The 2023 NCAA Tournament is ready to crack back up Thursday night with action from the Sweet 16 getting underway. The field will be narrowed further as four regional semifinals highlight the evening, with winners advancing in the bracket to the Elite Eight. Thursday features games from the East Regional in New York City and the West Regional in Las Vegas — the two regions where the No. 1 seed was eliminated in the opening weekend.
Purdue, the No. 1 seed in the East, fell more famously to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history. Kansas, the No. 1 seed in the West, lost 72-71 to No. 8 seed Arkansas in the second round while playing without coach Bill Self, who was recovering from a medical procedure earlier this month.
The bracket has really opened up for both of these regionals as a result, giving all four teams the belief they are capable of winning two games in three days to book a spot in the Final Four. The first weekend of this tournament is often a whirlwind of upsets and late-game heroics, but the second weekend is when we get dramatic moments that will be remembered for decades to come.
Lets get into some of the storylines for Thursday’s Sweet 16 action.
A rematch two times over
Thursday marks 17 years to the day that UCLA overcame a nine-point deficit in the final 3:26 to beat Gonzaga in the Sweet 16. The Bruins’ 11-0 run to close the game put an end to the college career of First Team All-American and co-national player of the year Adam Morrison. The images of Morrison’s tears and Gonzaga’s turnovers as the lead slipped away are a lasting piece of the tournament’s modern era history.
But so, too, is Gonzaga’s response in the 2021 Final Four, with Jalen Suggs serving up what Bill Raftery accurately described as major onions “with a kiss.”
Suggs’ game-winner in overtime kept Gonzaga’s perfect season alive for one more game and…
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