Assessment of the NCAA D-I Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments, After First and Second Rounds.

The first and second rounds of the 2011 NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments are gone, as the "Sweet 16" is coming this weekend. So here's my surprises and disappointments of the first and second rounds of this year's tournament.

WOMEN

Disappointments:

• Louisiana Tech and McNeese State. Both the Lady Techsters and Cowgirls disappointed the home state crowd at CenturyTel Center this weekend. Especially the host Techsters.
• Marist. There will be a time where they'll make it to the Sweet 16.
• Vanderbilt. For a program whose women's program has more success than the men, this was a disappointment.
• South Dakota State. The Summit tourney winners for the second year in a row, yet again a disappoinment.
• Penn State. Another respectable women's hoops program, the Nittany Lions' went out in the second round to DePaul. However, their tourney efforts is being overshadowed by PSU's wrestling program, which for the first time since 1953, won the team national title this past weekend in Philly and with the legendary Cael Sanderson as coach!
• Rutgers. From Final Four a few years back to this.

Surprises:

• Gonzaga. Man has the success from the men's program transition to the women's program.
• (Wisconsin) Green Bay. Not a surprise, but you'll hear a lot more from their program in the years to come.

MEN

Disappointments:

• Michigan. Even the Fab 5 era won't save your ass. Still a great first round win, but got their asses kicked by Duke in the second round.
• Oakland Michigan. The Summit tourney winners was a big disappoinment after they got knocked of the first round. The Grizzlies, who defeated Tennessee early in the season, will be a strong force to come in the few years not only in the tournament, but also in Summit 9 competition.
• Princeton. Despite the close game with UK, the Ivy tournament winners could also make some noise next year. Still a valiant effort though.
• George Mason. Remember their '06 tournament run to Indy? There will be a time where they will do the same thing. Only time will tell.

Surprises:

• Richmond. Should be an impressive run for the Spiders if they can get through KU this weekend.
• VCU. The Rams, like the Spiders, have pretty much impressed a lot in the tournament too. It seems to me that it's their best tournament run to date. What would be awesome is if there would be an all Virginia national quarterfinal at the Alamodome on Sunday.

So there you have it. The Sweet 16 for the men and women are this weekend, as the path to either Lucas Oil Stadium or Reliant Stadium will continue for four teams.

As always, feel free to comment!