7. Xavier-Arizona (Thursday, 10:09 PM ET tipoff)
Next up is Arizona-Xavier. Honestly, if there weren’t the potential for an No. 11 seed making the Elite Eight, I’d put this one even lower. It doesn’t feel like a close one.
Xavier has crashed the Sweet 16 as the lone Cinderella — the last double-digit seed standing. It’s been a great story, especially for a Xavier team that felt a bit lost after a mid-season injury to point guard Edmond Sumner. It was especially amazing when they were blowing out a Florida State team in their second round matchup.
But as fun as that was, it was equally unexpected. Xavier stumbled into the tournament having lost seven of their last ten, and caught their free falling NCAA stock with a run to the semi-finals of the Big East tournament. They were simply not a great team after Sumner went down, and even worse when Trevon Blueitt got banged up mid-season.
Arizona just took care of business against Saint Mary’s, and have lost just four games on the season. They’ve been to the Elite Eight several times before, and don’t have the inexperience of the Florida State squad. NCAA tournament history is riddled with double-digit Cinderellas who waltz into the Sweet 16 on a wave of good feelings, only to be crushed by the very good teams that wait there.
Keep your upset alerts on just in case, but feel free to tune this one out early.