NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 2021 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 teams

By Adam Childs | Mar 24, 2021

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 21: Kareem Thompson #2 of the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles celebrates with teammates after defeating the Florida Gators in the second round game of the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on March 21, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Oral Roberts defeated Florida 81-78. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

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NCAA Basketball Houston Cougars Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

16. Houston Cougars

Of all the teams left the Cougars have looked the least impressive. Yes, they took care of Cleveland State with little problem, but they barely slipped by a decent Rutgers team. The Scarlet Knights were a good enough team to win and should have beaten the Cougars.

Had Rutgers ran any semblance of an offense in the last two minutes Houston would have been headed back to Texas thinking about what could have been. For a team ranked in the top ten for most of the year and two seed, it shouldn’t have been that hard.

But this tournament is about “survive and advance” and that is exactly what they did, but does anyone trust them to figure out the Syracuse zone and win that game?

15. UCLA Bruins

UCLA became yet another team to come out of the first four games and make the Sweet 16, but they haven’t exactly been tested since beating Michigan State in overtime.

They did beat a pretty good BYU team, but would many people really consider that an upset. Then they got lucky as Abilene Christian upset Texas and they gave the Bruins an easier path to the Sweet 16.

Nobody looks back and talks about who you beat to get there so the Bruins don’t care, but the competition ramps up as they take on red-hot Alabama in the next round. The Bruins have proven they can play with some good teams, but the Tide are on another level. UCLA will be a huge underdog in that game.

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