Saturday was all offense, but Sunday featured four of the top five defensive efforts (in two games, no less) of the weekend. Check out the first round review and background on the net efficiency margin (NEM) metric used here.

I'm planning to post tournament NEM for all teams later this week.

As always, all raw efficiency data is from the sublime kenpom.com. I used the ratings through all first round games to make the comparisons. (For my Sweet 16 reviews, I'll update the ratings through the end of the second round, and so on.)

Best games (by combined total NEM)

 ResultTotal NEM 
1.Syracuse78Arizona St.67 51.7The Sun Devils were respectable on offense (18.1 NEM), but Syracuse controlled this one.
2.Villanova89UCLA69 51.2All Wildcats.
3.Missouri83Marquette79 50.3Offense ruled this game, with both teams scoring a 23.0 offensive NEM.
4.Pittsburgh84Oklahoma St.76 49.9Even better offense ruled this game. The Panthers (36.3 offensive NEM) and Cowboys (27.9 offensive NEM) left their defense at home.
5.North Carolina84LSU70 49.0The Tigers put up a fight in Greensboro, but Lawson, Ellington and company are too much.

Top overall performances

 TeamOpponentNEM 
1.ConnecticutTexas A&M56.8Two games, two 50-plus NEM games.
2.VillanovaUCLA55.8Villanova denies UCLA a fourth straight Final Four at the "neutral" Wachovia Center.
3.SyracuseArizona St.44.4I guess those legs are OK, huh?
4.MemphisMaryland44.2After struggling against Northridge, Memphis shows they'd probably do just fine in the ACC.
5.North CarolinaLSU37.5After the Tigers grabbed 12 of the first 13 available rebounds after halftime to turn a nine-point deficit into a three-point lead, the Heels grabbed 15 of the last 17 to hold off the upset-minded Tigers.

Top offensive performances

 TeamOpponentNEM 
1. ConnecticutTexas A&M 44.1Spectacular defense Thursday, spectacular offense Saturday. The Huskies look tough to beat.
2. MemphisMaryland 41.0The Tigers ride hot shooting (67.9 effective FG%) to the Sweet 16.
3. PittsburghOklahoma St. 36.3True to character, DeJuan Blair (6 offensive boards) leads Pitt to grab an amazing 54.3% of available offensive rebounds.
4. SyracuseArizona St. 35.1The Sun Devils keep the game at their pace, but 45% 3-point shooting leads the Orange to an 64.9 effective FG%.
5. North CarolinaLSU 29.9"Toe" Lawson's return pays dividends for the Heels.

Top defensive performances (lower scores are better)

 TeamOpponentNEM 
1. KansasDayton -43.9Cole Aldrich's triple double (10 blocks!) helps limit Dayton to 25 eFG% and 0.6 points per possession.
2. XavierWisconsin -37.7Xavier fought off their own offensive troubles to shut down the Badgers. Wisconsin scored only 16 points over the last 17:20.
3. DaytonKansas -31.4If the Flyers could have only made some shots they could have pulled off the upset.
4. VillanovaUCLA -26.5The Bruins had the 3rd best offense coming in, but Villanova forced enough missed shots and owned the glass to shut them down.
5. WisconsinXavier -18.8Xavier only shot 45.6 eFG% and the Badgers cleaned up on the boards (only allowed 24.6% of available offensive rebounds). Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

Worst overall performances

 TeamOpponentNEM 
1. Texas A&MConnecticut -9.0The Huskies make the #9 seed Aggies look like a below average team.
2. UCLAVillanova -4.6Long trip and home-court disadvantage notwithstanding, UCLA did not take care of business Saturday.
3. Cleveland St.Arizona -2.3The Vikings couldn't replicate their first round showing, mostly because of their 3-23 performance beyond the arc.
4. DaytonKansas 1.7Dayton played fantastic defense (see above list), but the offense was dreadful.
5. MarylandMemphis 3.0A microcosm of Maryland's up-and-down season in their two tournament games.