The 2017 NCAA Tournament is already headed into its second weekend and here’s who will be playing in the Sweet 16.
An action-packed weekend is something everyone expected when tuning into the 2017 NCAA Tournament, but days three and four were really something special. First-round upsets were few and far between this year, but the second round was a different story.
In fact, the No. 1 overall seed and defending champion, Villanova, has already been knocked from the tournament and will spend the offseason hoping for a better finish in 2018. Wisconsin pulled off the upset of the tournament as the eighth-seeded Badgers knocked off the Wildcats and shocked the country in the process.
So who else will be playing on Thursday and Friday in the Sweet 16 matchups?
Related: Sweet 16 Bracket
From the West, playing in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday will be No. 1 seed Gonzaga vs. No. 4 West Virginia. The Bulldogs took down Northwestern to get to the Sweet 16 while West Virginia fought hard to beat a tough Notre Dame team. Arizona and Xavier will also play in San Jose. The Wildcats avoided an upset against Saint Mary’s and Xavier pulled off an upset against Florida State.
Next, the Midwest Region features a tough Purdue team playing No. 1 Kansas in Kansas City, Mo. The Boilermakers held on to beat a red-hot Iowa State team in the round of 32 while Kansas pulled away late against No. 9 Michigan State. Piping-hot Michigan will take on No. 3 Oregon on Thursday as well. The Wolverines upset No. 2 Louisville and Oregon won in the final minute against Rhode Island.
Moving on to Friday in the East Region, Florida and Wisconsin will face off at Madison Square Garden. The Gators blew the doors off Virginia while Wisconsin, as mentioned earlier, pulled off the upset of the tournament over Villanova. South Carolina and Baylor will play there as well. Baylor survived an upset against USC while South Carolina pulled off the unthinkable over Duke.
Lastly, the South Region will be held at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn. Kentucky and UCLA will play the marquee game, at least it seems, while North Carolina and Butler could be an underrated matchup.
Games will begin at 7:09 p.m. ET on both Thursday and Friday and the last game of the night will commence at 9:45 p.m. ET.