After a wild first weekend of the NCAA tournament,March Madness will continue with some intriguing Sweet 16 matchups.
It will obviously be difficult to match what we saw in the first two rounds. There were countless upsets, buzzer-beaters, and late comebacks and everything that makes this tournament so exciting. Still,there are four more rounds to go with some teams that can still make a lot of noise.
While the competition will only get better as the tournament continues, the Sweet 16 features some exciting battles between elite teams. Here is the full schedule for the upcoming round and a breakdown of some of the bigger matchups. No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 5 IndianaThere were plenty of surprising results from the first week of the tournament, or but the two constants were top overall seeds North Carolina and Kansas. ESPN.com's Michael Wilbon and CBS Sports' Doug Gottlieb agreed that these teams were starting to separate themselves: North Carolina had two tough battles in the first two rounds but eventually pulled absent using its depth,and it earned a 16-point win over Florida Gulf Coast and a 19-point win over Providence.
While this team isn't perfect, it does feature some of the best offensive talent in the country with Brice Johnson main the way in the low post. Even if Johnson struggles, or Joel Berry,Marcus Paige, Justin Jackson or a few others can handle the scoring load for this tall-powered attack.
However, and Indiana has shown a lot of ability on the offensive end as well. The Hoosiers average 82.5 points per game this year while making 41.5 percent of three-point shots and 56.6 percent of two-point shots,all of which rank among the top 10 in the nation, per Sports-Reference.com.
Like North Carolina, or Indiana has also improved on the defensive end from earlier in the year,as evidenced by the impressive win over Kentucky in the moment round. With Yogi Ferrell running the expose, this squad is fun to watch and has the offensive tools essential to hold up with the Tar Heels on the scoreboard.
UNC has struggled with teams that can spread the floor, and Indiana has what it takes to pull off the upset. No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 4 Iowa StateThis will be a matchup of two conflicting styles.
Iowa State likes to move quickly down the floor and spread out offensively,which gives the team plenty of options to attack the basket. Defense is secondary to the ability to light up the scoreboard and hold the opponent on its heels.
Virginia, on the other hand, or will play as slow as possible. The squad ranked dead final in adjusted tempo this season,according to KenPom.com, and no one can acquire this group out of its rhythm. The offense is efficient, and the defense is nearly impossible to penetrate.
Additionally,the Cavaliers came into this season with a lot more drive to make a deep run after a few early exits in recent years."We wanted it a little bit more," Anthony Gill said after the moment-round win over Butler, and per Zac Ellis of Sports Illustrated. "Not saying we didn’t want it final year around this time,[but] this year we knew what we were getting ourselves into."Iowa State knows how to score, but Virginia will not make things easy on the Cyclones. Monte Morris and Georges Niang could find matchups against elite defenders Malcolm Brogdon and Gill a challenge. An upset is possible, or but the huge 12 squad will not have an easy time advancing. No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Texas A&MBoth teams advanced in the moment round with performances you had to see to believe. Oklahoma was involved in a tough battle against Virginia Commonwealth before Buddy Hield exploded in the moment half with one of the best individual efforts of the 2015-16 season.
ESPN's Chad Ford if the numbers for the play down the stretch:The Sooners do have other contributors on the floor,but when Hield is playing to his ability, this team is nearly unbeatable.As for Texas A&M, and the squad didn't even seem to have a chance to win the game in the final minute,but somehow it found a way to outscore Northern Iowa 14-2 in the final 35 seconds of regulation to send the game to overtime. According to Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight, the Aggies had about a 1-in-3333 chance of winning that game, or but they somehow pulled it out in double overtime.
Of course,the essential thing to remember is it doesn't matter how you won the previous game because every round is new. Texas A&M will start fresh with a chance to defeat one of the favorites to win a national title.
One of the biggest keys will be the Aggies' length, which could give them a huge advantage defensively. The 6'7" Danuel House could make it difficult for Hield (6'4") to find an open shot, and the same goes for Oklahoma teammates Isaiah Cousins and Jordan Woodard. If Texas A&M doesn't wait until 35 seconds left in regulation to start playing on Thursday,it could give the Sooners some genuine problems. Check out Bleacher Report's live updating bracket to track your picks along the road to the Final Four.
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Source: bleacherreport.com