March Madness Moves On Without Florida: Top Sweet 16 Storylines
While it may not feel that way for Gator fans, March Madness continues. With Florida now eliminated from the tournament, 16 other teams look to do what the Gators did last year: win a national championship.
Starting Thursday, the remaining 16 teams gear up and look to advance to the Elite 8, fighting to be one of the teams still alive when the field gets cut in half yet again.
Here are some of the biggest storylines heading into the Sweet 16.
Loading ...
No. 1 seeds
Unlike its fellow remaining No. 1 seeds, Michigan entered the tournament looking for redemption. The Wolverines fell in their conference tournament to Purdue in the Big Ten championship game, a loss that has seemed to stay with them throughout the tournament.
Michigan topped No. 16 Howard 101-80 in the first round and beat Saint Louis 95-72 in the second.
“Michigan has just looked really really good, maybe first half against Howard aside,” said Anthony Kristensen, AP Poll voter and reporter for Whole Hog Sports. “Michigan to me has probably been the most convincing of the remaining one seeds.”
Arizona also took care of business, coming into the tournament on a nine-game win streak and as Big 12 champions. The Wildcats secured a commanding 92-58 victory over Long Island University in the first round and got by a solid Utah State team 78-66.
Duke struggled the most in the early stages of the madness. The Blue Devils barely scraped by No. 16 Siena 71-65 in the Round of 64.
“Duke was in a lot of ways the story of day one,” said Shawn O’Neal, senior editor for Lindy’s Preseason College Basketball Magazine. “They did not look great against Sienna. They’re injured, they’re banged up and then they weren’t playing particularly well.”
But they rebounded in the second round. After TCU kept it close in the first half, Duke scored nearly double as many points as the Horned Frogs in the second half, blowing by them 81-58.
Though none of the No. 1 seeds have wavered much so far, with Florida going down in the Round of 32, the question of who will be the next top team to drop is anxiously awaiting an answer.
Threatening to respond are the massive challenges ahead of all of them in the Sweet 16.
Arizona faces No. 4 Arkansas, led by SEC Player of the Year Darius Acuff Jr. Duke’s matchup is not any easier, facing another red-hot St. John’s team that has lost just one game since Jan. 6.
Meanwhile, Michigan faces a shorthanded No. 4 Alabama, a team that did not enter the tournament on a roll. The Crimson Tide dropped two of their last three games, including an early exit from the SEC tournament after being upset by Ole Miss.
No. 4 Nebraska
Considering it had never won an NCAA Tournament game at the start of this season, No. 4 Nebraska’s run so far in the tournament looks even more impressive.
The Cornhuskers destroyed No. 13 Troy in the first round 76-47, making program history. The second round was far from a cakewalk, facing a tough opponent in No. 5 Vanderbilt.
The game came down to the wire with the ball in Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner’s hands. Nebraska needed a miss to make history yet again, and as the shot was in and then out, they advanced to the next round in what has been one of the most dramatic endings this March.
Nebraska moves on to face what may be the most hated team in Gainesville right now, No. 9 Iowa. Being just slightly favored in the matchup, the Cornhuskers have a shot at bringing their momentum from their first tournament win all the way into the Elite 8 against a familiar foe.
“Really balanced team,” O’Neal said. “They were the best defensive team in the Big 10. They’re one of the six best defensive teams in America. And so they’re building off that.”
As it did against Florida, Iowa will look to control the pace of play in its third meeting with Nebraska of the season. The pair has split its last two meetings, with Iowa taking the first 57-52 and Nebraska returning the favor with an 84-75 win in overtime.
On both occasions, Iowa has been able to successfully limit Nebraska’s leading scorer Pryce Sandfort. The junior forward averages 17.9, but against Iowa, he scored just 13 and 15 points in the matchups. This will likely be the Hawkeyes’ game plan again, one that the Cornhuskers will need an answer to.
No. 11 Texas
From play-in game to Sweet 16, Texas has had arguably the most impressive run in the tournament so far. The Longhorns were a surprising pick to many, but they have since proved they deserved their spot.
With a three-game losing streak to end its season after being upset by Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament and losing the two games prior, Texas came into the tournament fired up and checked NC State off its list first, eeking out a 68-66 victory.
From there, the competition only increased. The Longhorns took on No. 6 BYU next, sneaking by them too in a major 79-71 upset. Then, Texas stared down Gonzaga, and another victory came its way.
“[Matas] Vokietaitis having as good a game as he did was probably why Texas ended up getting through that game,” Kristensen said. “Part of it is matchup dependent for Texas. I thought they matched up really well against NC State and matched up really well against BYU without Richie Saunders, and then they just played I thought really well against Gonzaga.”
The Longhorns have quickly gone from a team that couldn’t seem to win to a team that looks like it can’t be stopped. And it faces another shaky opponent in Purdue.
Clearly one of the most dominant teams in the nation, Purdue is not a team that should be counted out as Big Ten champions and a consistent powerhouse. However, it has sometimes struggled against weaker opponents who match up well. They fell to Indiana, Ohio State and UCLA earlier this season and have fallen into shaky spells throughout the season.
While the Boilermakers will be the toughest team Texas has faced so far this tournament, expect a good matchup as Purdue has not proved unmovable throughout the season.
“Here they are playing a Purdue team that’s had moments where they haven’t looked that great,” O’Neal said. “KenPom gives them only a 25% chance to win this, but what was the percentage chance that they had to win the other three games? And so it’s a talented Texas team.”
Category: Gators Men's Basketball
