Sweet 16 preview

Two rounds down, four more to go. There
have been plenty of surprises thus far, but the
top seeds all remain. Here is an overview of
Thursday and Friday’s Sweet 16 action.

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The teams:

The line:

What to watch for:

Editor’s pick:

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West Region

(at Phoenix)

(7) West Virginia
vs. (3) Xavier

West Virginia by 1

The Mountaineers are coming
off of an “upset” victory over the
No. 2 seed Duke Blue Devils.
The Mountaineers play team
ball and have been solid on both
offense and defense. But West
Virginia might meet its match
– Xavier’s balanced scoring (five
players averaging more than
10 ppg) will present more of a
problem than Duke did.

Xavier
The Musketeers play in a
weaker league (Atlantic 10), but
they are for real. While West
Virginia is balanced, Xavier has
it beat.

(12) Western Kentucky
vs. (1) UCLA

UCLA by 12