Rearview Mirror

If you slept through the weekend, here's what you missed:

NCAA - The Final Four has been decided as the upsets continued. The last remaining #1 seed, Kansas, were stunned by eleventh seeded Virginia Commonwealth 71-61. For a team that didn't expect to get an invite, it's been some kind of wild ride for VCU. Led in scoring by  Jamie Skeen with 26 points, VCU topped another, by now almost predictable, Butler upset when the Bulldogs knocked out second seeded Florida. Shelvin Mack poured in 27 points as a late overtime three-pointer got Butler home 74-71. The two battling underdogs now meet for a place in the championship decider, and for once, Butler will be the higher-seeded team.

In the other matches, another second seed, North Carolina went out at the hands of 4th seed Kentucky. UNC's 69-76 loss, along with Kansas and Florida's, meant there will be no top two seeds in the final four. Kentucky go on to meet Connecticut, who overcame Arizona 65-63. Arizona had shot on the buzzer to win the game, but JJamelle Horne's 3-point attempt bounced out, sending UConn to the Final Four for the second time in 3 years.

AFL - The opening round of the season has been completed, and there was little evidence that Collingwood shouldn't be heavy favourites to repeat last year's Premiership. Rivals St Kilda and Western Bulldogs loss, although they were beaten by Geelong (1 point) and Essendon (55) so the Cats and the Bombers will certainly be closely watched in coming weeks. However, Collingwood's ultimately emphatic 75 point win shows they are still clearly the benchmark in the competition. After Collingwood ran away with the game in the second quarter, Port launched a brave comeback to close within 16 points having trailed by 58. But the Magpies then lifted, booting 10 of the last 11 goals. Dane Swan was in fine form for the Premiers with 34 possessions.

In other matches, Carlton defeated Richmond, Adelaide ran down Hawthorn, Fremantle and West Coast edged close games over Brisbane and North Melbourne, while Sydney and Melbourne played out a dramatic draw at the MCG. Ryan O'Keefe's late behind for Sydney gave them a share of the points after leading most of the day.

Euro '12 Qualifying -Big guns Spain, Germany, Italy, Holland, France and England all racked up victories in qualifying over the weekend, all without conceding a goal. All top their groups as qualifying reaches the halfway mark on the road to the 2012 Championships, which will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine. Further games will be played on Tuesday.

Cricket World Cup - Sri Lanka dominated England (see here) to ensure that there is plenty of local region interest in the semi-finals. New Zealand is the outlier, joining India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the semis, to be played on Tuesday and Wednesday. Although most attention will be focused on the India-Pakistan game, the unlikely first semi-final could well be cracker as red-hot Sri Lanka take on a New Zealand team that must be full of confidence after their surprise win over South Africa.