by Paragon Communications Sports Broadcaster Aaron Kauk
The first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is in the books and the Sweet 16 is set with some teams that we thought we be there and some teams we didn’t. 3 #1 seeds have made it out of the first weekend. Gonzaga, Arizona, and Kansas all escaped tough contests in the 2nd round and will live to fight another day.
Two of the four 2 seeds have been eliminated. Kentucky and Auburn are gone. The Cinderella story is 15th seeded St. Peter’s who knocked out Kentucky and Murray St. The Big 12 and ACC lead the conference standings with 3 teams apiece. The pac 12 and Big 10 have two teams apiece. Thursday’s game will feature the West and South Regionals. Out West all 4 top seeds advanced to set up #1 seed Gonzaga against 4th seeded Arkansas and #2 seed Duke will play 3rd seeded Texas Tech. In the South bracket it’ll be 1 seed Arizona against Kelvin Sampson’s 5th seeded Houston Cougars. The other game features the 2 seed Villanova against the 11th seed Michigan.
On Friday the Midwest and East will take the stage. IN the Midwest top seed Kansas plays the 4th seed Providence. Then it’s 10th seeded Miami and 11th seed Iowa St. In the East a battle of bluebloods will square off with 8 seed North Carolina and 4 seed UCLA. The other game features 3rd seed Purdue against the Cinderella story, 15th seed St. Peter’s