The long weekend gave us proof yet one more time that the NCAA college basketball tournament is indeed the greatest show on earth.

    As usual, there were buzzer-beaters, overtime thrillers and shocking blowouts. Coaching genius was on display, and lest anyone ever forget, Cinderella never dies, she just fades away during the off-season, sure to return every March.

    The overriding sentiment among basketball fans in this region has to be validation of the suspicion the Southeastern Conference wasn't a very good league this season. The ultimate proof lies in numerical form: 1-for-6. That's the SEC's worksheet when it comes to its teams advancing to the Sweet 16. Tennessee was the only club to make it through the first two rounds.

    That isn't a surprise. The Vols were the league's top outfit all year, and even they were fortunate to get out of Birmingham still alive after Butler took Bruce Pearl's club to overtime. The rest -- Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Georgia, Arkansas and Mississippi State -- are all done for the year. The Commodores were the biggest embarrassment, falling to No. 13 seed Siena by 21 points in a game Vandy never led. Mississippi State did manage to play top-seeded Memphis straight-up, but the other side of the coin saw the Razorbacks completely annihilated by North Carolina.

    While questioning the overall strength of a conference, the ACC has to be red-faced today too. Those Tar Heels are the only entry remaining, and regular-season power Duke should have lost to lowly Belmont before finally bowing to West Virginia.

    That's in contrast to the Big East and Pac 10, who each have three teams in the Sweet 16.

    As for Cinderella, can there be a better pair of nominees than Davidson and Western Kentucky? Davidson shocked Gonzaga and mighty Georgetown back-to-back, and the Hilltoppers got a 26-footer at the buzzer to squeak by Drake and eventually advance to this weekend's showdown with UCLA. By the way, the Bruins have yielded an average of just 39 points per game but had to come back from 10 down to get past Texas A&M Saturday.

    Under the radar teams? Besides the two obvious Cinderella's, watch out for defensive stalwarts Wisconsin and Washington State as well as crafty Tom Izzo's Michigan State crew. As for an athletic matchup, don't miss this week's Tennessee-Louisville shootout in the East Regional semis up in Charlotte.

    And speaking of Charlotte, North Carolina now gets to shuttle from the triangle area -- they played last week's games in nearby Raleigh -- to neighborly Charlotte. Two more wins and the 'Heels will get to advance to the Final Four without ever having to board a plane.

    From my corner, if that's the only negative about this masterpiece of a sporting event, we don't need to change much. Let's hurry up and continue, shall we?

    Phil Paramore's column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in The Dothan Eagle. He can be heard weekday mornings from 7-9 on AM 560 WOOF. He can be reached at www.woofradio.com.