Stanford escapes into the Elite Eight

That was a close one: Stanford hung in and held off North Carolina, 72-65. With all due respect to Baylor and my beloved Tennessee, if the Cardinal had lost, you might as well hand the trophy to Connecticut. Now Stanford has the chance to beat them again this year. But first, Gonzaga on Monday.

Let’s go.

On the other side of the bracket, Tennessee rose up to beat Ohio State 85-75…..after a halftime butt-chewing by Coach Pat Summitt:

“It was about an 8½,” she said, rating her halftime speech on a scale where 10 is when the paint peels off the walls. “I wasn’t real happy. But that’s what you have to do at times. You go into the locker room and get a feel. One thing about this team, they do respond. Sometimes I think they kind of like to hear the coaches going off.”…….

(Freshman Meighan) Simmons grinned as she said, “Coach went off on us in the locker room.”

Notre Dame beat on Oklahoma, 78-53. They’ll face Tennessee Moonday.