Let the madness keep on coming!
Eight storylines to watch in Sweet 16
The NCAA Tournament returned last weekend and made up for lost time in a big way.
The first weekend was one of the best in recent memory, with some terrific down-to-the-wire finishes and insane upsets that no one saw coming. There are no perfect brackets left, and rightfully so. The remaining 16 teams’ seeds, in total, add up to 94, an average seed of 5.88 that is the largest among the last 16 in NCAA Tournament history.
What can we expect during the upcoming second weekend? More madness, certainly, but here are eight storylines to watch:
1. Can Gonzaga keep history alive? Three of the No. 1 seeds somehow remain in the tournament, and that includes the undefeated Bulldogs, who now stand at 28-0 after convincing victories over Norfolk State and Oklahoma. With a Sweet 16 matchup against 5-seed Creighton and potentially 6-seed Southern Cal or 7-seed Oregon in the Elite Eight, the Zags should easily reach their second Final Four in school history in their quest to become the first undefeated team since 1975-76 Indiana.
2. Since 2009, only one Pac-12 team has advanced to the Final Four — 2017 Oregon. That could very well change this weekend, after the Pac-12 put four teams in the Sweet 16, the most of any conference. Call it an East Coast bias, but the league didn’t get the respect it deserved this season. And with USC and Oregon facing each other, the league will place at least one team in the Elite Eight. Oregon State and UCLA, both double-digit seeds, will have a harder time joining them, but they certainly can’t be counted out.
3. Loyola Chicago is up to its old tricks. Three years after their shocking run to the Final Four, the Ramblers are poised for a return, fueled by the support of 101year-old Sister Jean, who made the trip to Indianapolis. At No. 8 in the Midwest Regional, Loyola was grossly under-seeded, and it showed when it knocked off No. 1 seed Illinois last Sunday. The Ramblers will be favored against 12th-seeded Oregon State before a potential Elite Eight showdown with Syracuse or Houston.
4. We probably should have known better with Syracuse. The last time the Orange snuck into the tournament as a double-digit seed in 2018, they advanced to the Sweet 16 as a No. 11 seed. Before that, in 2016, they advanced to the Final Four as a No. 10 seed. So, it’s not a shock that Jim Boeheim’s squad advanced to the Sweet 16 as a No. 11 after sneaking in again. Buddy Boeheim, the son of Jim, has been unstoppable, scoring 55 points in two games, including 13-for-23 from 3. Maybe we should just expect that they beat Houston and then Loyola or OSU to get to the Final Four again.
5. What’s next for Oral Roberts? The Golden Eagles became the second No. 15 seed in tourney history to advance to the Sweet 16, joining Florida Gulf Coast in 2013, after knocking off No. 2 seed Ohio State and No. 7 Florida. There has never been a 15 seed to make it to the Elite Eight, but it’s not impossible that ORU can pull it off against Arkansas. The Golden Eagles played the Razorbacks earlier this season and actually held a 12-point second-half lead before letting it slip away. They’ll certainly go into Saturday’s matchup with the belief that they can pull off another upset.
6. A lot of people wrote off Villanova coming into this tournament after it lost All-Big East guard Collin Gillespie to a torn MCL. The Wildcats were a popular upset pick victim as a No. 5 seed against Winthrop. But yet, here they are again in the Sweet 16 after routs over Winthrop and North Texas. Sophomore forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl has been exactly what Villanova has needed on both ends of the court, averaging 20 points, 8.5 rebounds and 6 assists in the two wins, and they’ve been terrific defensively as a team. Now comes the real test, with a matchup against No. 1 seed Baylor, which was the No. 2-ranked team in the country for most of the season. But you can never write off this Villanova team, especially with Jay Wright and his two national titles since 2016 leading them.
7. Michigan was viewed as the weakest No. 1 seed after the Wolverines lost captain and second-leading scorer Isaiah Livers to a foot injury, and stumbled into the tournament following losses in three of their previous five. But it speaks to the culture that coach Juwan Howard has instilled in his program in a short amount of time that Michigan didn’t crumble, dispatching a tough LSU team to advance to the Sweet 16. Everyone has seemed to step up in the wake of Livers’ loss, including senior Eli Brooks, who scored 21 points in the win over the Tigers. They’ll need that to continue as they have the toughest road of any of the No. 1s to make the Final Four, needing to beat Florida State and UCLA or Alabama to get there.
8. Will there be a firsttime champion this season? The chances are more likely than not, as nine of the remaining 16 schools have yet to win a title: Gonzaga, Creighton, Southern Cal, Florida State, Alabama, Baylor, Oral Roberts, Oregon State and Houston.
Let the madness continue.