It was all set up for the taking.
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AMES, Iowa (AP) – For years, nothing seemed to break in Iowa State’s favor during the NCAA Tournament. Looking ahead to the second weekend of March Madness, here’s a look at the 10 most valuable players in the Sweet 16. Maryland is one of nine remaining teams to have won a national championship and one of just five to have won it in the past 15 years, but the Terrapins’ 13-year Sweet 16 drought was the longest of any team still in the field. 12. Either they or the Orange will take on Virginia or Iowa State in the Elite Eight for a trip to the Final Four.
Heck, no one has ever heard those names mentioned around college basketball, right? He’s won 70 percent of his games at Virginia, creating a basketball powerhouse at a non-traditional school. People chose us to go to the Final Four.
With those blocks, she became the first player in Division I women’s history with at least 400 blocked shots (402) and 400 assists (410).
Before last year, multiple top seeds hadn’t reached the Final Four in five years, but bookmakers expect that feat to repeat, listing North Carolina (5/7), Kansas (5/6) and Virginia (10/11) as favorites to reach the final weekend, along with the second-seeded Sooners (7/4). You go right on down the line. Don’t sleep on either of those teams, either.
Now we move to the Sweet 16. Sabonis, though, is one of the best at his position, averaging more than 11 rebounds per game.
That’s where senior Abdel Nader and junior Matt Thomas enter the picture. Because of upsets, the ACC teams all got to play worse seeds than expected in the second round, but the feat is no less impressive.
Arcidiacono had two 3-pointers in that stretch including a killer at the buzzer give Villanova its largest lead of the game. “That was awesome to see that from him, he’s such a good man”.
“You’ve got to remember, last year, coming into (its second NCAA tournament) game, we had lost it a lot of years in a row”, Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd said.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is Syracuse, a No. 10 seed which two weeks before the tournament looked like it was bound for the NIT.
Beyond Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis being monsters, the key for Gonzaga is the backcourt. Syracuse has the advantage of having played tough teams that are good at rebounding this season and finding a way to hang in there. Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon, who was recently named a Naismith Trophy finalist, and the Cyclones’ Georges Niang.
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.
Villanova led Iowa by as many as 34 points on the way to a 19-point win Sunday at the Barclays Center. It allows 59.5 points per game. I’m not convinced there is.
Arcidiacono contributed 16 points, four assists and no turnovers.
Could there be an all-ACC Final Four?
As mentioned above, Niang has been the best player in the field thus far. “He creates for his teammates too”.
In the first day of Sweet 16 on March 24, the second and third-best teams in the South will collide as the Villanova Wildcats take on the Miami (FL) Hurricanes at 7:10 p.m. EDT. Two wins by a total of 45 points. Man, what a fascinating clash of styles. We played a game against Xavier at home that we played like that, and we’ve been on the other side of this. The Cyclones will want to speed things up and try to get out into transition.
WHO WAS THAT?: Syracuse was one of the most hotly debated bubble teams, but has responded by winning games by 19 and 25.
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The Big 10 (Indiana, Maryland and Wisconsin) tied the Big 12 ( Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma) for second-most Sweet 16 spots with three. The Zags are a different team now that the backcourt is playing like this.
