Special Edition: Ain’t nobody leaving soon
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
Leveling The Playing Field
Welcome back!
It’s been a long few days without college hoops, but the Madness officially returns when the men’s Sweet 16 begins tonight. The West and South regions of the bracket (the top right and bottom left quadrants) start the party, with the East and Midwest regions following tomorrow.
- Here’s everything you need to know ahead of these high-octane matchups. Let’s hoop to it.
Men's March Madness
⬅️ The West
🚂 No. 2 Purdue Boilermakers vs. 🤘 No. 11 Texas Longhorns, tonight at 7:10 p.m. ET: Texas is on an absolute heater, winning a nail-biter in the First Four, then upsetting No. 6 BYU and No. 3 Gonzaga in the span of five days. But this tournament only gets tougher — enter: the also scorching Boilermakers.
- Purdue has cruised thanks to their depth: Even when Player of the Year (POY) candidate Braden Smith is quiet, their lights-out three-point shooting buoys the squad. Will the ’Horns run into a Boilermaker-shaped buzzsaw, or can this Cinderella keep dancing?
🐆 No. 1 Arizona Wildcats vs. 🐗 No. 4 Arkansas Razorbacks, tonight at 9:45 p.m. ET: Last year, Arkansas logged two major upsets to reach the Sweet 16 as a No. 10 seed under first-year head coach (HC) and Kentucky hoops legend John Calipari, so they know a little bit about giant-slaying.
- But Arizona is quite the foe — the Wildcats have won 11 straight and anything short of a ’ship would be considered a failure. No pressure.
Question of the Day
The stage is set, now let’s hear your take: Which region do you think the national champion will emerge from?
Today’s email was brought to you by Katie Kehoe Foster. Editing by Molly Potter. Fact-checking and operations by Elisha Gunaratnam. Managing edits by Lauren Tuiskula. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.