Midnight has come early this year as all the carriages have turned back into pumpkins and the March Madness Cinderellas in the men's NCAA Tournament have gone home.
Usually, there’s at least one men’s hoops team from a non-traditional league that reaches the second weekend. Not this time. With the exceptions of Sweet 16 fixture Gonzaga and San Diego State, which has also been down this road before, the rest of the remaining teams compete in the sport’s major conferences. Furthermore, all the top eight seeds and 14 of the top 20 are still alive.
But while we all love a good underdog story, the number of strong contenders left in the field could mean four very competitive regionals are on the horizon this coming weekend. At least, we as viewers can hope that will be the case.
To be clear, any of the 16 teams left standing are capable of winning on a given day. But a pecking order seems to be emerging, and it doesn’t necessarily follow the committee’s seed placements. So let's reseed this group of teams as if the tournament was starting again this weekend.
If we’re being honest, the defending champion Huskies have looked like the team to beat for some time. It can be done, but you have to shoot the lights out as Creighton did on Feb. 20, UConn’s lone loss since the calendar turned to 2024.
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The Boilermakers’ quest to achieve what one might call the Virginia path to the championship is arguably off to an even better start than the Cavaliers’ early 2019 run. The competition only gets stronger, of course, and so far Purdue has avoided the turnover bug that has been its undoing in its rare losses over the past couple of seasons. And with Zach Edey and the guards making shots, the sky is the limit.
For what it’s worth, these Tar Heels seem to have the architecture of some of the program’s past championship squads, with a dynamic lead guard in the person of RJ Davis and a strong frontcourt. The biggest question is whether they can find enough secondary scoring options when they inevitably encounter an opponent capable of matching them on the glass.
They’re not flashy, but as a team the Cyclones have been playing as well as anyone in the postseason, including their stellar performance in the Big 12 tournament. They were dealt a tough hand with their regional assignment, but count them out at your peril.
In theory the Cougars might be considered the most vulnerable of the No. 1 seeds after barely staving off Texas A&M in the second round. Their physical style could test their depth once again if any future games are as tightly officiated.
Even with the addition of Dalton Knecht and the return of a healthy Zakai Zeigler, the Tennessee offense can still get bogged down. The good news for the Volunteers is their defensive cohesiveness allowed them to survive an ugly game against Texas, so if they’ve gotten the bad one out of their system they’re more than capable of advancing further.
The Fighting Illini have enough weapons to outscore most opponents with Terrence Shannon Jr. carrying much of that burden. But they don’t always have the greatest attention to detail on the defensive end, making their upcoming matchup with Iowa State a bit dicey.
Tyler Kolek is back and Cam Jones is hitting, a combination that makes the Golden Eagles one of the more entertaining watches in the field. But their limited inside game and lack of a true rim protector might mean they’re about to reach their ceiling.
It’s an oversimplification to say the Wildcats will go as far as Caleb Love will take them, but it’s undeniable that they’re a lot more formidable when his treys are falling. The talent is there to win four more games, but the overall consistency might not be.
It was just one game, but in their dominant performance against James Madison the Blue Devils might finally have found the toughness coach Jon Scheyer has been seeking from his team. We’ll find out soon enough when they meet Houston, which never shies away from physicality.
As we’ve mentioned, the Bluejays own the last victory against UConn, so they most assuredly have the experience and fire power to outperform this ranking. But they tend to sink or swim with their perimeter shooting, and that makes a game against Tennessee an iffy proposition.
This is familiar territory for many of these Aztecs, and they’ve actually had a smoother ride through the first two rounds than last year’s squad that played for the whole thing. They’ll be underdogs in their upcoming rematch with the Huskies, but if they somehow pull it off, watch out.
One should not underrate just how remarkable the Gonzaga's streak of nine consecutive Sweet 16 appearances is. This is the point in the tourney when they tend to encounter the kind of opponent that can disrupt their offensive sets, but this program’s history of surprising in the postseason should always be borne in mind.
The ACC champ can’t really be called a Cinderella team, but there’s no disputing that the Wolfpack, the last remaining double-digit seed in the field, have a difficult path ahead. Even so, their belief only grows stronger with each nailbiter they survive. And who wouldn't root for more games with DJ Burns manning the middle?
The Tigers are arguably the most puzzling team still in the mix, seemingly at their best when facing NCAA Tournament-caliber competition outside the ACC. But those who have observed them all season can’t help wondering when their next clunker will come.
The Crimson Tide only play one way – breakneck speed, which makes them the most difficult team to trust. If everything is clicking they can shoot anyone out of the arena, but stringing enough such performances together to win a title is asking a lot.
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