I mean, yeah, the title says it all. The second half of the Sweet Sixteen brought us what we’ve all been waiting for.

Auburn and UNC toughed it out throughout the first half, at the end of which the Tigers took the lead on a drive to the rim that basically ended the half. Then they exploded out of the break, taking an eleven-point lead less than four minutes in and going on to dominate, though their victory was marred by a grisly injury to Chuma Okeke, who managed to stumble off the court with some assistance. Meanwhile, Michigan State crushed LSU with an unbelievable offensive rebounding performance. The Tigers (the ones from Louisiana, not Alabama) managed to boost their numbers to match Michigan State’s, but they had just one offensive rebound through most of the first half. One! They’re the eighth-best team in the country on that front!

In the late window, Virginia Tech seemed like winners against Duke until late, when the Blue Devils put on a burst of speed to build a sizeable margin. VT came back and, with just fractions of a second left, with the ball, down two, drew up a brilliantly executed play to tie the game…which Ahmed Hill, who had starred for the Hokies up to that point, couldn’t quite get in. For the second game in a row, Duke survived on a bit of rim-related luck. And Hill was left stunned, having missed what seemed (at first glance) like an easy dunk. In fairness, the little time remaining probably influenced his split-second decision to merely give the ball a shove rather than dunk it.

Meanwhile, Kentucky and Houston played a brilliant back-and-forth game that Kentucky pulled out a lead in late. Then the Cougars roared back, holding a 58-57 advantage and the ball with under a minute left. That’s when the Wildcats came up big, with P. J. Washington making a monstrous block that Tyler Herro controlled and took back up-court for three, making two victory-sealing free throws shortly thereafter. All in all, drama was alive and well on Friday. In other words…

We’ve got madness, ladies and gentlemen!