Trips to the Sweet 16 are on the line in the NCAA tournament on Saturday. Here are 4 things you need to know

The chaos of the opening round of the males’s NCAA tournament is behind us and spots in the Sweet 16 are on the line on Saturday.

The girls’s NCAA tournament continues to be rolling sturdy in the opening spherical after a slate of video games that went closely in favor of the prime seeds on Friday, and the nation’s prime crew is taking the court docket as UConn appears to repeat as champions.

It’s the first weekend of the NCAA tournament, right here’s what you need to know.

Duke and Michigan are the two No. 1 seeds taking part in on Saturday and each are trying to reassert themselves after unexpectedly shut (for the most half, in the Wolverines’ case) video games on Thursday.

The 16-seed Howard Bison hung with Michigan for the first half of their recreation in the opening spherical earlier than the Wolverines wakened and ran away with things to win by 21. It was a snug win in the finish however a dominant Michigan crew that could be a standard choose to win all of it was anticipated to be in the clear from the opening minutes. They’ll face a Saint Louis crew that completely destroyed Georgia on Thursday in one in all the most unexpectedly one-sided video games of the tournament.

But it’s Duke that has the most to show. The prime seed in the whole tournament was pushed to the restrict by 16-seed Siena on Thursday. The Saints took the lead from the Blue Devils with about 12 minutes to go in the first half and held onto it till there have been four-and-a-half minutes to play in the recreation. The Blue Devils had been by no means actually in a position to draw back and escaped with a six level win.

Now Duke has a feisty TCU crew that held off an Ohio State comeback on Thursday in the tournament’s opening recreation.

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VCU and High Point are the tournament’s lone true Cinderellas after the first two days after the mid-major groups pulled off the conventional 12-seed over a 5-seed upset on Thursday.

They each have their work reduce out for them if they need to lengthen their season for an additional week.

VCU comes up in opposition to 3-seed Illinois, recent off a 25-8 season and a second-place end in the Big Ten (tied with Nebraska and Michigan State at 15-5). The Illini are, as per standard, enormous – they’ve bought two seven-footers and a slew of different huge forwards that might dominate the smaller Rams.

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High Point will play in Saturday’s ultimate recreation in opposition to John Calipari’s Arkansas, which cruised over Hawaii on Thursday. Calipari is a Hall of Fame coach who’s all too used to this stage and shall be relishing one other alternative to take the Razorbacks to the Sweet 16. His crew isn’t sneaking up on anybody this yr as they did in 2025 once they had been a 10-seed.

The Panthers in the meantime, are coming off their college’s first NCAA tournament victory and their coach is trying to make a press release. After beating Wisconsin on Thursday, Flynn Clayman made a passionate case for the power of mid-majors in his postgame interview. Expect him to convey that very same fireplace to Saturday’s showdown.

It’s not usually that Texas and Texas A&M are going to be talked about in the identical breath as being related. In reality, the heated rivals would most likely slightly be saved as separate as doable always.

But on Saturday, they’re each double-digit seeds who are trying to make up for lackluster seasons with some tournament magic.

It’s not likely honest to qualify the Longhorns and Aggies as Cinderellas, however nobody actually anticipated them to be Sweet 16 groups earlier than tipoff of their video games. Texas made it by way of the First Four on Tuesday and had to face BYU and AJ Dybantsa, whereas A&M was going up in opposition to mid-major powerhouse Saint Mary’s.

The Longhorns had to sweat, finally grinding the recreation out in the ultimate minutes after the Cougars couldn’t fairly get it collectively in crunchtime, and the Aggies merely rolled in their opening recreation.

A&M has a tall job in entrance of them in the type of Kelvin Sampson’s Houston, a defensive powerhouse on the lookout for redemption after falling to Florida in the nationwide title recreation a yr in the past. The 2-seed Cougars barely broke a sweat in opposition to Idaho, profitable by 31 in their opening recreation.

Texas, in the meantime, may have Gonzaga and that could possibly be a possibility. The Zags escaped in opposition to Kennesaw State on Thursday, watching their double-digit lead disappear in the ultimate minutes earlier than toughing it out in the ultimate minutes. It’ll be Texas’ third recreation since Tuesday, however First Four groups generally tend to journey the good vibes all the method into the tournament’s second weekend.

In the girls’s bracket, it’s all about the Huskies.

Undefeated UConn begins their tournament quest to repeat as champions with a showdown in opposition to the University of Texas-San Antonio and may roll. They would possibly roll all the method to the desert, as they seem to be in a category of their very own in this yr’s area.

Led by prime scorer Sarah Strong and star guard Azzi Fudd, the Huskies are a juggernaut and it’s very doable that they may not face an actual check till the Final Four in Phoenix early subsequent month.

Playing at dwelling in Storrs, count on the Huskies to put this one out of attain early and get themselves prepared for what’s over the horizon.