{"id":674336,"date":"2026-03-23T11:14:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/674336\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T11:14:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:14:03","slug":"march-madness-mixes-surprise-teams-and-favorites-in-sweet-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/674336\/","title":{"rendered":"March Madness mixes surprise teams and favorites in Sweet 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

The regional semifinals, better known as the Sweet 16, are up next in the NCAA Tournament.<\/a><\/p>\n

The fun re-starts Thursday, and here are 16 numbers to know to help you get ready:<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Duke is the seventh straight No. 1 overall seed to advance to the Sweet 16.<\/a> The Blue Devils also were the overall No. 1 in 2019 and 2025.<\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

National championships won by UConn\u2019s Alex Karaban<\/a>, the only player remaining from the Huskies\u2019 2023 and 2024 title teams. <\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Number of times border rivals Iowa and Nebraska will square off this season. The Hawkeyes won 57-52<\/a> in Iowa City on Feb. 17 and the Cornhuskers won 84-75 in overtime<\/a> in Lincoln on March 8. This will be the biggest of the 45 all-time meetings.<\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Average 3-pointers per game by Iowa State sharpshooter Milan Momcilovic, who leads the nation in accuracy from deep at 49.3%.<\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

All five Michigan starters scored in double figures in a second-round win over Saint Louis<\/a>, the first time that\u2019s happened in 59 games since a win at Southern California last season.<\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

30-point games by Arkansas freshman Darius Acuff Jr., most among players in the Sweet 16. He had 36 in a second-round win over High Point.<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s consecutive appearances in the Sweet 16, the longest active streak. The Cougars<\/a> are still looking for their first national championship after losing in the 2025 title game.<\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

30-win seasons for Arizona. The Wildcats<\/a> would match their single-season record of 35 wins if they beat Arkansas.<\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

Average assists per game by Braden Smith of Purdue. Smith has had at least a dozen assists in eight games, including a career high-matching 16 against Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament. He holds the NCAA career record with 1,083.<\/a><\/p>\n

10<\/p>\n

Illinois\u2019 appearances in the Sweet 16, including two in the last three years.<\/a> The Illini haven\u2019t won a regional since 1989.<\/p>\n

11<\/p>\n

Texas\u2019 seed, making the Longhorns the highest-seeded team in the Sweet 16<\/a> since Princeton made it as a No. 15 in 2023. The Longhorns are the sixth First Four team, and first since 2021, to advance this far.<\/p>\n

12<\/p>\n

Alabama has made at least a dozen 3-pointers in 21 games. The Crimson Tide hit 19 in a 90-65 second-round win over Texas Tech.<\/p>\n

13<\/p>\n

Duke\u2019s consecutive wins, the nation\u2019s longest active streak. The Blue Devils also have had 10- and 11-game win streaks this season.<\/p>\n

14<\/p>\n

Sweet 16 appearances for St. John\u2019s<\/a> coach Rick Pitino in 25 career NCAA Tournaments. It\u2019s the Red Storm\u2019s first regional semifinal since 1999.<\/p>\n

15<\/p>\n

Tennessee\u2019s average offensive rebounds per game, most among remaining teams. The Volunteers<\/a> are grabbing 45% of the possible rebounds on their offensive end, on track to be the third-highest rate in the nation since 2000, according to KenPom.<\/p>\n

16<\/p>\n

Iowa State\u2019s turnovers forced per game, most among remaining teams. Tamin Lipsey leads the Big 12 with 76 steals and is the Cyclones\u2019 career leader.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP March Madness bracket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ncaa-mens-bracket<\/a> and coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/march-madness<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The regional semifinals, better known as the Sweet 16, are up next in the NCAA Tournament. The fun…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[2377,7,2456,217,325,6133,41665,420,3734,7368,55358,354,1043,231,772,20001,55359,1544,3422,13058,1284,34561,35737,66,45750],"class_list":["post-674336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-alex-karaban","tag-basketball","tag-braden-smith","tag-college-basketball","tag-college-sports","tag-connecticut-huskies","tag-darius-acuff-jr","tag-florida","tag-iowa","tag-iowa-state-cyclones","tag-march-madness-ncaa-tournament","tag-mens-college-basketball","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaa-mens-division-i-basketball-championship","tag-ncaa-mens-bracket","tag-ncaab","tag-nebraska","tag-northwestern-wildcats","tag-rick-pitino","tag-saint-louis-billikens","tag-southern-california-trojans","tag-sports","tag-tamin-lipsey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116278203127431422","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}