Half of the Sweet 16 is set, and by the time Sunday’s 2024 NCAA Tournament schedule is complete we will know all of the matchups that will kick off the second weekend of March Madness. So far this year’s tournament has delivered its fair share of upsets, thrilling finishes and seemingly out-of-nowhere superstars rising to the forefront of the national sports conversation, and now there’s one day left to make more March memories and determine which teams will remain in contention for the national championship.
Sunday’s eight-game slate has a good mix of the heavyweight and Cinderella balance. There are four games featuring a double-digit seed looking to crash the Sweet 16, but also three games with No. 1 seeds putting expectations of advancing to the second weekend on the line. For any of those top-seed teams to fall would be a massive disappointment, and for any of those double-digit seeds to win would be absolute elation. That’s the kind of razor-thin margin for error we have up as the tournament’s first weekend reaches its conclusion with the remaining second round game.
Let’s get into some of the big storylines to know for Sunday’s second-round action
Will the No. 1 seeds break a sweat?
For much of the 2024 calendar year, we have assumed that the top tier in college basketball is occupied by just three teams: UConn, Houston and Purdue. There have been intense debates throughout the last couple months in terms of how those three teams could be ordered, and even more discussion come Selection Sunday about who might be the fourth No. 1 seed, but it has been accepted that those three represent the best the sport has to offer to this point in the season. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that No. 1 Purdue beat No. 16 Grambling State by 28 points, No. 1 UConn won its first round game against No. 16 Stetson by 39 points and No. 1 Houston defeated No. 16 Longwood by 40 points.
There’s no way that those three No. 1 seeds will be as dominant in the second round … right?
Purdue will be the first No. 1 seed out on the floor, taking on No. 8 Utah State in Midwest Region action from Indianapolis (2:40 p.m. ET, CBS and March Madness Live). The Boilermakers may have put those FDU echoes behind them with that thunderous first round win, but around the corner is a Utah State team that won the Mountain West regular season championship and just dismantled TCU’s defense in the first round. The last two No. 1 seeds won’t go until primetime, starting with UConn against No. 9 Northwestern in East Region action from Brooklyn (7:45 p.m. ET, TruTV and March Madness Live). The Wildcats advanced after edging No. 8 FAU in overtime in one of the best games of the first round, and now they’re playing with house money against the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed.
Then it will be an all-Lone Star State affair when No. 1 Houston and No. 9 Texas A&M square off in South Region action from Memphis (8:40 p.m. ET, TNT and March Madness Live). The Aggies are coming off one of their best offensive performances of the season, dropping 98 points on No. 8 Nebraska in the first round. Will they be able to replicate that success against Houston’s top-rated defense? Seems unlikely, but that matchup is definitely a pivot point in how the game will play out.
Duke vs. the Dukes
One of the four double-digit seeds in action on Sunday is No. 12 James Madison, which had one of the most impressive of the first round upsets with their 11-point win against No. 5 Wisconsin. The Dukes had a confidence and bounce to the way they played against the Badgers, never trailed in the game and by the end of the night looked much more like their gaudy record (32-3) than their NCAA Tournament seed. Teams like JMU get downgraded in the seeding process because of their strength of schedule, but when a team that’s won 32 out of 35 games in a college basketball season starts to sense success it should not be a surprise that they are very comfortable in that role.
But will JMU be able to bring that same confidence against No. 4 Duke when they square off in South Region action from Brooklyn (5:15 p.m. ET, CBS and March Madness Live)? The Blue Devils seemingly snapped out a rut with defensive excellence in their first round win against No. 13 Vermont, allowing just 18 second half points after giving up 29 prior to halftime. Duke had lost back-to-back games coming into the tournament, dropping the regular season finale to North Carolina and the team’s ACC Tournament game against NC State. Jon Scheyer challenged the group to raise their level of competitiveness in this key time of the year, and so while it’s good that Duke didn’t get caught napping on the Catamounts their compete will certainly get tested against the confident Dukes from JMU.
Colorado looking to go from First Four to Sweet 16
Since the First Four was officially established in 2011, there have been just five instances of a team going from the play-in game to the Sweet 16 or further. No. 10 Colorado looks to join that group on Sunday when the Buffs face No. 2 Marquette in South Region action from Indianapolis (12:10 p.m. ET, CBS and March Madness Live). It will take a strong effort from Colorado to join the likes of VCU (2011), LaSalle (2013), Tennessee (2014), Syracuse (2018) and UCLA (2021), not only because this is the third game in five days but because their opponent is a Marquette side that just recently regained to its top form. Star point guard Tyler Kolek missed six games after suffering an oblique injury, finally making his return on Friday in the Golden Eagles’ first round win. The start to the game was a little bit rocky, but once everyone fell back into their comfortable rhythm Marquette was able to pull away for a comfortable 18-point win. Colorado, meanwhile, enters the game after playing in one of the most entertaining games of the tournament so far, a 102-100 win — in regulation — against Florida.
Saturday’s NCAA Tournament games
Barclays Center — Brooklyn | Gainbridge Fieldhouse — Indianapolis | FedEx Forum — Memphis | Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena — Spokane
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