The Athletic has live coverage of UConn vs. Illinois in men’s March Madness Elite 8 play.
The Sweet 16 is set. And there are some incredible matchups on tap.
We’ll be glued to all of them on Thursday and Friday, of course, but some games are more enticing than others. Here’s our ranking of all eight games to decide the Elite Eight and how to watch (all times Eastern):
You can buy tickets to any tournament game here.
Advertisement
1. No. 2 Iowa State vs. No. 3 Illinois
East Regional, Thursday, approx. 10:10 p.m., TBS/truTV
The sales pitch here is simple. The Illini have the top offense in college basketball, per KenPom, while the Cyclones own the No. 1 defense in the country. Is that something you might be interested in? These are also two very passionate and very hungry fan bases; Illinois hasn’t been to the Final Four since 2005, which seems like yesterday to Iowa State faithful, almost none of whom were alive for the school’s lone appearance in 1944. (There were only eight teams in the NCAA Tournament that year, and many college-aged men were fighting in World War II, so …) We hope Boston is ready for a Midwest horde learning to pronounce “chowdah,” and we can’t wait to see which team’s strength prevails in this Final Four-worthy showdown.
GO DEEPER
After philosophical shift and assist from Jay Wright, Illinois is finally back in Sweet 16
2. No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 3 Creighton
Midwest Regional, Friday, approx. 10:10 p.m., TBS/truTV
These programs have met only once, way back in 1937. This one may prove to be worth the wait. Both teams are ranked in the top 11 of KenPom and are among the most experienced teams in the country. Tennessee is known for its defense — it ranks third in KenPom in adjusted defensive efficiency — but the addition of high-scoring transfer Dalton Knecht has made this a more balanced outfit. Creighton has usually been known as an offensive-minded club under Greg McDermott but has been a top-25 defense nationally the past three seasons — coinciding, unsurprisingly, with three-time Big East defensive player of the year Ryan Kalkbrenner ruling the paint. Both teams are also loaded on the perimeter; the Bluejays’ trio of Baylor Scheierman, Trey Alexander and Steven Ashworth rarely leave the floor, while Tennessee has Zakai Zeigler, Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James — the latter two of whom seem to have been in Knoxville since that 1937 meeting.
GO DEEPER
Vols reach Sweet 16 even though they can't shoot against Texas. What does it mean?
3. No. 1 Houston vs. No. 4 Duke
South Regional, Friday, approx. 9:40 p.m., CBS
Questions about toughness and physicality have dogged Duke since its second-round loss to Tennessee last year. And now comes a program that might as well have the word “toughness” written on the front of its jerseys in Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars. The Blue Devils looked terrific against Vermont and James Madison, but those weren’t exactly physically imposing teams. What happens when Houston punches them in the mouth — perhaps literally, given Kyle Filipowski’s history of collisions? Sampson’s team should enjoy a geographical edge in Dallas, and there won’t be any question which team NC State fans in American Airlines Center will be backing. But will Houston have enough offense if Jared McCain and Tyrese Proctor remain red hot from 3, or enough bodies on its banged-up roster? If there were ever a time you’d want to play these Cougars (and to be clear, there isn’t), it might be now as Sampson is sewing together lineups like Dr. Godwin Baxter in “Poor Things.”
GO DEEPER
Down to its last man, Houston finds way to survive. 'Our kids are built for that'
GO DEEPER
'I don’t know if we expected this': Duke looks the part in blowout of James Madison
4. No. 1 Purdue vs. No. 5 Gonzaga
Midwest Regional, Friday, 7:39 p.m., TBS/truTV
This is the lone in-season rematch among the Sweet 16, as the Boilermakers downed the Bulldogs 73-63 in the Maui Invitational. Of course, that was way back on Nov. 20, and the Zags seem unlikely to shoot 37.7 percent from the floor or miss their final 13 3-point shots as they did in Honolulu. We’re not sure they missed a shot in the second half against Kansas, though we need to double-check the box score on that. Graham Ike and Anton Watson both got in foul trouble during the earlier meeting against Zach Edey, but then again, who doesn’t? The Zags have vastly improved and figured out their roles since November. All the pressure in this one will be on Purdue as it tries to make its first Final Four since 1980.
