After a rough first weekend for the Big Ten in the NCAA Men's Tournament, while the Pac-12 silenced the doubters and made its mark, the Sweet 16 arrives with three top seeds still in the running for the Final Four.
The regional semifinals will be a good test for a number of teams who have dreams of winning the pot of gold at the end of the bracket. And the upset parade could continue.
The best way to feel invested in the tournament – now that the office pool has been sent into the shredder – is by playing FOX’s Super 6 for the Sweet 16 round.
Correctly answer all six questions and you could win the $1,000 grand prize. It’s also absolutely free! Just download the FOX Super 6 app on your phone or tablet.
To help you get set, here are the six questions for the Sweet 16, the options and some things to keep in mind:
1. Will Villanova cover the closing spread on FOX Bet?Options: Yes, No
Top-seed Baylor is a 7.5-point favorite over Villanova on Saturday evening in the South Regional semifinals.
There are a lot of things that would appear to push this in Villanova’s favor – the Wildcats have a Hall of Fame coach in Jay Wright, two national championships in the program's recent history, and they appeared to stabilize themselves after losing point guard Collin Gillespie right before the Big East tournament. Villanova has also made the Final Four in all three seasons since 2009 that they’ve gotten past the first weekend.
None of that will matter, however, against Baylor’s stable of four guards led by Jared Butler, MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell. The question is whether 'Nova can force the Bears into poor situations often enough to hang in there. With the Wildcats not being a deep team, that’s a big ask.
2. How many 1 and 2 seeds will make the Elite Eight?Options: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Five begin the Sweet 16. The most vulnerable of those seeds could be Michigan, which has a tough task with No. 4 Florida State in the East Region that figures to be the best matchup of the weekend games.
If Isaiah Livers is not able to go for the Wolverines, the lone standing Big Ten team out of the nine that came into the tournament could go home.
3. How many Sweet 16 games will be decided by two points or less?Options: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
It's fair to point out that the Sweet 16 is normally where order is somewhat restored and teams that would traditionally be viewed as stronger tend to take hold. Just one of eight games in 2019 – the last time the tournament was held – was decided by two or fewer points.
4. Which of these games will have the most points scored?Options: Arkansas vs. Oral Roberts, Syracuse vs. Houston, Michigan vs. Florida State, Villanova vs. Baylor
The hunch here would be all four games have the potential to be a little more conservative in scoring than you would imagine. But Baylor’s guards are so good, and Villanova will likely live by the 3, so that game could end up easily in the 80s. The other three games likely won't get to that point.
5. Will 15-seed Oral Roberts win its game against Arkansas and advance to the Elite 8?Options: Yes, No
It's been incredible to watch America get used to scoring talents Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor. But history has not been kind to teams like Oral Roberts, considering the Sweet 16 is littered with the remnants of blowout losses for teams like Florida Gulf Coast in 2013.
Arkansas has been put on notice, and it will have a full week to get ready – in other words, this spot isn’t right for Cinderella to continue.
6. Which player will score the most points in their Sweet 16 game?Options: Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (Villanova), Buddy Boeheim (Syracuse), Kevin Obanor (Oral Roberts), Drew Timme (Gonzaga), Eli Brooks (Michigan), Tie
All of them have the chance to post some huge numbers, but we’re going to focus on three guys in detail. Boeheim is Syracuse’s primary scoring threat and if the Orange are going to get past Houston, he may have to put up a 30-spot. Obanor’s scoring load with Abmas may be split, but they are also the only two consistent scorers that Oral Roberts has. And Timme is one of the best players on the best scoring offense in the tournament.
Play the FOX Super 6 Tourney Challenge all tournament long for your chance to win thousands of dollars every round! Just download the FOX Super 6 app for free and make your picks now.
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