Rolling along: No. 1 seeds Oklahoma and Texas, both out of the Big 12 Conference, moved into the round of eight Friday night. Oklahoma got 25 points from Ebi Ere to move within one victory of its second consecutive Final Four with a 65-54 win over the NCAA tournament darling, 12th-seeded Butler. The Longhorns, behind a career-high 27 points by Brandon Mouton, advanced to a regional final for the first time since 1990 with an 82-78 victory over No. 5 Connecticut in the South Regional semifinals.
All four No. 1 seeds are still in the tournament. Kentucky and Arizona play in regional finals today.

Productive again: Ebi Ere’s offensive outburst for Oklahoma was a long time coming. He scored just 12 points in the Sooners’ victories in the first two rounds and asked to be benched during the regular season when his offensive production fell off. “I just knew that if I could get back on track that we’d be better than we were then,” said Ere, who played with a broken bone in his left wrist.

Strong in defeat: Joel Cornette had 21 points and eight rebounds in Butler’s 65-54 loss to Oklahoma. … Emeka Okafor led Connecticut with 21 points, 17 rebounds and six blocks in a loss to Texas.

Game to watch: Top-seeded Arizona against No. 2 Kansas University in the West Regional finals today at Anaheim, Calif. The Wildcats beat the Jayhawks, 91-74, at Kansas Jan. 25 in a game where Arizona trailed by as many as 20 points in the first half.

Knockout special: Marquette over top-seeded Kentucky in the South Regional final. Dwyane Wade and the third-seeded Golden Eagles (26-5) are back in a regional final for the first time since the 1977 team won the national championship. Marquette could get back to the Final Four if the deep Wildcats are forced to play without injured star Keith Bogans.
Player to watch: Kansas big man Nick Collison, who led the Jayhawks with 33 points and 19 rebounds in a victory over Duke in the West Regional semifinals. Kansas coach Roy Williams called the performance the most dominant he had seen in his 15 seasons as leader of the Jayhawks.