HAPPY SWIEET 16 TO THE SCHOOLS GETTING HERE VIA MARCH MADNESS

From 68 to 64 to 32 to Sweet 16, that’s where March Madness has landed this weekend. Thursday to Saturday, the men and women will be eager to take the next step into the Final Four.

The men take the court tonight with eight games, four in the South Region and four in the West. And of the four regions, only the men’s west came up perfect with its first four seeds still in play. Top-seeded Gonzaga (28-3) takes on 4th-seeded Arkansas (27-8) and 2nd-seeded Duke (30-6) faces 3rd-seeded Texas Tech (23-11).

The Thursday menu for the South Region also highlights No.1-seeded Arizona (33-3) and it will meet up with 5th-seeded Houston (31-5) while 2nd-seeded Villanova (23-7) plays 11th-seeded Michigan (19-14).

The other four men’s games are Friday, with No.1-seeded Kansas (30-6) going against 4th-seeded Providence (27-5) and two chili-hot low seeds, No. 10 Miami versus No. 11 Iowa State, remaining in the Midwest Region. In the East, it’s Saint Peter’s University getting most of the play after the small-school 15th-seeded Jersey City private Catholic Jesuit School ousted 2nd-seeded Kentucky and 7th-seeded Murray State.

Now the 21-11 Peacocks take the court against 3rd-seeded Purdue (29-7) after they won their initial NCAA Tournament game in their fourth appearance and awaits the Boilermakers at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, a short hop down the New Jersey Turnpike for the blue and white. In the other East contest, it’s red-hot 8th-seeded North Carolina (26-9) playing 11th-seeded UCLA, the championship runner-up to Baylor last year.

As for the women, they take the court Friday and Saturday.

Friday has top-seeded South Carolina (31-2), which lost to Stanford in last year’s final, meeting up with a much-improved 5th-seeded North Carolina (25-6), and the other match-up has upset-minded, 10th-seeded Creighton (22-9) now taking on 3rd-seeded Iowa State (28-6) after ousting 2nd-seeded Iowa before a record crowd of 14,372 at the Hawkeyes’ home court.

On the other Friday menu it’s No.1-seeded Stanford (30-3) versus a 4th-seeded Maryland (23-8) that has overcome a run of injuries since losing to the Cardinal early in the season. Then there’s 6th-seeded Texas (28-6) playing streaking 10th-seeded Ohio State (25-6).

By Saturday, most of the Final Four pairings have been set. So now it’s the East Region with No.1-seeded North Carolina State (31-3) facing a vastly improved 5th-seeded Notre Dame (24-6) that dominated a good Oklahoma team with a 108-64 blowout. And the University of Connecticut, the 2nd-seed that owns a record 11 national titles and has overcome much adversity this season, sports a 10-game win streak, is 27-5, and takes on 2nd-seeded Indiana (24-8) in the Sweet 16 finale.

Each Sweet 16 team and its two-game tournament record.

THE MEN:

Gonzaga defeated Georgia State 93-72 and Memphis 82-78

Arkansas defeated Vermont, 75-71 and New Mexico State, 53-48

Duke defeated Cal State Fullerton, 78-61 and Michigan State 85-76

Texas Tech defeated Notre Dame, 59-53 and Montana State, 97-62

Arizona defeated TCU, 85-80 and Wight State, 87-70

Houston defeated UAB, 82-68, and Illinois, 68-53

Villanova defeated Ohio State, 71-61, and Delaware, 72-68

Michigan defeated Colorado State, 75-63, and Tennessee, 76-68

Kansas defeated Texas Southern, 83-56, and Creighton, 79-72

Providence defeated South Dakota State, 66-57, and North Montana State, 97-62

Miami defeated USC, 68-66, and Auburn, 79-61

Iowa State defeated LSU, 59-54, and Pepperdine, 54-49

UCLA defeated St. Mary’s, 72-56, and Akron, 57-53

North Carolina defeated