed up their first-ever tournament win by winning a second tournament game and advance to the Sweet 16 as they are the lowest remaining seed in the tourney. Now, they get the daunting task of playing the tournament’s highest ranked team left standing, Kentucky.

BIG EAST – All the talk surrounding the Big East entering the tournament suggested that the conference would once again flex its muscle. However, half of the league’s tournament-high eight teams couldn’t get out of Round 1, including Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame and Marquette. Pittsburgh and Villanova joined their league foes with second-round departures. Only Syracuse and West Virginia are left standing.

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