LOS ANGELES — LaQuinton Ross was changing in Ohio State's locker room before Thursday's Sweet 16 matchup with Arizona when a Staples Center employee informed the sophomore forward whose locker he was using.

Much to his delight, it was Kobe Bryant's.

"To find out I had that locker, it felt great," Ross said. "That's one of my favorite players growing up and somebody I model my game after."

A few hours later, Ross sank a shot reminiscent of so many his locker-mate has hit in this building, a thunderbolt that silenced a mostly pro-Arizona crowd and ensured Ohio State an Elite Eight matchup with either La Salle or Wichita State.

With the score tied after a Mark Lyons three-point play capped a late Arizona comeback from a 10-point deficit, Aaron Craft used a high ball screen from Ross to try to create a mismatch but drew a double team instead. As a result, Craft whipped a pass to Ross spotted up to the left of the top of the key and then shouted "knockdown" as his teammate buried the 3-pointer over late-recovering Grant Jerrett with two seconds left to secure a 73-70 victory.

[Slideshow: Best photos of the NCAA tournament]

"I'm glad he listened to me," Craft joked afterward. "Sometimes you have to tell your guys what to do. I don't think he needed me to. It's just habit. He's a great player and it's great to see him knock that down."

Basketball is a very tough game if you can't score. Or pass. Or rebound. Or even hold onto the ball.

Syracuse showed up in the Sweet 16 ready to scrap. Indiana apparently thought it had been scheduled for Friday night. The result? A 61-50 whitewashing ... or, more properly, Orange crushing.

This one started ugly and never got any prettier. Indiana had no answers for Syracuse's zone defense, turning over the ball 10 times in the first 10 minutes and 12 times overall in the first half. The other end of the court was no prettier as the Hoosiers had no answers for Michael Carter-Williams, who had 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting, and at one point Syracuse held an 18-point first-half lead.

[Slideshow: Best photos of the NCAA tournament]

Thanks to strong play near the end of the first half and at the start of the second, Indiana closed to within six, but could get no closer. Battling Syracuse this night was like playing in waist-deep maple syrup; nothing happened quickly or smoothly. No

(USA Today Sports Images)Indiana has been one of the favorites to win the national title all season long, but that doesn't mean the Hoosiers can't use a good pep talk. And coach Tom Crean just happened to have an ace in the hole Thursday night before the Sweet 16 game against Syracuse.

Crean called on his brother-in-law, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who won the Super Bowl last month beating his brother, Jim, and the San Francisco 49ers.

LOS ANGELES — The last time their teams met in the NCAA tournament, Thad Matta earned bragging rights over close friend Sean Miller thanks to a late comeback, a last-gasp 3-pointer and a strong overtime.

Thursday night's Sweet 16 matchup between second-seeded Ohio State and sixth-seeded Arizona again ended with Miller congratulating Matta – and again the way it happened could not have been more dramatic.

Moments after Mark Lyons completed an Arizona rally from a 10-point deficit with a game-tying three-point play, Aaron Craft drew a double team on a high ball screen and found LaQuinton Ross spotted up behind the arc to the left of the top of the key. Ross buried the game-winning 3-pointer, giving Ohio State a 73-70 victory and advancing the Buckeyes to face the winner of Thursday's nightcap between ninth-seeded Wichita State and 13th-seeded La Salle in the West Regional finals.

[Slideshow: Best photos of the NCAA tournament]

That Ohio State is now one win away from a second straight Final Four would have been a mild surprise as recently as mid-February when the Buckeyes lost three of four to fall into fifth place in the Big Ten. It was then that complementary scorers finally began to emerge to lessen the pressure on Deshaun Thomas and Ohio State's formidable defense.

Craft scored 14 or more points in five of Ohio State's nine games prior to Thursday night, erupting for 18 and sinking the game-winning 3-pointer in the round of 32 against Iowa State. Ross also tallied 17 against the Cyclones and starting forward Sam Thompson had a career day against Iona with 20.

Marquette needed every moment to defeat Davidson and Butler by a total of three points in the tourney's opening two rounds.

The school's Sweet 16 triumph, however, didn't feature any element of procrastination. Using an unrelenting attack from the start, Marquette cashed 2013's first Elite Eight ticket with a 71-61 East Region win over Miami at the Verizon Center in Washington on Thursday night.

The victory via steamrolling gives Marquette its seventh Elite Eight appearance in school history and first since reaching the Final Four in 2003. The basketball world now waits to see if the Golden Eagles will need to go through its old coach to reach Atlanta. Tom Crean's Indiana team was set to play Syracuse 30 minutes after the end of the Marquette-Miami game.

Marquette's scoring was led by Jamil Wilson (16 points, 8 rebounds), Vander Blue (14 points) and Davante Gardner (14). It was Wilson (above, right) who hit a 3-pointer with 9:08 left in the first half to give Marquette its first double-digit lead of the tournament. The third-seeded Golden Eagles were consistent from the floor from start to finish, shooting 27-of-50 (54 percent) on the night.

It didn't take long for CBS broadcaster Doug Gottlieb to stick his foot in his mouth on Thursday night. After being introduced by studio host Greg Gumbel, the analyst made the confounding decision to point out that he was lone white person on the set.

The other four members of the March Madness studio show — Gumbel, Greg Anthony, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley — are African-American.

"It was not a smart thing to say and I apologize," Gottlieb later said in a statement released by CBS.

[Slideshow: Best photos of the NCAA tournament]

From USA Today:

(@PeepsBracket)

Well, this gives a whole new meaning to the term "Sweet" 16, doesn't it? It's a NCAA tournament bracket made primarily from Peeps, the most divisive Easter candy around. According to @PeepsBracket, this piece was made by the Boys and Girls Club of Westminster, Maryland.

While it would have been even cooler had the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State advanced this far, this is still one of the best homemade brackets we've ever seen. From the Sherwood Brown dreads on the FGCU bunny to the wheat shocks on Wichita State's, there's something for everyone.

To show off some of the details, here's a closer look at each half of the bracket:

Via @NewsPressSeth

Ladies and gentlemen, it's Dunk City time. Florida Gulf Coast University's improbable run through the NCAA tournament has inspired legions of fans — hey, who knew FGCU had students, much less fans? — to show their allegiance to their newly prominent alma mater in ever-stranger ways. As we count down the hours to FGCU's Friday night tipoff against in-state rival Florida, let's take a quick look at some of the finest, wildest and weirdest denizens of Dunk City.

First, let's establish just what we're talking about here when we talk Dunk City. To refresh your memory:

Clear? Good. Now, let's continue.

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"Eagles Throwin' Alleys"
Check this video, filmed this week at the FGCU campus and featuring several Eagles players. It's a little mellow for a high-wire act like Dunk City, but hey, they're new to this. We'll let it slide.

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Via @kmarkobarstool

FGCU Supercut
Fan of the year nominee right here. Nice job on the stylist's part, and brave move on the recipient's part. It