SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
It’s Sweet 16 time in the March Madness NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Four games are on the Thursday schedule, with No. 4 Tennessee facing No. 9 FAU, and No. 3 Kansas State taking on No. 7 Michigan State in the East, and in the West it’s No. 2 UCLA against No. 3 Gonzaga and No. 4 UConn versus No. 8 Arkansas.
The other four quarterfinals will be played Friday in the South and Midwest sections — No. 1 Alabama paired with No. 5 San Diego State and No. 6 Creighton matched with No. 15 Princeton in the South, and in the Midwest it’s No.1 Houston playing No. 5 Miami and No. 2 Texas and No. 3 Xavier going at it.
There are three teams remaining from the Southeastern Conference, two from the Big 12, and one each from the Mountain West, PAC-12, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big Ten and Ivy League.
The remaining quintet is Creighton, Houston, Florida Atlantic, Xavier and Connecticut.
Princeton’s Tigers are the upset-minded team with wins over No. 2 Arizona and No. 7 Missouri. FAU is a No. 9 after eliminating No. 5 Duke and No. 10 Fairleigh Dickinson. Michigan State is in the unfamiliar role of seventh seeded via the wins over 10th-seeded Southern California and second-seeded Marquette.
Then there’s No. 9 Arkansas that made its way here by getting past No. 8 Illinois and No. 1 Kansas. The 2 and 3-seeded games are Texas-Xavier and UCLA-Gonzaga.
