Last week we tried to explain higher-education hoop dreams in terms of higher-circulation news teams. Sixty-four squads (65 including Niagara's vanquished play-in foe Gawker) started out on the quest for media supremacy (and our famed dog-hugging-cat trophy), and now only eight remain. Surely, there's a lot of money riding on your bracket, so without further delay, a recap of the last week's action.

Americans are going crazy this weekend talking about underdogs-this and office pools-that. Good thing you don't live in America! But in case you find yourself waking up in an Irish stupor west of the ol' Hudson, remember that college basketball can be totally fun...if you imagine all those teams are actually media outlets! Here, we see the tenacious Marty Peretz of eighth-seeded Marquette/New Republic battle for a rebound against a nicely bronzed Katrina vanden Heuvel of ninth-seeded Michigan State/The Nation in a hard-fought East regional game. Your interest looks piqued. Still, you want to see a full bracket, right? A full bracket follows, plus first-round analysis.