We’ve seen 68 teams trimmed to 64, 64 teams cut to 32 and now, with one weekend in the books, we’re down to just 16 teams still alive in the men’s NCAA Tournament.
It’s a who’s-who of college basketball heavyweights. After an uneventful start to tournament play in terms of upsets, higher seeds dominate the Sweet 16 and create the possibility for a star-studded Final Four next month in San Antonio.
All four No. 1 seeds are among this group. So are three of the four No. 2 seeds. There’s just one double-digit seed in the Sweet 16. Favorites have prevailed, by and large, leaving no real Cinderella story among the teams still competing for the national championship.
In terms of upsets, No. 12 McNeese State topped No. 5 Clemson for the first tournament win in program history and No. 10 Arkansas pulled off a stunner by beating No. 2 St. John’s to reach the Sweet 16 in coach John Calipari’s first season.
Here are the biggest winners and losers from the tournament’s first two rounds:
WINNERS
No. 1 seeds
Auburn overcame a rocky start against No. 16 Alabama State and then advanced against No. 9 Creighton. Houston dominated SIU-Edwardsville before needing nearly every second to survive against No. 8 Gonzaga. Florida breezed past Norfolk State before winning 77-75 against No. 8 Connecticut, the two-time defending national champions. But the most impressive of this bunch has definitely been Duke, which faced no pressure against Mount St. Mary’s and No. 9 Baylor, winning by a combined 67 points.
Duke
Let’s single out the Blue Devils further, and not just for being the most impressive team on the No. 1 line through the opening weekend. Another big asset in their favor has been the play of freshman forward Cooper Flagg, who injured his ankle in the ACC semifinals and missed the championship game against Louisville. But Flagg looked healthy against Mount St. Mary’s, scoring 14 points with seven rebounds in 22 minutes, and then made an even bigger impact against the Bears with 18 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists in 29 minutes.
John Calipari
Getting to the Sweet 16 in his first season at Arkansas after winning just one tournament game in his five years at Kentucky is sweet validation for Calipari, made even sweeter by the fact the Razorbacks defeated Rick Pitino and the Red Storm to get there. This year has to rank among the best coaching jobs of his career when you think about how the roster was completely remade in the offseason, how young and reliant on freshmen this team really is and the number of injuries they suffered along the way. Not to mention: Arkansas was once 0-5 and then 1-6 in the SEC before beginning to put together a tournament case heading into Selection Sunday.
The SEC
After a historic regular season that resulted in a record 14 teams making this year’s field, the SEC will set another record by sending seven teams into the Sweet 16, breaking the previous mark of six teams from one league set by the ACC in 2016. It’ll be Auburn and No. 6 Mississippi in the South, Florida and Arkansas in the West, No. 2 Alabama in the East and No. 2 Tennessee and No. 3 Kentucky in the Midwest. In the one SEC-only matchup, the Volunteers and Wildcats will face off on Thursday in Indianapolis. On one hand, that half of the SEC lineup failed to advance could be seen as a letdown, especially when you consider opening-round upsets such as No. 6 Missouri falling to No. 11 Drake and No. 8 Mississippi State coming up a point short against No. 9 Baylor. On the other, though, putting half of these 14 teams into the Sweet 16 puts the SEC alone in NCAA tournament history – making the league a clear winner from the first two rounds.
Maryland
The most dramatic moment of the second round came via Maryland freshman Derik Queen, who caught an inbound pass near the top of the key with 3.6 seconds left, drove toward the left baseline, rose above a pair of Colorado State defenders and banked in a fadeaway jumper as time expired to give the No. 4 Terrapins a 72-71 win against the No. 12 Rams. Queen had a team-high 17 points while all five of the Terrapins’ starters scored in double figures. Incredibly, this is Maryland’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 2016 and just the second since 2003.
LOSERS
Connecticut
After a difficult regular season, the Huskies rebounded to defeat No. 9 Oklahoma, 67-59, thanks to a strong second half from junior forward Alex Karaban, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. That extended the program’s tournament winning streak to 13 games, tied for the second-longest in NCAA history behind UCLA’s 38-game streak from 1964-74. The Gators snapped that run, but not without being pushed nearly to the brink: Florida overcame 12 turnovers and held UConn to 8 of 29 shooting from deep to win 77-75. The Huskies and coach Dan Hurley are heading into a crucial offseason and will need to go back to the drawing board to return to the top of college basketball.
Big East
The Huskies’ early exit is part of a broader tournament disappearing act from the Big East, which will have no team in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019. A year ago, all three Big East teams in the bracket — UConn, Marquette and Creighton — advanced out of the opening weekend, and the conference went 22-6 overall in tournament play across the past two seasons. But all five teams in this year’s field are already heading home. In addition to the Huskies, Red Storm and Creighton, No. 7 Marquette was upset by No. 10 New Mexico and No. 11 Xavier lost to No. 6 Illinois after beating Texas in the First Four.
Cinderellas, underdogs, tournament darlings, etc.
That Arkansas is the Cinderella story of the Sweet 16 tells you all you need to know about the big-name, major-brand teams still alive in the race for the national championship. This is the first tournament without a Sweet 16 featuring at least one team higher than a No. 10 seed since 2007. This is also the first tournament since 2017 without at least one non-power conference team in the Sweet 16 other than Gonzaga, which saw its nine-year run of Sweet 16 appearances snapped by the Cougars. While the lack of a clear underdog takes some juice out of the remaining bracket, that there are so many elite teams and programs still standing should yield a very strong Final Four field.
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