GO DEEPER
Purdue spent a whole year waiting for and working toward this first-round win
GO DEEPER
Gonzaga's transfer duo lead the way against Kansas and into another Sweet 16
5. No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Alabama
West Regional, Thursday, approx. 9:40 p.m., CBS
We’d be more excited about this matchup if we weren’t still haunted by the affront to basketball that was the four-overtime disaster these two teams staged in the 2022 Phil Knight Invitational. Or … whatever that Bama-Grand Canyon second-round game was supposed to be. But that’s the Crimson Tide; they play fast, sometimes too fast, and hope the math of their shot selection prevails through the chaos. North Carolina, which showed some impressive spurtability against Michigan State, won’t be afraid to grab and go either. Unless Alabama has a great night shooting 3s — always possible! — the Tar Heels seem to have much more depth … and rationality.
GO DEEPER
The timeout and the set play that powered North Carolina to the Sweet 16
6. No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 6 Clemson
West Regional, Thursday, 7:09 p.m., CBS
Clemson beat tournament teams Alabama, South Carolina, TCU, UAB and Boise State in nonconference play before having some stumbles in the (apparently pretty good!) ACC. So, yeah, the Tigers are legit and should provide a good test for Arizona. Brad Brownell can stretch the floor with his bigs, which could make for a challenging matchup for Wildcats center Oumar Ballo, who lives in drop coverage. The Tigers should also be very familiar with Caleb Love — both the good and bad versions — from his time at UNC.
“Just keep blowing these teams out of this tournament” 👀
Dan Hurley is feeling confident after UConn’s dominant victory over Northwestern 🐺 pic.twitter.com/SUMZMqUfVx
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 25, 2024
GO DEEPER
The Caleb Love drama could reach its crescendo in Hollywood
7. No. 1 UConn vs. No. 5 San Diego State
East Regional, Thursday, 7:39 p.m., TBS/truTV
Perhaps this seems low for the rematch of last year’s national title game. Though the proud Aztecs will be highly motivated, this season’s team hasn’t been quite as good as last year’s — and UConn appears just as dominant, if not more so. San Diego State has especially struggled to make shots in recent weeks, with the rather notable exception of Sunday’s win over Yale in which they suddenly couldn’t miss against the Ivy boys. It will take something like that to stay close to this Huskies group, which has too many answers everywhere for opponents to just muck things up. All-America big man Jaedon LeDee will be giving up height to Donovan Clingan, but not even Cling Kong can match him in the muscles department. Once the novelty of seeing these two teams on the same floor again wears off, we could well be left watching yet another UConn strangulation. “We’re bulletproof,” Dan Hurley said Sunday night. Sure seems that way.
GO DEEPER
San Diego State hits a new gear ahead of Sweet 16 rematch with UConn
8. No. 2 Marquette vs. No. 11 NC State
South Regional, Friday, 7:09 p.m., CBS
Can NC State really keep this up? The Wolfpack won five games in five days at the ACC tournament just to get into the field and then needed overtime to survive the second round against Oakland. They must be grateful not to have to play again until Friday. Marquette will have to deal with the massive DJ Burns Jr. inside, but the Golden Eagles got a pretty good practice run for that against Colorado’s mountainous Eddie Lampkin Jr. On paper, Marquette should be a solid favorite here. But there’s no real explanation for this NC State run.
GO DEEPER
This time, Marquette was ready to finish the fight. And it KO'd Colorado
GO DEEPER
DJ Burns Jr. and NC State survive Cinderella slugfest — improbable March continues
(Photo of Trey Kaufman-Renn and Graham Ike: Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)
