We have made it to the Sweet 16 of the 2023 NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament. The 64 teams that started last Thursday have been whittled down to 16, and – as always – there were some major shocks and upsets along the way. This preview and ticket information post is for the Sweet 16 pods in Las Vegas (West Regional) and New York (East Regional) that will play on Thursday, April 23, and Saturday, April 25. If you want tickets to Kansas City (Midwest Regional) or Louisville (South Regional), check out our post on those pods here.
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Las Vegas (West Regional)
This regional is a No. 1 seed win away from going completely to chalk. UCLA (2), Gonzaga (3), and UConn (4) did their part, but Arkansas’ (8) upset of Kansas (1) – admittedly a Kansas without Hall of Fame head coach Bill Self – was the big shocker here in the Round of 32.
This is a pod that is hard to call. UCLA has two veteran leaders in forward Jamie Jaquez Jr. and point guard Tyger Campbell and is an excellent defensive team. UConn has weapons that means they can win in different ways, and they are a team that historically goes deep into the tournament. Arkansas was bad down the stretch in the SEC, but their ability to turn teams over and hit them in transition has to be accounted for. Gonzaga has Drew Timme in his 37th year of eligibility, and they are a free-scoring squad that makes up for their lack of defense with incredible scoring streaks. Sin City should be fun this weekend.
New York City (East Regional)
There were plenty of upsets in the East Regional as this is the pod that produced the biggest upset of the tournament when FDU (16) took down No. 1 seed Purdue despite being the smallest team in the entirety of Division 1 basketball this season. This region also lost its No. 2 seed when Marquette fell to Michigan State (7).
That leaves some interesting (and unexpected) matchups, with Tennessee (4) facing FAU (9) and Kansas State (3) taking on Michigan State (7). The Vols will beat you with their defense – they were the No. 1 team per KenPom for most of the season – while the Owls will try to beat them with their depth, with the fact they have nine players averaging more than 15 minutes per game giving them the ability to go quick tempo all game long.
Michigan State will lock in defensively against the Wildcats and try to find their nationally elite three-point game that was missing against Marquette. At the same time, the Wildcats have a 1-2 punch in Markquis Noell and Keyontae Johnson that is as good as any in the Sweet 16.
