2017 NCAA Tournament: Day Two of the Sweet 16 Starts Off With the North Carolina vs. Butler

Is it just me, or do some of us have a little bit more love for Xavier (and by extension, Bill Murray) today? After narrowly beating Arizona, 73-71, eleven-seed Xavier moves on to the Elite Eight while Pac-12 Coach of the Year Sean Miller and his Wildcats are going home. Oregon won by the skin of their teeth, beating Michigan 69-68 in yet another tight game that came down to the final seconds. Gonzaga had to fight for their right to move on, beating West Virginia in a fairly low scoring game, 61-58, and Kansas was the winner in the only blow out so far in the Sweet 16, besting John Wooden’s Purdue, 98-66.

Of course, we can all agree the game to watch tips-off at 6:40 pm PT tonight. Our game preview has more details on tonight’s UCLA-Kentucky matchup.

So, let’s look at the other games that are being played today. The first game to tip-off features the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Butler Bulldogs. The winner of this game will play the winner of the Bruins-Wildcats game on Sunday for the right to advance to the Final Four. UNC will probably come out ahead in this one because of their defense. If the Tar Heels can crash the boards at their usual pace, this one will probably be an easy game for them.

The second game features the eighth-seed Wisconsin Badgers and the fourth-seed Florida Gators. The Badgers have proven to be scrappy and you just can’t count them out. But, if this game is close, it could come down to free throws and that gives the edge to the Gators.

Finally, we have another three and seven seed match up today, with Baylor taking on South Carolina. Baylor did us all a favor and sent Southern Cal packing, but only managed to beat them by four points. Can they best the Gamecocks, who already beat national darling Duke by seven points?

Here is a full listing of today’s games:

This is your non-UCLA Sweet 16 open thread.

Go Bruins!