NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 Has A Pac-12 Flavor

Today's first half of the NCAA Basketball Tournament "Sweet 16" games have a distinct Pac-12 flavor, as all 3 conference members still in the hunt are in action today.

The Stanford Cardinal (23-12, and the 10 seed in the South region) gets things started against the Dayton Flyers(25-10 and the 11 seed), at 6:15 PM in Memphis, TN (4:15 PM PDT). With Tennessee, also an 11 seed, its a matchup of 2 of the 3 remaining double digit seeds, and as such, it guarantees a Cinderella from the bottom half of the bracket will be in the "Elite 8" come the second weekend of the Tournament.

The UCLA Bruins (28-8, and the 4 seed in the South), champions of the Pac-12, take on the Florida Gators (34-2, and the #1 seed in the Tournament, never mind the South), regular season and Tournament champions in the SEC , in the second game in Memphis, about a half hour after the Stanford-Dayton game ends, initially estimated to be at 8:45 PM CDT (6:45 PM PDT).

That means that if Stanford and UCLA both win, the Pac-12 would be guaranteed of a representative in the Final 4, as the winners of these 2 games will matchup on Saturday.

CBS has the coverage of the Memphis double header.

The Arizona Wildcats (32-4, and the 1 seed in the West), the regular season Pac-12 Champions, take on the only other remaining team from the West, the San Diego St. Aztecs (31-4, and the 4 seed in the West), the regular season champions of the Mt. West, at about 7:17 PM PDT, in Anaheim, CA.

It means the west coast will be guaranteed a team in the Elite 8, as the winner will meet the winner of the earlier game in Anaheim, between the Baylor Bears (26-11, and the 6 seed in the West region) and the Wisconsin Badgers (28-7, and the 2 seed in the West), which will tip at 4:47 PDT. TBS has the coverage of doubleheader in Anaheim.

The Badgers are the team that prevented the Pac-12 from having a team in all 4 of today's games, coming from behind to beat Oregon last Saturday.

And Arizona eliminated the other northwest representative in the tournament, knocking Gonzaga out of the Tournament last Sunday.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com