SAN JOSE, CA – MARCH 23: The Xavier Musketeers celebrate their 73 to 71 win over the Arizona Wildcats during the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament West Regional at SAP Center on March 23, 2017 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

It’s Friday! That’s a good thing.

It’s also early in the morning (unless you’re reading this later in the day, which, I guess is possible, though aside from whatever dumb-but-timeless jokes I make from here on out it’s going to be woefully out of date), and if you’re like me you stayed up to an absurdly late hour in the Eastern time zone to watch the end of Arizona-Xavier.

But many of you likely didn’t, because of that whole absurdly late thing, so here’s what happened.

Xavier won

That about sums it up.

Arizona led 49-48 with 13:27 remaining in the game, and Alonzo Trier took over. He scored fifteen straight for the Wildcats, but Xavier kept pace, and when Trier sank a bomb for his final three points of the run, Arizona led 64-61 with 5:30 remaining.

The Wildcats then pulled away, with the lead as much as seven at 71-64 with under three minutes to go.

And then, Xavier went on a 9-0 run.

Here’s video of Xavier going on a 9-0 run:

And that was actually that. Here’s Arizona failing to score late (well, for the last time, they did a lot of failing to score throughout the final few minutes):

Bill Murray loved it:

If Murray’s present for another title run (as he was with the Cubs), he might just retire from sports fandom altogether.

Now, it’s time for other NCAA Tournament happenings.

Other NCAA Tournament happenings

KANSAS CITY, MO – MARCH 23: Dillon Brooks #24 of the Oregon Ducks poses for a perfectly geometric picture during Oregon’s Sweet 16 game against Michigan. Play was stopped for 4 hours so Brooks could be perfectly aligned under teh basket for the shot. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Up first was Oregon, which beat Michigan in a closely fought game. Here’s the look Michigan’s Derrick Walton Jr. had to win it at the buzzer:

Michigan had a great run, though, winning the Big Ten Tournament and then making it to the second week of March Madness in the wake of their plane sliding off the runway in Detroit.

Oregon advances to play Kansas, which throttled Purdue to the tune of a 98-66 victory. It was a close first half, but the Jayhawks outscored the Boilermakers 51-26 in the second half to move on.

That was the only dud of the evening, though, as West Virginia pushed Gonzaga to the limit.

That was a big shot for Carter. Unfortunately, he later kept the team on his back while jumping out of a plane, mistaking them for a parachute:

I’d encourage you to watch the entire WVU sequence, there, though. (We broke it down here!) It’s incredibly bad. Here, I’d recommend this version:

So half the Elite 8 is set, with the remainder to be determined tonight. Catch the Madness!

(That slogan hasn’t caught on, hard to imagine why.)

Quick hits

Source: Vudu

-Vudu, the digital movie rental/purchase service owned by Walmart, will allow you to scan your own discs and get a digital copy. This is, in theory, awesome.

-Please, please, please read this NHL trade value column from Dave Lozo, which is absolutely, 100% not a series of thinly-veiled-yet-spot-on Bill Simmons jokes. NO ONE DENIES THIS!

-Brad Stevens is still bitter about Al Horford getting a call against Butler back in 2007, which sounds about right.

-Georgetown fired John Thompson III.

-Barstool’s Big Cat crashed the NFL’s conference call to suggest replacing extra points with Andy Reid climbing a greased pole. It made slightly more sense in context, though not much more.

-Apropos of nothing (which would be a solid alternate name for this particular feature), where in the world do people buy these dinosaur costume? Whoever holds the trademark for those babies has to be filthy rich by now:

View post on imgur.com

-Also here’s a dog doing the breast stroke, because why not?

Forget doggy paddle

-Doug Gottlieb is interviewing for the Oklahoma State coaching job. Sure, why not?

-Charles Barkley said if he was dying, murdering Skip Bayless on live television would be on his bucket list. Sure, why not?

-LaVar Ball was on First Take. It went worse than you’re probably thinking it did.

-This is important:

Fake news headline I wish was real

Area Man Marks Changing Of Seasons Via Reese’s Holiday Products

One last glorious bit of procrastination

Scottish weather, man. Wait for it.

Scottish weather

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.