What an absolutely wonderful Sweet 16 this was.

You take out the Memphis and George Mason games and they were all thrillers at some point. Classic March Madness right here in 2006. I don't think I have ever seen a better set of eight games in two days in my life. I mean this week's amount of big shots is maybe a whole tournament's worth sometime.

Not only was the Sweet 16 great, the entire tournament has been a pretty thrilling affair. I mean, George freaking Mason is in the Elite Eight. Before this tournament started, if I were to wager a guess, I would've said George Mason was a Division III school on the east coast that could care less about basketball. But they've knocked off traditional basketball powers Michigan State and North Carolina.

Then, of course, they shocked the Shockers (sorry, had to use it) of Wichita State, who themselves weren't supposed to be in the Sweet 16. I didn't think the Shockers would get by Seton Hall in the first round. (Obviously the administration had Seton Hall advancing a little more in their brackets, as well).

And despite Georgetown's loss in the Sweet 16, they were back in the national spotlight where they belong. UCLA is also back. Texas is trying to win every NCAA championship in the world. LSU's basketball program is finally getting some respect. Memphis was supposed to be the weakest No. 1 seed. UConn is the only thing keeping most brackets alive — barely.

I mean what a great, great tournament. This week is that week when you look at your bracket and you just give up and realize that there is some great basketball being played right now.

I think this tournament is an excellent example of just how great basketball is. The mid-majors made and one (does George Mason count as mid-major?) still is making some noise. I think that's a reflection of how many great basketball players there are in America. It seems like every one of the 65 teams that started in this thing have at least one player that is just as talented as some of the better players in the nation. In the end, though, depth weeds out the mid-majors as the bigger schools with more of said talent eventually prevail.

But that's not always the case. Because the great thing about basketball is that sometimes you just get damn lucky. If you play as hard as you can and you're hanging with one of those big schools, you might get lucky. You might just have the big school take it easy, or freak out that you're playing so well. Basketball is great that way — anyone can really beat anyone on any given night.

You here that in every sport all the time, but I think it's more true in basketball than maybe any other sport. We've seen that through three rounds of this year's NCAA Tournament and I have a feeling we'll see it for three more.

To borrow a line from the NBA, I love this game.