Sweet Sixteen

This year's slate of Sweet Sixteen games did not feature any upsets, and there were only a couple games that were decided by less than 10 points. Really the games only purposes was to weed out the good teams from the great teams. The top overall seed Kansas defeated #5 Maryland 79-63, although it was not a blowout at first. It was actually a close game at half, with Kansas leading 36-34, but Kansas let Maryland shoot from deep, and Maryland just couldn't convert (they shot 5-25 from the 3 point line). That was really the story for most of the games on Thursday, Oregon lead Duke by only five at half, but ended up winning 82-68 behind 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists from Dillon Brooks. Villanova held a 43-37 lead at halftime over Miami, but Miami just couldn't stop the Wildcats as Nova shot 62% overall, and 66% from deep. In fact Miami, shot 53% overall and 58% from deep, so it is surprising that they shot so well and still got blown out. On the other end of the spectrum was Texas A&M, who shot a terrible 34% overall (22% from three), and got embarrassed by #2 Oklahoma 77-63. Oklahoma was one of the few teams to put away their opponent in the first half, in fact the game was tied 15-15 about midway through the first half, before OU went on a 30-11 run to end the first half. 

As was true for most of the tournament, the second day of games was better than the first, although this time, the second day still wasn't that great. The two games that set up to be the best games of the day turned out to just be like the games on Thurday. North Carolina was just too much for Indiana, as the Tar Heels won 101-86. Once again the team who was truly elite took down a team who was just pretty good. Then another ACC power Virginia took down Iowa State, who were hurt by their lack of depth. The Cavaliers won 74-61, and used their stifling defense to hold down an Iowa State team who is more comfortable in an up tempo game. The last two games of the day were a lot closer, and they were between higher seeds than you usually see in the Sweet Sixteen. #7 Wisconsin gave up a three point lead with about 30 seconds left, and ended up losing 61-56 to #6 Notre Dame. Gonzaga suffered a similar fate as Wisconsin, as they gave up their 5 point lead with three minutes left, as #10 Syracuse won 63-60. 

Now the Elite 8 field is set, with #1 Kansas taking on #2 Villanova, #1 Oregon playing #2 Oklahoma, #1 North Carolina facing #6 Notre Dame, and finally #1 Virginia will look to defeat #10 Syracuse.