Sixty-five teams, three weeks, endless empty brackets and countless hours watching all the action. So you need a primer.Here are the Sweet 16 things you need to know as the NCAA tournament gets set to tip off.
1. Repeat Gators
Since the John Wooden era ended at UCLA in the mid-1970s, only once has a team repeated as national champions – Duke in 1992 and 1993. There have been some close calls – Georgetown reached the finals in 1985, Arkansas in 1995 and Kentucky even went to overtime in the title game in 1997.
But for the most part, college basketball has been the land of the no-peat. And with the trend of top college players making immediate leaps to the NBA, there was a school of thought that it might never happen again.
Enter the Florida Gators, the defending champions with all five starters back and, after bulldozing the SEC tournament, the No. 1 seed overall. They even have, in the Midwest Region, what appears to be a favorable bracket. ...
2. The four most important players in the tournament
(There may be better players out there, but none are so valuable to their team's fortunes.)
Kevin Durant, Texas -- (more on all four)
Greg Oden, Ohio State
A.J. Graves, Butler
Darren Collison, UCLA3. Cinderellas (13 seed or worse that are capable of an upset)
Wright State (vs. Pitt) – The Raiders finished the season 23-9, but they started 3-5 as they adjusted to new coach Brad Brownell. Since Christmas, this has been one of the hottest teams in the country. Wright State finished by winning 12 of its final 13 games, including two over Butler, and both the Horizon League regular season and tournament championships. This team is much better than a No. 14 seed.
Davidson (vs. Maryland)
Holy Cross (vs. Southern Illinois)
Oral Roberts (vs. Washington State)
And the other thirteen things you need to know are also here.
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