Villanova should win over Pitt Saturday if both teams play then the way they played last night.

Ugly basketball all around. What a disappoint night not only from a display-on-the-floor standpoint, but my picks! Were you burned by Memphis or Duke like I was?

WEST:

No. 1 Connecticut 72, No. 5 Purdue 60. Purdue couldn’t get it going to the point where it made a big enough run. The game was constantly a seven-, 10-, five-, eight-point UConn lead. Frustrating to watch because neither team really played terrifically, and the Huskies seemed to, I don’t know, chug their way to this win? A.J. Price put up 15, but also another five shots that were ill-advised. Robbie Hummel as held to two points in the second half, and that’ll never do against UConn’s bigs. Thabeet had 15 points and 15 rebounds, and without him, UConn may not win this game.

No. 3 Missouri 102, No. 2 Memphis 91. Most points allowed for the Tigers since Cal’s been the coach. And I deserve this. Memphis was my pick to come out of this region, but I had called Missouri as a team on the immediate rise on this site back in November. Should’ve stuck with it all. Shawn Taggart was spotted crying on the bench as the minutes ticked down. May search for that photo today. Now, the rumors about Calipari to Kentucky begin to swirl.

EAST:

No. 1 Pittsburgh 60, No. 4 Xavier 55. Levance Fields’ sick crossover that led to the 3 to give Pitt the lead for good may have been one of three highlight-worthy plays last night. A terrific effort from Xavier, but its dysfunctional play (noticing a pattern?) in the second half allowed Pitt to get a few extra offensive rebounds, a few extra steals and a few more opportunities. Sean Miller is going to be sick when he watches the tape of this game and realizes his team threw away about 10 points. Pitt, meanwhile, has escaped in three straight games. Another one of these efforts means the end of the road.

No. 3 Villanova 77, No. 2 Duke 54. Worst loss for Duke since the epic 30-point beatdown at the hands of Vegas in 1990. And this had to be K’s nightmare. Scheyer couldn’t create, Villanova broke Duke down and the Blue Devils looked as average as I’ve seen them all season. Scheyer and Gerald Henderson went a barren 4 for 32 from the field, and Duke shot worse than 27 percent total from the floor, the worst in its Tournament history. Just a disaster for the guys in white last night. Caught this unsurprising stat: Duke hasn’t beaten a top-four seed since it won it all in 2001. Now Villanova looks like the hottest team in this Dance.