Wild Weekend of College Basketball; 16 Teams Left in the NCAA Tournament

Photo Credit: NCAA.com

By Francisco Romero

Duke, Kansas, Syracuse and North Carolina are gone and Wichita State’s undefeated season is history.  Stanford, Tennessee, Baylor and Cinderella Dayton are in.  Such is The Men’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Basketball Tournament.  Unpredictable! One and Gone!

And that is what makes it fun.

After the first weekend of play sixteen teams are left on the road to the Final Four. 

Three No.1 seed teams are still in the big dance: Arizona, Florida and Virginia and a young Kentucky team as a No. 8 seed.

This is the first tournament since 1983 where all four (No. 4) seeds have advanced to the Sweet 16 (UCLA, San Diego State, Michigan State and Louisville).

Along with Arizona, UCLA is the other Pac – 12 team that remains alive.  Arizona State University’s dream of going deep in the tournament was dashed in the second round of play losing to Texas in a heartbreaker 87 – 85.

The Wildcats got to the Sweet Sixteen by beating Weber State (68 – 59) and crushed Gonzaga (84 – 61).  UCLA advanced by defeating Tulsa (78 – 59) and SF Austin (77-50).  Arizona will face San Diego State in a rematch from earlier in the season while UCLA will go against No. 1 seeded Florida.

In the win against Gonzaga, Arizona’s Aaron Gordon and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored18 points, Gordon added six rebounds and six assists, Nick Johnson finished with 17 points.

NCAA NOTES: The four finalists for the Naismith Trophy were announced, the trophy will be presented to the top college basketball player April 6. The four finalists are:  Jabari Parker (Duke), Doug McDermott (Creighton), Russ Smith (Louisville) and Nick Johnson (Arizona).