NCAA Tournament 2011: Thursday's Best and Worst Sweet 16 Performances

Thursday was another exciting day of NCAA basketball as the Sweet 16, started and there were many surprises. 

The country was taken by a storm with some of the best players in the nation taking the floor on the same night, and we got to witness some great performances as well as some, well...stinkers. 

Continue reading to see which players helped their teams win or contributed greatly to a loss. 

Jeremy Lamb

Harry How/Getty Images

ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 24: Jeremy Lamb #3 of the Connecticut Huskies dunks the ball towards the end of the game against of the San Diego State Aztecs during the west regional semifinal of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at the Honda Center on Marc

Great Performance

All season, Kemba Walker was looking for a running mate...Lamb is that guy. Lamb stepped up big time at the end of the season and last night, he probably had his best game of the year. 

Lamb had 24 points on 9-for-11 shooting and hit all of his three-pointers. When San Diego State looked like they were on the verge of stopping Kemba, Lamb would step up and make his boy proud. 

If UConn can get anything close to this type of performance out of Lamb in the upcoming rounds, then a national championship isn't too far out of reach. 

Jimmer Fredette

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

NEW ORLEANS, LA - MARCH 24: Jimmer Fredette #32 of the Brigham Young Cougars walks off of the court rejected after their 74 to 83 loss to the Florida Gators in the Southeast regional of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at New Orleans Arena on Ma

Horrible Performance

If you looked at Jimmer's 32-point game and thought to yourself, "wow another great performance by Jimmer," then you can Fredette about it. 

On this night, even with 32 points, Jimmer couldn't get anything going for himself or his team.

His pure scoring ability allowed him to score in the 30s, but he did so on 11-for-29 shooting. Even more devastating to his team was Jimmer's 3-for-15 on attempts from behind the arc. 

The magical season we all witnessed out of the nice, humble kid from BYU came to an end last night when the team ran into Florida and unfortunately...Jimmer has nobody to blame but himself. 

Alex Tyus

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

NEW ORLEANS, LA - MARCH 24: Alex Tyus #23 of the Florida Gators dunks during their 83 to 74 win over the Brigham Young Cougars in the Southeast regional of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at New Orleans Arena on March 24, 2011 in New Orleans, L

Great Performance

Alex Tyus had one of the best performances I've seen in this year's tournament last night. Tyus was an absolute beast, and his work on the boards was 100 percent responsible for Florida's victory over BYU. 

Tyus scored 19 points on 8-for-9 shooting and also grabbed 17 rebounds. Whenever BYU would get a timely stop, Tyus would be there to grab and offensive rebound and either put it back up or get it back to his great young guards. 

Tyus was a hero on Thursday night, and although he wasn't one of the guys hitting threes, he was more responsible for the Gators' win than anybody else on that team. 

Jon Leuer

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

NEW ORLEANS, LA - MARCH 24: Khyle Marshall #23 of the Butler Bulldogs dunks in front of Jon Leuer #30 of the Wisconsin Badgers during the Southeast regional of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at New Orleans Arena on March 24, 2011 in New Orlean

Horrible Performance

It kills me to write this as a Badgers fan, but Leuer was simply horrible on Thursday night. Leuer was getting open looks from three all game, but just couldn't find the bottom of the net unless it didn't go through the rim first. 

Leuer went 1-for-12 from the field and 1-for-6 from three. Wisconsin needed their big guy to have a big game, and he let them down severely. 

For a senior who was looking to improve his NBA draft stock, Leuer's performance was not only a let down for Wisconsin, but for himself, too. 

Kemba Walker

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 24: Kemba Walker #15 of the Connecticut Huskies drives to the basket against Chase Tapley #22 of the San Diego State Aztecs during the west regional semifinal of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at the Honda Center on March 2

Great Performance

I already spoke about what Lamb did for UConn, but now let's get to the Huskies' main attraction. Kemba Walker was absolutely brilliant again. 

Kemba put up 36 points to lead the Huskies to a victory over the SDSU Aztecs, and he did so efficiently.

Kemba went 12-for-25 from the field and on the same night that Jimmer struggled, he showed why some consider him the best player in the nation. 

Nolan Smith

Harry How/Getty Images

ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 24: Nolan Smith #2 of the Duke Blue Devils comes out of the games towards the end as teammates Ryan Kelly #34, Seth Curry #30 and Miles Plumlee #21 look on against the Arizona Wildcats during the west regional semifinal of the 2011 NC

Horrible Performance

How sad it is for a great player to lose their last game in college and be almost solely responsible for it?

That was the case for Nolan Smith. He has had an amazing run with Duke, but last night, he just didn't bring it. 

Smith shot 3-for-14 and had 6 turnovers in the Duke loss to Arizona. Smith was one of the best players on Duke for the last two years, and his eight-point performance may have marked his lowest point in all four of his years playing for Coach K. 

Matt Howard

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

NEW ORLEANS, LA - MARCH 24: Keaton Nankivil #52 of the Wisconsin Badgers is tripped up between Matt Howard #54 and J.P. Gavinski #44 of the Wisconsin Badgers during the Southeast regional of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at New Orleans Arena

Great Performance

The Butler Bulldogs pulled off another tournament upset on Thursday night, and that was largely due to the fact that Howard was unstoppable. 

Howard shot 3-for-5 from downtown and scored 20 points while grabbing 12 rebounds en route to beating the Badgers.

His toughness has brought a lot of success to Butler over the years, and last night it was a great display for all to see the senior play that well. 

Derrick Williams

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 24: Derrick Williams #23 of the Arizona Wildcats dunks the ball against the Duke Blue Devils during the west regional semifinal of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at the Honda Center on March 24, 2011 in Anaheim, California.

Incredible Performance

The word great doesn't even do what Derrick Williams did last night justice. Williams showed why many mock drafts have him going No. 1.

Derrick shot 11-for-17 from the field and 5-for-6 from three on Thursday night. The big guy was throwing down monstrous dunks and also grabbed 13 rebounds. 

He scored 32 points to lead a five seed to a victory over a number one seed in Duke, and you can safely say I saved the best for last.