Author: Ryan Graff
March Madness is finally back, signalling avid fans to fill out their brackets, enter their betting pools and settle in for the long haul. Although the NCAA tournament is still young, there have already been some key match-ups and incredible finishes. The tournament started off with 68 teams and is now down to the illustrious “Sweet 16.”
The first round included four play-in games in which University of Texas (UT) at San Antonio, Clemson, Virginia Commonwealth and University of North Carolina at Asheville earned the final slots into the tournament.
The bracket, comprised of four different regions — east, west, southeast, southwest — has the potential to be spirited until the very end.
Ohio State and North Carolina are the one and two seeds in the east bracket, respectively. Ohio State has won its first two games against sixteen seed UT San Antonio and eight seed George Mason. In the Sweet 16, they will take on the always-dangerous four seed Kentucky.
As for North Carolina, earning a spot in the Sweet 16 is a regular occurrence. They had an impressive victory over 15 seed Long Island in the second round and edged out 7 seed Washington in the third round by a score of 86-83 to earn their place in the Regional Semifinals for an NCAA-record 24th time in school history.
North Carolina will now take on another notable team in the east, 11 seed Marquette, who has won 2 consecutive upsets over 6 seed Xavier and three seed Syracuse.
Duke and San Diego State are at the top of the west bracket, and both teams have advanced to the Sweet 16. Defending champion Duke has earned victories over 16 seed Hampton and 8 seed Michigan. San Diego State’s two wins have been over 15 seed Northern Colorado and 7 seed Temple.
The rest of the west has remained fairly consistent, as most match-ups have ended with the higher seeds as the victor. The only slight upset was five seed Arizona beating four seed Texas in the third round.
The west bracket will see two exciting match-ups for their portion of the Sweet 16. Number one Duke will face five seed Arizona and number two San Diego State will face three seed Connecticut.
The southeast bracket was very straightforward in the first two rounds, but turned into a train wreck when one seed Pittsburgh was devastated by number eight Butler by a heart-breaking score of 70-69 in the third round.
This game was undoubtedly a bracket-buster for many, and the landscape of the southeast has now changed dramatically.
The Sweet 16 will now include eight seed Butler facing off against four seed Wisconsin and an exciting match-up between two seed Florida and three seed Brigham Young.
Florida rolled over 15 seed UC Santa Barbara in the second round and scraped by 7 seed UCLA in the third round. Brigham Young cruised to victory over 14 seed Wofford in the second round and went on to beat 11 seed Gonzaga, who had previously upset 6 seed St. John’s, in the third round.
Kansas and Notre Dame sat atop the southwest bracket, which has been the most unpredictable to this point.
Kansas claimed its spot in the Sweet 16 by winning against 16 seed Boston University and 9 seed Illinois. Notre Dame, however, did not fare as well. They beat 15 seed Akron in the second round, but fell hard to 10 seed Florida State in the third round.
There have also been a series of intense upsets in this area of the bracket.
Most impressively, 11 seed Virginia Commonwealth entered the tournament via a play-in game and has since upset 6 seed Georgetown and 3 seed Purdue to advance to the Regional Semifinals for the first time in school history. Their Cinderella story will continue in the Sweet 16 against 10 seed Florida State.
Other upsets were 13 seed Morehead over four seed Louisville and 12 seed Richmond over 5 seed Vanderbilt. Richmond will now be taking on 1 seed Kansas for the other Sweet 16 game in the southwest bracket.
As the rest of the tournament pans out, there are sure to be many more exhilarating games.
The Sweet 16 is scheduled for March 24-25, the Elite 8 for March 26-27 and the Final 4 for April 2. April 4 is circled on the calendars of many, as the national champion will be crowned in Houston on this date.
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