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NCAA Tournament: In Sweet Sixteen, expect the Madness to continue at the ...

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RALEIGH, N.C. - Virginia helped the ACC save face Sunday night.


The Cavaliers, who were awarded the top seed in the NCAA East Region, defeated enigmatic eighth-seeded Memphis, 78-60, in a Round of 32 game at the PNC Center and are the lone remaining team from the self-proclaimed super conference, whose mystique took a beating when it lost bluebloods North Carolina, Duke, Pitt, Syracuse and N.C. State by the end of the first week.


The 30-6 Cavaliers, who won both the ACC regular season and tournament, will carry the ACC's tattered flag into Madison Square Garden this week when they play fourth-seeded and Big Ten tournament champion Michigan State in a ridiculously late 10:10 p.m. game on Friday.


'We wanted to get to New York,' Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. 'That was the goal. Last year, we were one game short on two different occasions. We had a chance to do it in the preseason NIT and we lost to Delaware, Then, we got to the final eight in the NIT and lost to Iowa. So this is it. The Sweet 16 is the rarefied air of college basketball.'


The last time Virginia got this far was 1995 and no one knows how long the euphoria will last.


This has been a competitive tournament with unpredictable results. So why should the later rounds be any different? Parity is here. No one is immune. Seven double-digit seeds - North Dakota State, Mercer, Dayton, Tennessee, Stanford, Stephen F. Austin and Harvard - won Round of 64 games and there have already been six overtime games.


Top-seeded Wichita State, which won 35 straight games, is no longer perfect, having been dispatched by youthful Kentucky Sunday. Forwards Andrew Wiggins of Kansas and Jabari Parker of Duke - two of the most decorated freshmen in the country - are gone, as is likely National Player of the Year Doug McDermott of Creighton. Hall of Fame coaches such as Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, Roy Williams of North Carolina and Mike Krzyzewski of Duke are sitting at home.


The SEC is 7-0 and has three teams -Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee - in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2007. The Big Ten also has three representatives - Michigan State, Michigan and Wisconsin - while the Big East has vanished.


This is the future of the tournament.


In the Round of 64, any team can win. Sometimes the cream rises. Sometimes it curdles. Normally, the higher seed wins in the Round of 32 and there are three No. 1 seeds - Arizona, Florida and Virginia - still standing. But the Round of 64 games Thursday and Friday were so competitive, other teams looked exhausted in the Saturday and Sunday games while teams like 10th seed Stanford, which stunned second-seeded Kansas, and seventh-seeded UConn, which defeated Villanova, appeared energized.


Grant Halverson/Getty Images


In some way, it's good some of the traditional heavyweights aren't here. It only adds to the excitement of a wide-open tournament.


Florida and Arizona may be the favorites, but any one of 10 teams could win it. Besides the Virginia-Michigan State clash, Sweet 16 matchups are already drawing national buzz, like the bitter Bluegrass rematch between fourth-seeded Louisville and eighth seed Kentucky in Indianapolis, Florida against fourth-seeded and Pac 12 tournament champion UCLA in Memphis, and Arizona facing fourth-seeded San Diego State in Anaheim.


Virginia prepared for the sprint to the finish by surgically disposing of wild and undisciplined Memphis (24-10). Bennett, whose team lost to Tennessee by 35 back in December, has proven he is one of the best young coaches in the country and has done a great job rejuvenating this smart, deep, unselfish team, which has adopted the motto, 'Embrace the Pace,' and has made ACC


opponents work hard on both offense and defense.


Joe Harris, a 6-6 senior guard who scored 16 points and had five rebounds, may be the most visible star, but the Cavs are so balanced, any one of several players can lead them in scoring. Virginia had five players hit double figures against Memphis, shooting an efficient 30-for-54 while holding Memphis to just 20 points in the first half, wearing the Tigers out with size and strength at every position.


'They are probably the best defensive team I've ever played against,' Memphis guard Joe Jackson said. 'The way they see the ball, never lose sight of the basketball. They help each other out every possession. You will never get any easy layup on them.'


The Tigers raised the white flag early. 'We could sense their frustration and we fed off it,' Virginia's 6-5 guard Malcom Brogdon said.


Whether that will be enough to deal with Michigan State's now-healthy 6-10 senior Adreian Payne and Tom Izzo's three other future NBA draft choices is yet to be determined.


But this is a tournament where anything can happen and already has.


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