Cincinnati suffered a last-second defeat Friday, 78-76 to St. Joseph’s in the first round. One of the great Xavier teams of all time failed to get past the second round, losing 66-63 Sunday to Wisconsin on a last-second 3-pointer.
It’s unlikely the next two weekends of the tournament will top the excitement of the first weekend, but there are plenty of reasons to keep watching. Here are 16 things to know about the Sweet 16, which starts Thursday.
1. ACC power: The Atlantic Coast Conference set a record by sending six teams to the Sweet 16, winning 12 of 13 games in the first rounds. According to ESPN, the conference will make $30 because of that success.
Duke, Virginia, Miami, North Carolina, Syracuse and Notre Dame all advanced. Only Pittsburgh lost in the first round.
“You can’t go just by the NCAA Tournament,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said Sunday in St. Louis. “But I think you have to go a little bit by what conferences do in the tournament. That’s the only thing we have to judge on. Because during the regular season, they’re just playing within your conference. It’s hard to tell. You’re just proving that you’re good within your conference. But I think that the tournament is a good measuring stick.”
2. Power 5 statement: Fourteen of the remaining 16 teams are from the so-called Power 5 conferences: the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and Pac 12. Only Gonzaga, from the West Coast Conference, and Villanova, from the Big East, are from outside those conferences.
3. Traditional powers: Five teams that have won national championships since 2000 made the Sweet 16: Duke (2001, 2010, 2015); North Carolina (2005, 2009); Kansas (2008); Syracuse (2003); and Maryland (2002).
Indiana hasn’t won a national championship since 1987. Villanova won its only title in 1985. Wisconsin and Oregon won their only titles in 1941 and 1939, respectively.
4. Repeat performers: Notre Dame, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Duke and Gonzaga all made the Sweet 16 last season. Duke beat Wisconsin 68-63 in the championship game last April in Indianapolis.
No. 6 seed Notre Dame (23-11) plays No. 7 seed Wisconsin (22-12) at 7:27 p.m. Friday in Philadelphia.
5. Bettor's pick: Kansas, the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament and the top-ranked team in both polls, remains the favorite to win it all with 7/2 odds, according to online sports book Bovada. The Jayhawks (32-4) play No. 5 seed Maryland (27-8) at 9:40 p.m. Thursday in Louisville, Ky.
6. Cinderella story: Going by seeds alone, No. 10 Syracuse (21-13) and No. 11 Gonzaga (28-7), who play at 9:40 p.m. Thursday in Chicago, are the underdogs. They're the only double-digit seeds remaining.
According to Bovada, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Syracuse all have 33-1 odds of winning the title.
7. Ones alive: All four No. 1 seeds survived the first two rounds: Kansas, Virginia, Oregon and North Carolina. The only time all four top seeds made the Final Four was in 2008: Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA and Memphis.
8. Top player: Oklahoma's Buddy Hield, a 6-foot-4, guard, is the only player remaining in the tournament who ranked in the top 10 in the nation in scoring. He averages 25.4 points per game and ranks second.
“He’s got really great focus at that moment when the shot needed to be made or a play needed to be made,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. “He’s done it so many times for us throughout his career and especially this year and again today. It seemed like every shot that he had that we needed, he stepped up and made it. And it’s not that easy to do, especially with the defense leaning on you and targeting you. Buddy has been terrific with that at that moment, those moments all year long.
9. Coaching legends: Five coaches in the Sweet 16 ranked in the top 10 in Division I in winning percentage among active coaches entering the season: No. 1 Mark Few, of Gonzaga (.810); No. 2 Roy Williams, of North Carolina (.788); No. 4 Mike Krzyzewski, of Duke (.767); No. 7 Bill Self, of Kansas (.753); and No. 9 Jim Boeheim, of Syracuse (.744).
10. Local connection: Franklin High School graduate Luke Kennard averages 11.8 points per game for No. 4 seed Duke, which plays Oregon at 10:07 p.m. Thursday in Anaheim, Calif. He had 13 points Saturday in a 71-64 second-round victory over Yale.
11. Top matchup: The marquee game of the Sweet 16 is North Carolina vs. No. 5 seed Indiana at 9:57 p.m. Friday in Philadelphia. The Tar Heels and Hoosiers have met 14 times but only twice in the NCAA tournament in 1981 and 1984. IU won both games.
North Carolina and Indiana ranked third and 10th, respectively, in NCAA history in victories entering the season.
12. Unranked teams: Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Syracuse and Gonzaga were all unranked at the end of the season.
13. Amazing comeback: No. 3 seed Texas A&M rallied from a 12-point deficit in the final 35 seconds to beat No. 11 Northern Iowa 92-88 in double overtime Sunday. It was the greatest last-minute comeback in NCAA basketball history.
According FiveThirtyEight.com, the Aggies had about a 1-in-3,000 chance, or a .04 percent chance, of winning the game when they trailed by 12. Northern Iowa committed four turnovers in the final 30 seconds. Texas A&M tied the game on a layup with 3 seconds to play.
Texas A&M (28-8) plays No. 2 seed Oklahoma (27-7) at 7:37 p.m. Thursday in Anaheim.
14. Last hope: No. 2 seed Villanova (31-5) is the last team standing from the Big East, which put five teams in the big dance. The Wildcats play No. 3 seed Miami (27-7) at 7:10 p.m. Thursday.
15. Best offense: The Hoosiers lead the remaining teams in the field with a scoring average of 82.5 points per game.
16. Best defense: Virginia (28-7), which hosts No. 4 seed Iowa State at 7:10 p.m. Friday in Chicago, has the top scoring defense of the remaining teams. It allows 59.5 points per game.
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