Sweet 16: Thursday's games

Here's a look at what's coming up tonight in the NCAA Tournament.

WEST Regional:

2-San Diego State vs. 3-UConn: 7:15 pm tip-off
At this point in the NCAA Tournament, it's best to just throw the seeds out the window and take a look at the match-ups for what they are. These teams have advanced as far as they have for reasons that the other 48 tournament teams aren't in the Sweet 16. Bottom line.

One advantage that San Diego State is going to have is that they got on chartered buses and took a trip 90 minutes north of San Diego to Anaheim, where the West Regionals are being held. UConn, on the other hand, has traveled across the country from Storrs, Connecticut to Anaheim, 2.930 miles later to make their appearance in the Sweet 16.

It's going to be Kawhi Leonard vs. Kemba Walker. No other match-up is being focused on more in this 2-3 tilt at 7:15pm tonight that this. Leonard averages 15.4 points and 10.7 rebounds, while Walker puts up 23.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

With UConn's rich NCAA Tournament history under head coach Jim Calhoun, they're obviously expected to show-up the higher seeded Aztecs. San Diego State has something else in mind.

"You see the rankings and you see us up there, but people don't really know much about us," Aztecs forward Tim Shelton said. "We're finally getting an opportunity to let people see what we're about. Our guys feed off that. We understand that we're seen as a mid-major, so people feel like (we) don't deserve it because (we) don't consistently play the same type of competition. But we've won 34 games. That's a whole lot of wins."

My pick: San Diego State

1-Duke vs. 5-Arizona: 9:45 tip-off (approx.)
The Duke Blue Devils are the defending National Champions. They're expected to win this game. But, the Arizona Wildcats want something to be said about them possibly upsetting Duke.

All-American Arizona forward Derrick Williams gives head coach Sean Miller's Wildcats 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds a game. They're no slouch. They won the Pac-10 regular season title and have quite honestly caught one team by surprise thus far in the NCAA Tournament. They took down 4-seed Texas last weekend and are quite excited to move onto the Sweet 16, and somewhat close to home as well.

They'll have their work cut out for them for sure, to say the least. Duke is led by seniors Kyle Singler (16.9) and Nolan Smith (21.0) in scoring, not to mention 16.4 from freshmen Kyrie Irving, who's coming off a toe injury back in early December vs. Butler. Irving's only played 10 games now, but will be a vital role in Duke's success down the stretch.

"He played significant minutes last week when I thought he was going to play limited minutes, so I mentioned that he will play significant minutes tomorrow," Mike Krzyzewski said. "I don't know what the hell that means. It means he's going to play great minutes hopefully."

I personally think that Duke overmatches Arizona, even though this game will be a somewhat close game because of the type of speed game that the Wildcats like to play.

My pick: Duke

Southeast Regional:

3-BYU vs. 2-Florida: 7:27pm tip-off
Even though All-American Jimmer Fredette averages 28.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, Florida knows that BYU has gotten this far with much more than Jimmer's heroic scoring. They're a squad that has nine players that average 11-plus minutes per game, six that average 20-plus minutes. Jackson Emery (12.6 points, 2.8 steals), Kyle Collinsworth (9 rebounds) and Noah Hartsock (6 rebounds, 2 blocks) are also key contributors to the Cougars' offensive attack to compliment Fredette.

Florida also spreads the playing time around. Seven players average more than 17 minutes per game. Erving Walker (14.7) and Kenny Boynton (14.0) lead the Gators in scoring, while Chandler Parsons also averages 11.7 points and 7.7 rebounds.

This first game in New Orleans will be quite the tune-up for the nightcap of Butler-Wisconsin. Florida is being looked at as an overrated 2-seed and BYU is trying to make people believe that they're a legit 3-seed, even without guard Brandon Davies, who was dismissed from the team last month for violating team rules. I guess having consensual sex with your girlfriend is frowned upon in a state where polygamy is accepted with open arms, haha! BYU has been just fine without Davies' help though. Jimmer will have his normal supporting cast with him tonight in The Big Easy, ready to take the Louisiana Superdome by storm!

"He gets all the attention, but deservedly so," BYU forward Noah Hartsock said. "It's fun watching him going out there and play. I think it helps our team because we get a lot of national exposure."

Fredette's given the school that exposure and they're eating up every bit of it! It's Jimmer-mania, as they're calling it.

My pick: BYU

8-Butler vs. 4-Wisconsin: 9:57 tip-off (approx.)
Tell me that you actually knew that Butler would be in the Sweet 16...can you do that??!! I sure can! I had them beating Pittsburgh, the Big East regular season champions. There aren't many that had the Bulldogs advancing far into this season's NCAA Tournament, because they're missing a key scorer from last year's NCAA Championship game run in Gordon Hayward. New season, same style with these Bulldogs. Different players step up and are counted upon with this Brad Stevens group.

Butler and Wisconsin aren't teams that rely on the media to beef them up to be this or that. They rely on what they do on the court. These two teams are quiet and they're just fine with that.

"They don't beat themselves so we're going to have to beat them," Wisconsin freshman Josh Gasser said. "That's a lot like how we play."

Gasser couldn't have said it any better really. Wisconsin and Butler don't have the flashy scorers. You could honestly call these two teams, two of the hardest working teams in the country, blue collar, if you will. Jon Leuer (18.7) and Jordan Taylor (18.0) lead the Badgers in scoring. They are complimented by the other three starters in Keaton Nankivil, Mike Bruesewitz and Josh Gasser, who combine for around 19 between the three.

Senior Matt Howard leads Butler with 16.7 points and 7.7 rebounds a game, while Shelvin Mack's 15.5 (22.5 in the NCAA Tournament) keeps the Bulldog scoring pretty consistent. This Butler team is slightly different, but yet the same kind of team they were a year ago when they made their Final Four run home to Indianapolis.

"It's definitely the character of the team -- the combination of a lot of things," Butler senior Zach Hahn said. "Guys are willing and able to step up when it's their time. It's about putting the team above self."


If that happens, Butler may very well find itself in a second-straight Final Four, which would be an unprecedented accomplishment for a so-called mid-major program. Just don't expect the Bulldogs to party on Bourbon Street.

My pick: Butler

Check back tomorrow during the day for Sweet 16 previews and predictions of the East and Southwest Regionals.