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 eliminated from the NCAA tournament, 16 other teams look to do what the Gators did last year: win a national championship. 

Starting Thursday night, 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.  

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No. 1 seeds

Unlike its fellow remaining No. 1 seeds, Michigan entered the tournament looking for redemption. The Wolverines fell to Purdue in the Big Ten championship game, a loss that seems 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, Associated Press 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 against 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. 

With top seed Florida out of the way in the South Region bracket, the question of which top seed will be the next No. 1 seed 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 seed 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 before this season, No. 4 seed Nebraska’s run 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 five seed 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, the Cornhuskers 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 Ten. 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. 

No. 11 Texas

From play-in game to Sweet 16, Texas has had the most impressive run in the tournament. The Longhorns were a surprising selection to the tourney to many, but they have since proved they deserved their spot.

Texas came into the NCAA Tournament seeking redemption following a two-game losing streak to end its regular season and being eliminated from the SEC Tournament with an upset loss to Ole Miss. The Longhorns checked off NC State from their list, eking out a 68-66 victory in the First Four. 

From there, the competition only increased in the tourney’s first and second rounds. The Longhorns took on No. 6 seed BYU next, also sneaking by the Cougars in a 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 they face 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. The Boilermakers 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 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: College Basketball, Gators Men's Basketball, NCAA Tournament