Alright, I’m pissed. The first two rounds of the tournament were a mixed bag at best. Day One was a bunch of boring basketball, with very few surprises and even fewer upsets. Day Two did have some good games, and was probably the best day of the tournament so far. The second round games were fairly decent, even though CBS managed to squish all the best games together in the same time slots.

After the jumble of the first weekend, I was all pumped for the Sweet 16 games. There were great teams, intriguing matchups, and a boatload of storylines out there for the taking. I curled up with some almonds, a case of Amstel Light, and high hopes for Thursday and Friday.

And…there was no great reward for this action. Eight games played, and only ONE Sweet 16 contest was closer than 10 points? The hell?

A recap of this sad state of affairs, after the jump.

Let’s start off with the Thursday games, examining them through the use of a totally gratuitous letter grade scale.

XAVIER 79, West Virginia 75: The only close game of the entire Sweet 16, and it didn’t even start out that way. Xavier came out and looked like they were going to blow the doors off the joint, so much so that I purposefully watched UNC’s drubbing of Washington State until midway through the second half. Even though both teams made some plays, this game unfortunately became a matter of foul trouble. Would WVU have pulled it out if Joe Alexander doesn’t foul out early in OT? We’ll never know. Regardless, in a bad field of games, this is the only one that I’d ever want to watch a replay of. GRADE: A-

NORTH CAROLINA 68, Washington State 47: Honestly, I didn’t understand all of these people saying that Wazzu had a chance. That’s not to take anything away from Tony Bennett’s team, but the talent deficit in this game might have been the greatest of any Sweet 16 matchup (even moreso than UCLA-WKU). What started off as a promising game quickly descended into the basketball equivalent of a three-legged bear being beaten to death with a tire iron. Bonus points for Wazzu holding UNC under 70, though. GRADE: D 

LOUISVILLE 79, Tennessee 60: The game I was looking forward to the most in the Sweet 16 was also EASILY the most disappointing. Both teams looked like crap — Louisville had a bunch of first half turnovers, and Tennessee still couldn’t figure out what the hell they were doing. What happened to this Tennessee team down the stretch? Did the win against Memphis cause them to peak a month too early? GRADE: D-

UCLA 88, Western Kentucky 78: Another game that people expected big things of — some were even predicting upset. Um, no. I give WKU credit for coming back from that 90-point deficit and making it a bit of a ballgame towards the end, but the whole thing smacked of a good chance wasted. I think this would be a good time to mention that, having watched UCLA play in the last three NCAA tournaments, I really don’t enjoy them at all. If you’re a fan of the way the Bruins have played in these games, then bump the grade up a level. Otherwise… GRADE: C-

So Thursday’s games didn’t look too good…that GPA would land you on academic probation at most colleges, unless you’re playing basketball at Georgia or UNLV. Were Friday’s games much better? Let’s take a look:

DAVIDSON 73, Wisconsin 56: This one was entertaining for two reasons. The first was the continued dominance of Stephen Curry. I’m happy that there’s a player who is performing at this level in the 2008 tournament, and we’ll be talking about his remarkable exploits for years to come. The other reason was the shock value of watching Wisconsin fold like the Clinton campaign down the stretch. Was it a great game? Not really. But it was the best game of the day, so I guess that’s worth something. GRADE: B-

TEXAS 82, Stanford 62: It looked as if Stanford would make it a ballgame, but then Texas dropped the anvil and it was all over. Other than the enjoyment of watching the Lopez twins get bounced, there wasn’t a lot to recommend this contest. GRADE: C-

MEMPHIS 92, Michigan State 74: The last two games of the day were games in name only. All credit goes to Calipari and company for completely dismantling Michigan State. This is the MSU team that I expected would show up last weekend…because this is the MSU team that was present throughout most of the Big Ten schedule. Inconsistent and soft. GRADE: D+

KANSAS 72, Villanova 57: One of those “This game was not as close as the final score” types of games. You know it’s bad when Memphis is blowing out their opponent by 25 points…yet CBS does not cut away to the other game because it’s just as big of a blowout. GRADE: D-

Eight games. One A-. One B-. Terribly disappointing. I think we’re owed a spectacular Elite 8, and hopefully we’ll get one — maybe these last two days have simply separated out the chaff.