Cinderella still has a spot in the NCAA Tournament

There was a bit of traditional order in the regional semifinals last night. UNC led Marquette 40-15 at the half en route to an 18 point win.

Kansas blew out Richmond, shattering that glass slipper. But VCU beat Florida State by 1 to roll into the Elite 8. Interestingly VCU's run should squash any talk of the First Four concept being pointless. It's a bit strangely executed true, and may need a revamp. But it's not like the winners all went on to lose by 20 in the next round. VCU's now taken it run to the Elite Eight out of the very first First Four.

Butler held off Wisconsin on Thursday. Then they beat Florida in OT to punch their second straight ticket to the Final Four. Pretty much before the confetti had stopped falling after the championship game last year, people said Duke could be poised to repeat next year, while Butler would go the opposite direction after losing key personnel. Butler started out slow this year. They got crushed by Duke in a neutral floor rematch. That was the game that Kyrie Irving got hurt for Duke and was gone until the tournament. All that though, and Butler came alive at the right time. They're the first team outside of one of the Big 6 Power Conferences to go to back to back Final Fours since Jerry Tarkanian's 1990 and 1991 UNLV teams got there one step ahead of the NCAA rule committee.

Butler's coach is the first coach to make 2 Final Four appearances before the age of 35. Instead of falling to mid-major mediocrity it's Butler with 2 Final Four appearances, not Duke.

Kentucky upset overall #1 seed Ohio State last night. That sets the stage for UNC-Kentucky, college basketball's 2 winningest programs, to go head to head with the Final Four on the line. They met back in December, with UNC winning 75-73 in Chapel Hill.

Tonight UConn punched a ticket to the Final Four by edging Arizona. UConn is on one of the more memorable post-season runs ever. They may not have had to win the Big East Tournament to get into the Big Dance, but they ripped off 5 wins in 5 days to do so, and have now won 4 more. 9 straight post-season wins.

Can VCU ride its white stallion one game further? Kansas is a tall order. A beast of a team. This would be their biggest upset yet.