Which Teams Advanced To the Sweet 16 Of NCAA Tournament
We all fill out our brackets, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. We want that scrappy group of future accountants from a school with a directional name to shock the world. But this year? Cinderella didn’t just lose her glass slipper. Her carriage got impounded on the very first weekend of the tournament.
Following a chaotic, madness-filled opening weekend, the NCAA Tournament has officially sobered up. The guest list for the Sweet 16 is entirely reserved for the big boys. If you are an advocate for expanding the bracket or cutting down on automatic qualifiers, you are probably taking a massive victory lap right now. For the rest of us, we’re looking at a Sweet 16 entirely dominated by power-conference heavyweights.
Mid-majors? Zero. For the second straight season, the little guys have been locked out of the second weekend. Which teams will keep dancing in the NCAA Tournament?
The Big Ten Finally Flexes In the Sweet 16
We have to start with the Big Ten. For years, college hoops fans have mercilessly teased the conference for flaming out when the lights shine the brightest. Not this March.
The Big Ten absolutely bulldozed the competition, pushing a record-breaking six teams into the Sweet 16. Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan State, Nebraska, and Iowa have all punched their tickets. It’s a historic flex.
Nebraska, a program that had literally never won an NCAA tournament game before this week, is suddenly two wins away from a Final Four. And let’s pour one out for the defending national champion Florida Gators, who got sent packing by an Iowa squad that barely went .500 in conference play. Alvaro Folgueiras hit a dagger of a three-pointer to send the Hawkeyes through and completely flip the South Region on its head.
East Region: Blue Bloods and a Red Storm
The top three seeds handled their business in the East, but it wasn’t without some severe heart palpitations. St. John’s has become the emotional darling of this bracket. The fifth-seeded Red Storm blew a massive 12-point lead against Kansas, only to be bailed out by Dylan Darling. He hadn’t hit a single shot all day until he buried a buzzer-beater to win it 67-65. It’s the first time the Johnnies have seen the Sweet 16 since 1999.
Their reward? A Friday night date with Duke in Washington, D.C. The Blue Devils got a bizarre opening-round scare from Siena but eventually took out their frustrations on TCU in an 81-58 beatdown. On the other side of the bracket, an angry, refocused UConn squad absolutely clamped down on UCLA and will face a battle-tested Michigan State team. Tom Izzo in March is a terrifying thing, and his 17th trip to the second weekend proves why.
South Region: Heavyweights and Heartbreak In the Sweet 16
With Florida officially out of the picture, No. 2 seed Houston is licking its chops. The Cougars avoided a date with the reigning champs and basically get a home-court advantage for the regional. But they have to get past a massive Illinois team first. The Illini are physically bigger than anyone else left in the tournament, and they used that sheer size to bully Penn and VCU.
Meanwhile, the other side of the South Region gives us the closest thing we have to an underdog story: No. 4 Nebraska squaring off against No. 9 Iowa. Yes, a battle of the corn right in the middle of March.
Midwest Region: High-Octane Offense and Gritty Defense
Michigan looks downright scary. The Wolverines are currently sitting as the Vegas favorites (+300) to cut down the nets after winning their first two games by an average of 22 points. They’ll face a No. 4 Alabama team that just rained down 19 three-pointers to absolutely wash Texas Tech off the floor.
On the bottom half, Iowa State is holding its breath. They lost All-America Forward Joshua Jefferson to a sprained ankle, but the Cyclones still managed to spin Kentucky right out of the gym. They are hoping to get him back for a brutal, physical matchup against a Tennessee squad that loves to grind games down to a halt.
West Region: Desert Heat and SEC Money
If you squint hard enough, Texas looks like a Cinderella story. They were a No. 11 seed banished to the First Four in Dayton. Regardless, they still have SEC resources, a massive budget, and elite talent. Still, the Longhorns knocking off No. 3 Gonzaga is impressive, earning them a date with a Purdue team that is suddenly looking like a model of consistency under Matt Painter.
Finally, we get an NBA scout’s dream matchup: No. 1 Arizona vs. No. 4 Arkansas. The Wildcats legitimately go eight deep with future pros, while John Calipari’s Razorbacks are riding the hot hand of fabulous freshman Darius Acuff Jr., who just dropped 36 points on High Point.
What Comes Next?
The Sweet 16 will tipoff on Thursday in a bracket filled with historic programs and coaches. Each game has enough storylines to fill a textbook. The basketball world will be watching to see which teams will keep dancing.
