In what was by far last night's closest game, Big XII champs Baylor barely escaped South Dakota State: Kelli Griffin's last-second drive and layup sent the Bears to the Sweet Sixteen.

Soph PG Griffin "is doing exactly what you hope she'd do," said coach Mulkey. "She's growing and maturing and... not turning the ball over." And winning close games.

Coach Mulkey came back from a brief hospitalization (she seems to be fine now) to coach that game, thus returning her own onetime coach and boss Leon Barmore to his remarkable assistant-coach job.

Both SDSU's (Jacks and Aztecs) have now been eliminated: Stanford used its inside game (not just Appel and Pederson, but also Ogwumike) to crush San Diego State.

The Sweet Sixteen will thus consist entirely-- is it really the first time ever?-- of teams from BCS schools. It will also upend all those predictions from the Parker-and-Larkins era about how the SEC and the ACC would take over the world: this year's third-round games will include three teams from the much-maligned Pac-10, three from the Big Ten, and just one apiece from the SEC and ACC.