An unusually chalky opening weekend of the boys’s NCAA match has produced a Candy 16 solely Greg Sankey may love.
There aren’t any slingshot-wielding little guys left within the discipline, no semblance of small-conference appeal.
NC State is the one double-digit seed nonetheless left within the discipline. An unique ACC faculty with a number of nationwide titles is nobody’s thought of Cinderella.
Solely Gonzaga and San Diego State stay from exterior school basketball’s energy conferences. These two outgrew the mid-major label way back.
The intense aspect to the Oaklands, Grand Canyons and James Madisons heading dwelling early is a Candy 16 overflowing with elite groups. Each top-two seed superior to the second weekend for less than the fifth time for the reason that NCAA match bracket expanded to 64 groups in 1985.
No. 1 seeds UConn, Purdue and North Carolina received each recreation they performed by a minimum of 16 factors, although the Tar Heels did have to beat an early 12-point deficit towards Michigan State within the second spherical. Fellow No. 1 seed Houston labored a lot, a lot tougher to carry off Texas A&M after fouling out 4 starters and blowing a 12-point lead on the finish of regulation.
Marquette and Tennessee confronted the stiffest take a look at among the many No. 2 seeds. The Golden Eagles survived Colorado guard J’Vonne Hadley’s try at a game-tying 3-pointer within the last minute. The Vols shot a dreadful 3-for-25 from behind the arc but nonetheless narrowly edged Texas as a result of they didn’t enable their taking pictures woes to pull down their elite protection.
It’s not simply the NCAA match choice committee’s prime eight groups which can be nonetheless alive. 13 of the highest 14 groups in Ken Pomeroy’s effectivity rankings superior to the Candy 16, together with Illinois, Creighton, Duke, Alabama and Gonzaga. The one crew absent is Auburn, which suffered a surprising first-round loss to Yale on Thursday night time.
The Candy 16 matchups are as tantalizing as you’d anticipate given the brand-name heavyweights nonetheless left within the discipline. It’s exhausting to select which of the eight video games is probably the most intriguing.
It is likely to be the matchup in Dallas between top-seeded Houston and a gifted Duke crew lastly performing as much as expectations. Or the showdown in Detroit between a Purdue crew out for March redemption and a Gonzaga program looking for its first nationwide title. Or the rematch of the UConn-San Diego State 2023 nationwide title recreation in Boston. Or the fast-paced, high-flying North Carolina-Alabama recreation in Los Angeles.
The actual winners listed below are CBS and TNT Sports activities, the TV networks that air the NCAA match broadcasts. Their ideally suited situation is for the match’s opening weekend to supply a couple of large upsets and buzzy moments however for the established applications who draw large rankings to make it by.
For probably the most half, that’s what occurred right here.
The Davids took their pictures however principally missed the mark. Now the Goliaths are left to struggle for the crown amongst themselves.