The Sweet 16 is set in the NCAA College Basketball Tournament. All but one of the top seeds has advanced to the 4th round. Wichita State was the only one not to advance, losing in the best game of the tournament so far, 78-76 to 4th seeded Kentucky. This was Wichita State’s first loss of the year, after starting the season with 35 wins.
Interestingly, 2 of the #2 seeds qualified for the Sweet 16, and only one of the #3 seeds. However, all of the #4 seeds are still alive. Villanova and Kansas were the #2 seeds eliminated in the third round. Villanova lost to 7th seeded Connecticut 77-65, while Kansas barely came up short against 10th seeded Stanford 60-57. The only remaining 3rd seed is Iowa State, who beat 6th seeded North Carolina 85-83 in a controversial ending. North Carolina head coach was calling for a time out with just over a second left, but the referees didn’t see him, and they ruled that time had run out, keeping them from attempting a last shot.
The lowest remaining seed left in the tournament is 11th seeds Dayton and Tennessee. Dayton beat one of the aforementioned 3rd seeds, Syracuse, by a score of 55-53. Syracuse lost 6 of their final 9 games, after starting 25-0. Tennessee cruised past 14th seed Mercer 83-63. Tennessee is the only member of the Sweet 16 that played in the first round, so they have already won 3 games in the tournament.
Top seeds Florida, Arizona and Virginia each won by at least 16 points in their third round games. But the 4th seeds were even more impressive. San Diego State, Louisville and UCLA all won by at least 15 points, while Michigan State beat a game 12th seeded Harvard team 70-63. UCLA ended 12th seeded Stephen F. Austin’s 29-game winning streak 77-60.
Another notable elimination of a 3rd seed was 6th seeded Baylor blowing out Creighton 85-55. The nation’s leading scorer, Creighton’s Doug McDermott scored 15 points in a losing effort. He finished his career the 5th all-time leading scorer in Division I NCAA basketball history, with 3,150 points.
Only 4 of the 16 third round games were decided by less than 7 points. 10 of the Sweet 16 teams are seeded #1-4 in their prospective regions, while the other 6 teams range from #6 to the two #11 seeds. At least one of the lower seeded teams will make it to the Elite 8, since on Thursday 1oth seeded Stanford will play #11th seed Dayton in the South region.
The other game on Thursday in the South region in Memphis, Tennessee is #1 Florida against #4 UCLA. In the West region in Anaheim, California #1 Arizona will play #4 San Diego State, and #2 Wisconsin plays #6 Baylor. On Friday, the East region will take place in New York with #1 Virginia vs. #4 Michigan State, and #3 Iowa State against #7 Connecticut. The Midwest region which is in Indianapolis, will pit #2 Michigan against #11 Tennessee, and head coaches John Calipari and Rick Pitino will square off in #4 Louisville vs. #8 Kentucky.
In 3 of the regions a #1 will play a #4 seed, so we will see if the #4s remain strong. It looks like I may have given Wichita State and Creighton the kiss of death with my last article. I still hope the underdogs keep winning as long as possible. It makes it more interesting, than the top seeds winning all the games in the NCAA College Basketball Tournament.
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