Kansas, Memphis, Georgetown storm into Sweet 16

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If you happen to run into a member of the NCAA selection committee this week, be sure to shake his hand or pat him on the back. A few complimentary words would be nice, too. Considering how much flak these guys usually take this time of year, a rare acknowledgement of a job well done will undoubtedly be appreciated.

A little over a week ago, the aforementioned committee set out to seed the 65 participants for this year's NCAA tournament. Over the past four days, those participants did their best to make the selectors look like geniuses. Normally by the end of the first weekend, the bracket these people worked so tirelessly to produce is barely recognizable due to a blizzard of upsets. Not this year.

Of the 12 teams the committee felt were deserving of a top-three seed, 10 advanced to the Sweet 16. That hasn't happened since 1996. None of the 29 teams the committee relegated to a double-digit seed made it out of opening weekend. That hadn't happened since '95.

It's a good thing athletic administrators aren't allowed to participate in your office tourney pool (as we learned from Rick Neuheisel), because these guys would undoubtedly be running away with it. Sure, they weren't perfect, having apparently short-changed UNLV by a few seeds. And some of their more questionable at-large picks (Stanford, Arkansas) didn't exactly return the favor. But when the top seeds turn out as dominant as this year's have, it's hard to get too worked about those last two 12 seeds. (Unless, of course, you're Jim Boeheim.)

There is a downside to all that chalk, however. Four days and 48 different basketball games have failed to provide the sort of clarity we've come to expect after the tourney's first weekend.

On paper at least, the road to the national title is no less cluttered than it was on Selection Sunday (unless you actually considered the Brian Butch-less Badgers one of the primary obstacles). There have been a few, mild surprises -- Butler eliminating Maryland, USC drubbing the Fighting Durants, the vaunted ACC suddenly finding itself with more teams left in the NIT than the NCAAs. But by and large, the teams we viewed as the strongest contenders going in took care of business, and the teams we viewed as frauds cooperated by bowing out.

As a result, all we can do is nit-pick the 16 remaining contenders. All are technically "hot" going into next week -- but, much like cups of coffee, some are hotter than others.

Scalding

Kansas: Not only have the Jayhawks now won 13 in a row, they were also easily the most impressive of the four No. 1 seeds on opening weekend, hitting a staggering 60.5 percent of their three-pointers -- 23 of 38 -- against Niagara and Kentucky. They'll need to keep up the hot hands in San Jose, where two of the nation's elite defensive teams, Southern Illinois and UCLA, await.

Memphis: Time to stop doubting John Calipari's team, whose winning streak reached 24 thanks to a stifling defensive performance in its 78-62 rout of Nevada. Most impressive about the Tigers was their offensive balance. The only downer: Chris Douglas-Roberts left late in the second half with an ankle sprain and didn't return. They'll certainly need him against Acie Law.

Georgetown: Much like they did against Pittsburgh in the Big East championship game, Roy Hibbert and the Hoyas asserted their physicality down the stretch to put away Boston College. Georgetown has now won 17 of its last 18 heading into a Sweet 16 matchup against an opponent it beat 86-70 earlier this season (Vanderbilt).

USC: Reportedly, the Trojans came into the tournament fresh off an 81-57 drubbing by Oregon in the Pac-10 finals, but you never would have known it watching them dismantle the Southwest Conference (Arkansas and Texas) all over again. Kevin Durant got his 30 points, but the Trojans were still able to strangle the Longhorns by bottling up normally potent point guard D.J. Augustin.

Southern Illinois: The Salukis' tenacious defense was exceptional even by their standards the first two rounds, holding Holy Cross and Virginia Tech to an average of 49.5 points. Even without injured forward Matt Shaw, SIU dominated the Hokies from start to finish while draining a season-high 12 three-pointers.