2012 NCAA Tournament: Baylor, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas Advance To Elite Eight

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It wasn’t easy for any of them, but when the dust settled on Friday night three of college basketball’s premier programs -- plus Baylor -- had advanced to the Elite Eight.

Just how loaded is this field of regional finalists? It includes a group of programs with a combined 21 national championships, five coaches who have won a national title and seven who have paced the sidelines in a national championship game (sorry, Scott Drew).

There were multiple photographers keeping an eye on John Calipari during Friday night’s matchup between Kentucky and Indiana, monitoring his every move and expression. Turns out Calipari Cam is a national treasure, giving us eternal joy in the form of numerous hilarious faces -- some 20 photos, all of the Kentucky head man.

Calipariface is real, and really excellent.

For up-to-the-minute scores on all NCAA Tournament games, please check out SI.com’s complete scoreboard.

For more on the 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket, stick around SB Nation’s NCAA Tournament hub. There you’ll find a complete printable NCAA Tournament bracket and tons of analysis on each game as the road to the Final Four continues.

No. 2-seeded Kansas has battled back from a one-point halftime deficit to lead No. 11 seed N.C. State 50-43 with about ten minutes to go in the second half.

After trailing 33-32 at the break, the Jayhawks have held the Wolfpack to just ten second-half points and allowed leading scorer C.J. Leslie to attempt just one shot.

For up-to-the-minute scores on all NCAA Tournament games, please check out SI.com’s complete scoreboard.

For more on the 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket, stick around SB Nation’s NCAA Tournament hub. There you’ll find a complete printable NCAA Tournament bracket and tons of analysis on each game as the road to the Final Four continues.

This GIF explains a lot. This whole time, Darius Miller has just been playing in the Matrix. Apparently he took the blue pill before the tournament and has refused to eat that pesky red pill since.

And because he’s hanging out in the Matrix, we get GIFs like this.

The No. 2-seeded Kansas Jayhawks fought back from an early 9-1 deficit, but still trail No. 11 seed N.C. State 33-32 at halftime of the second Midwest regional semifinal on Friday night.

The Wolfpack took control right away, taking an advantage of some poor Kansas shooting to gain an early eight-point advantage. They pushed their lead to double digits before the Jayhawks scored their second field goal, but KU then responded with six unanswered points to set up the dogfight for the rest of the half.

Terrence Jones has been Kentucky’s best player thus far with 12 points and four rebounds. He’s hit one three and has a great alley-oop finish, among other baskets as part of a great first-half performance.

Indiana isn’t going to get easy buckets inside all game and they’re not going to continue to shoot 58 percent from the floor. They’re going to have to slow down the tempo to one that’s closer to their liking, keep themselves out of foul trouble and start hitting some outside shots to keep up with the Wildcats in the second half.

N.C. State took control early, jumping out to a 9-1 lead in the first three and a half minutes of play. They pushed their lead to double digits before the Jayhawks scored their second field goal, but Kansas pushed back and scored six unanswered points to keep the game from getting out of control. Still, N.C. State has managed to hold the lead for the time being.

For up-to-the-minute scores on all NCAA Tournament games, please check out SI.com’s complete scoreboard.

Why hello there Jim and John Harbaugh. Nice to see you two at the NCAA Tournament

If you’re wondering what they’re doing at an Indiana game, Tom Crean is their brother-in-law.

This will probably be the lasting image of the tournament for a lot of people. Throughout Ohio’s run to the Sweet 16, Clark Kellogg has been keeping one eye on his game and another on Ohio. His son plays for the Bobcats, and Kellogg has been watching from afar, tracking Ohio’s run like a proud father. The raw emotion has been incredibly refreshing.

And as it was all coming to an end, Kellogg’s pained face was front and center. As it became clear Ohio was going to fall short in overtime on Friday against UNC, Kellogg reacted just before he went on the air, and TBS was there to show a cut-in. The pain on his face was apparent -- a tough moment to watch.

Here is Offutt’s shot:

For up-to-the-minute scores on all NCAA Tournament games, please check out SI.com’s complete scoreboard.

The Musketeers fell behind in a big way right off the bat, but battled back throughout, managing to come as close as within four points of the lead early in the second half. Unfortunately, their woes from the field began to multiply and they began looking more disjointed as the evening wore on. They fell behind by 10 points once again in the last 4:00 of regulation and had two separate stretches of longer than four minutes without scoring after halftime.In particular, the Musketeers were abysmal from behind the three-point line, going just 3-for-15 on three-point attempts.

For up-to-the-minute scores on all NCAA Tournament games, please check out SI.com’s complete scoreboard.

Top-seeded North Carolina is clinging to a 42-41 lead and fighting for its tournament life against an Ohio team looking to become the first 13 seed to ever advance to the Elite Eight.

The Tar Heels led 29-22 at halftime and extended that lead to 10 on multiple occasions, but the Bobcats -- who have trailed by as many as 15 -- shot their way back into the game with a three-point barrage. For the game, OU is 9-of-22 from beyond the arc.

If you haven’t yet, watch Quincy Acy’s first dunk of the night. It was pretty powerful and quite spectacular. But you didn’t think Acy, dunker extraordinaire, was done yet, did you? Of course not.

Let’s try this again, off an inbounds play. Acy probably bruised the rim and Kenny Frease’s ego.

North Carolina threatened to open up a big lead and let the game get out of hand for Ohio, but the Bobcats were able to battle back and stay in it. They will need to regroup in a big way and get more of their shots to fall in the second half to keep alive their dreams of a national championship.

For up-to-the-minute scores on all NCAA Tournament games, please check out SI.com’s complete scoreboard.

Here is the videographic proof of said dunkaroo:

As you can see, Acy followed the dunk up by saying “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH,” which could be mistaken for a scream of pure exuberance. But Acy was actually attempting to formulate a discourse between himself and Xavier, but couldn’t quite find the words.

For up-to-the-minute scores on all NCAA Tournament games, please check out SI.com’s complete scoreboard.

For more on the 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket, stick around SB Nation’s NCAA Tournament hub. There you’ll find a complete printable NCAA Tournament bracket and tons of analysis on each game as the road to the Final Four continues.

For up-to-the-minute scores on all NCAA Tournament games, please check out SI.com’s complete scoreboard.

For more on the 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket, stick around SB Nation’s NCAA Tournament hub. There you’ll find a complete printable NCAA Tournament bracket and tons of analysis on each game as the road to the Final Four continues.

Xavier are getting outworked on the boards and they’re turning the ball over. Baylor have five steals already. The Musketeers are just not in the same physical category as Baylor, and it shows.

For up-to-the-minute scores on all NCAA Tournament games, please check out SI.com’s complete scoreboard.

For more on this story, be sure to visit Carolina March and keep checking the SB Nation StoryStream for more updates.

We are a precious few hours away from the second slew of Sweet 16 games, which means you need some bold predictions on who is going to win and how they’re going to do it.

Does Indiana have a shot at a second win over top-seeded Kentucky? Can Ohio keep the dream of a 13-seed in the Final Four alive? Will double-digit seeds Xavier and NC State BOTH crash the Elite Eight?

The 2012 Printable NCAA Tournament Bracket is updated and available now.

Friday, March 23