Sweet Sixteen NCAA Tournament Game Notes: March Madness Recap

The Elite Eight begins tonight with the winners of NCAA Tournament games headed to the Final Four and the losers heading home. Two games are on tap tonight – Wisconsin and Arizona in Los Angeles, followed by Kentucky and Notre Dame in Cleveland. Wisconsin and Kentucky are two of the No. 1 seeds remaining in this year’s tourney.

Meanwhile, Duke – the other No. 1 seed – and Gonzaga play Sunday, as do Michigan State against Louisville. Michigan State is the lowest seeded team still in the NCAA Tournament, at No. 7.

Here is a quick summary of the eight games that have been played since Thursday.

• No. 3 Notre Dame outlasted Wichita State 81-70 in Cleveland to become the first team to punch its way into the Elite Eight. It marked the first time since 1979 that the Fighting Irish have advanced this far. Meanwhile, the Shockers – the remaining chance for the Missouri Valley Conference – bowed out at 30-5. The Shockers have only lost six games the previous two seasons.
• Kentucky doubled up West Virginia 78-39 in Cleveland in the second largest victory of the tournament (41 points by Villanova). West Virginia’s 39 points was the lowest since the Tournament expanded to 32 teams in 1975. The victory was so monstrous for Kentucky, the Wildcats didn’t even need to show up in the second half. Their 44 points in the first half were still five more than West Virginia had all game.
• Speaking of Wildcats, Arizona edged Xavier 68-60 in Los Angeles. It marks the second straight season Arizona has made it to the Elite Eight. However, Arizona’s last four Elite Eight games (2003, 2005, 2011, 2014) have all ended in losses. The Wildcats’ last Final Four was 2001.
• Thursday’s other game in Los Angeles saw Wisconsin rally to beat North Carolina 79-72. It marks Wisconsin’s second straight trip to the Elite Eight, after the Badgers wound up in the Final Four a year ago. That Final Four appearance came after the Badgers beat Arizona – their opponent Saturday – 64-63 in overtime. Last year, Arizona was the No. 1 and Wisconsin was the No. 2.
• Friday’s contests started with a Gonzaga victory over UCLA 74-62 in Houston, keeping the Bruins from a return trip to Indianapolis (site of this year’s Final Four) they made in 2006. For Gonzaga, it is the first time the Bulldogs are in the Elite Eight since 1999, when they first became a household name.
• Duke held off Utah 63-57 in the other game in Houston, as Duke – surprisingly – will make only its second Elite Eight since winning the 2010 Tournament (also the Blue Devils’ last Final Four appearance).
• Louisville defeated fellow ACC foe North Carolina State 75-65 in Syracuse, N.Y., to return to the Elite Eight for the third time in four seasons. Louisville is the highest seeded team remaining in the East Region, at No. 4.
• Michigan State came back from a four-point deficit at halftime to beat Oklahoma 62-58 in Syracuse. Michigan’s 26 victories are the fewest victories for teams that remain in the tournament.
• The ACC still has three teams in the Tournament (Duke, Notre Dame, Louisville). The Big 10 has two teams left (Wisconsin, Michigan State), while the SEC (Kentucky), the Pac-12 (Arizona) and WCC (Gonzaga) each have one team.
• Each NCAA Tournament champion since 2009 has come from east of the Mississippi River. Six of the remaining eight teams are from east of the Mississippi; Arizona and Gonzaga are west of the Mississippi.
• Four programs from 2014 are returning to the Elite Eight: Kentucky, Wisconsin, Arizona and Michigan State.
• Of this year’s Elite Eight participants, six schools have won at least one national championship: Louisville, Kentucky, Duke, Michigan State, Arizona, Wisconsin. Notre Dame and Gonzaga remain the only schools in this year’s NCAA Tournament still seeking a championship.
• Thirteen games in the NCAA Tournament have been separated by three points or less. None of those games have occurred since the first day of the third round (Saturday, March 21).
• Villanova’s 41-point victory over Lafayette on Thursday remains the largest margin of victory in this year’s tournament. Duke and Gonzaga’s 19-point wins were the largest of Sunday’s games.
• Fred VanVleet of Wichita State led all scorers in Thursday’s Sweet Sixteen game against Notre Dame, scoring 25 points. On Friday, Montrezl Harrell of Louisville and Justise Winslow of Duke each scored 24 points in their games.. BYU’s Tyler Haws leads all players in single-game scoring, with 33 points in the First Four game loss to Ole Miss.