NCAA Tournament: Reseeding the Sweet 16

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Mar 19, 2016; Denver , CO, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Domantas Sabonis (11) z guard Silas Melson (0) forward Kyle Wiltjer (33) and guard Kyle Dranginis (3) in first half action of Utah vs Gonzaga during the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports /

The Two Seeds

8. Gonzaga (previously seeded No. 11)

Even the most optimistic of Gonzaga fans were probably shocked at what transpired over the weekend. Gonzaga dominated a miserable-looking Seton Hall team. Domantas Sabonis finished with 21 points and their guards played at a high level, shutting down Isaiah Whitehead and company.

Sabonis had a much bigger challenge Saturday night against Utah: perennial top 10 NBA draft pick Jakob Poeltl.

And Sabonis made him look silly, finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Poeltl had just five points and four rebounds.

Gonzaga gets Syracuse in the Sweet 16, and if they win that they get the winner of Iowa State and Virginia. So Sabonis has potential match-ups with Anthony Gill, and Jameel McKay. He’s taking the country by storm, and isn’t even done yet.

7. Oklahoma Sooners (previously seeded No. 2)

I was real bullish on the Sooners heading into the tournament, and I’m not sure they’ve given me any reason to be confident that they will beat Texas A&M in the Sweet 16.

They let CSU Bakersfield hang around for way too long in their win on Friday. Then, when they stormed out of the gate and went up 44-31 at the half against VCU, they played so poorly in the second half that a win required 29 second-half points from Buddy Hield.

But still, the Sooners are a dangerous team, even if they’re only dangerous because of Hield. The inconsistent supporting cast of Jordan Woodard and Isaiah Cousins is a combined 21-of-45 from the floor, so they haven’t been too bad scoring-wise.

But at the same time, Cousins turned the ball over six times against VCU, and he and Woodard combined to shoot 2-of-10 from three in that game. And that’s the area where the Sooners really need those two to perform well.

Lucky for them, Texas A&M is a similarly inconsistent team. Oklahoma may win just because they have the better player in Hield, but don’t expect it to be any kind of a blowout.

6. Oregon (previously seeded No. 1)

Oregon probably never deserved a one-seed in the first place. The Pac-12 got tons of hype, had seven teams make the tournament, but only had only one team make it out of the first weekend. That’s a collapse that’s even worse than the Big 12 from last year.

But it’s easy to forget that Oregon is still a very good team. After demolishing Holy Cross in the Round of 64, the Ducks held St. Joseph’s, who had the 26th best adjusted offense on KenPom, to under 40 percent from the floor (38.6).

Fortunately for St. Joe’s, Oregon was just as bad. But that’s easily excusable when you note that players outside of Elgin Cook and Dillon Brooks combined for just eight field goals and shot 28 percent from the floor. That probably won’t happen again, especially against a paper-thin defense like Duke.

5. Indiana (previously seeded No. 5)

Picture that on March 13th, the brackets were just released. Your friend tells you he thinks that Indiana is going to beat Kentucky in the Round of 32. You slap him, because there’s just no way Tom Crean is going to beat John Calipari.

Hopefully that didn’t actually happen to you, because if you slapped your friend for saying that, you would look pretty foolish.

That is because Indiana actually did beat Kentucky in the Round of 32! Even crazier: they did it on the shoulders of Thomas Bryant (19 points), who outplayed Skal Labissiere and Marcus Lee, and OG Anunoby, who played suffocating defense on Jamal Murray, forcing him into a 1-of-9 performance from three.

Now, Indiana gets arguably an even bigger test in North Carolina. And I can’t wait. Can Thomas Bryant continue his solid play against Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks? Will Anunoby get to guard Marcus Paige at all?

With the way those two teams are playing right now, I’d expect that game to be Final Four quality.

Next: The one-seeds