This is what happens when things go mostly by the book. Anyone who picked the Sweet 16 by just marking the top four seeds in each region was 87.5 percent correct. Not that there weren’t strange, even unforgettably dramatic plot twists over the weekend. Or maybe you didn’t see Duke and UCF. How to explain it when . . . Duke, one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the nation, is saved from extinction by bombing away? And by getting a rebound on a miss free throw? And by pure luck? Tennessee outscores Iowa 49-28 in the first half, then gets outscored 43-22 in the second, then survives in overtime while Admiral Schofield, one of the team stars, banishes himself to the bench? Wofford loses to Kentucky when Fletcher Magee, the most prolific 3-pointer in NCAA history, goes 0-for-12? A guy supposedly in a deep shooting slump, Purdue’s Carsen Edwards, scores 42 points? Tremont Waters, a 5-11 LSU guard known mostly for his defense, hits the only last-second winning shot so far in the tournament? Kansas looks up at halftime and is behind 51-25? Barely 12 months after its second national championship in three years, Villanova takes the worst tournament loss in its history? How to explain? Maryland coach and LSU victim Mark Turgeon had a thought. “Basketball is crazy.” So did Tennessee guard Lamonte Turner, after the Vols’ narrow escape. “Any time you win a game in the NCAA Tournament, you ought to be proud, I don’t care if you win by two, overtime or 35.” So did Villanova’s Jay Wright. “This game is a humbling game. You could be on either side of it.” The Sweet 16 teams on the right side of it at the moment were mostly expected. It’s only the second time since seeding began in 1979 that all nine of the top three seeds in each region made it through, 2009 the other. So here are 16 sweet – and not-so sweet – things about the first week’s advancers and survivors. AUBURN Sweet . . . It’s always nice to have a nationally-televised cheerleader. Charles Barkley is like a kid on Christmas morning about his old school’s first Sweet 16 in 16 years. “He has a statue in front of our gym now,” said Jared Harper, “so we have definitely met him a couple of times.” Chuck is ready for Auburn to play! 😬🐅#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/j7zUSLFmnh — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 24, 2019 The Tigers are a free-wheeling, fire-away bunch, hitting 25 3-pointers in their tournament games with 18 steals, and scoring 32 fast break points against Kansas. Bill Self talked of the Jayhawks getting rolled over by 22 Auburn transition points, “in the first eight minutes. That shouldn’t happen in three games.” Not so sweet . . . Dead ahead, North Carolina. Might be a tough night for Barkley. DUKE Sweet . . . Survival, plain and simple, because the Blue Devils are fortunate to still be around. UCF’s considerable heroics notwithstanding, Duke got another monster game from Zion Williamson, who has 57 points and is shooting 60 percent after his first two tournament appearances. And a game-winning shot from RJ Barrett. And the steadiness to commit only 14 turnovers in two tournament games. And maybe the sense of destiny from just having dodged a bullet the size of a locomotive. “You guys were made for these two minutes,” Mike Krzyzewski told them at crunch time Sunday. Not so sweet . . . Not being able to stop, nor even slow down Aubrey Dawkins, before he scored 32 points and nearly shot them into the off-season. And though Duke hit 10 3-pointers Sunday to stay afloat, being 336th in the nation in that department still makes it something of an enigma. Also, did UCF just give Virginia Tech a game plan, or was this just one team’s remarkable effort? FLORIDA STATE Sweet . . . Lots of numbers suggest nobody would want to play these guys. The 16 wins in 18 games, with the only losses to Duke and North Carolina. The 77-13 advantage in bench points so far in the tournament. The defensive shackling they just put on Ja Morant and Murray State, inspired not only by their own considerable talents but the memory of teammate Phil Cofer’s father, who died this week. Terance Mann, who did most of the heavy defensive lifting against Morant, said the night before he had Googled and YouTubed up material about Mike Cofer’s determination as an athlete. “I just wanted to bring that with me,” he said afterward. “I played my heart out for that.” Not so sweet . . . The Seminoles had slow starts against Vermont and Murray State, falling behind by nine and seven points. Do that against Gonzaga, and the gap might be 18. GONZAGA Sweet . . . The supercharged engine that is the Gonzaga offense has been in full throttle for the NCAA Tournament, rolling up 87 and 83 points, with 54 percent shooting and 41 assists in two games. Brandon Clarke has been a terror, taking 26 shots and missing six, while helping an 86-57 rebounding dominance. The biggest Zags’ deficit over the weekend was three points, as they stormed to their fifth consecutive Sweet 16, which is the longest streak in the nation. “We do not take that for granted at all,” Mark Few said. Brandon Clarke was UNSTOPPABLE! The junior set the Gonzaga record for most points in an NCAA Tournament game! 🔥 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/TySnYPinrV — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 24, 2019 Not so sweet . . . Rui Hachimura struggled against Murray State. The Zags will need every A-game against a surging Florida State team that knocked them out of the tournament last March 75-60. “We have a special itch to take care of against them,” Corey Kispert said. HOUSTON Sweet . . . It was 1984, six U.S. presidents ago. No shot clock, no 3-point line, only 53 teams in the NCAA Tournament. That’s the last time the Houston Cougars were in Sweet 16. Until now. The team that is somehow 33-3 and still not in the Associated Press top 10 keeps marching on, partly because it is the hardest defense in the nation to make a basket against, according to field goal percentages. Tournament opponents Georgia State and Ohio State proved no different, shooting 34 percent. And though Kentucky Friday would seem a step up in class for the Cougars, they’ve already beaten LSU and Oregon, who are still around, too. Let’s hear it for H-Town! (3) Houston is heading to the #Sweet16 for the first time since 1984 after handling (11) Ohio State! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/ObOuNc7VSO — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 25, 2019 Not so sweet . . . With defense like this, who needs to hit 3-pointers? Houston might sometime, and the Cougars have made only 27 percent so far in the tournament. KENTUCKY Sweet . . . The Wildcats held their first two tournament opponents to 35 percent shooting. Look what they did to poor Magee. They also had 33 more rebounds, and are showing every sign of being in March form, which John Calipari knows something about, since this is his eighth trip to a regional in 10 years. “I just want my team in the hunt,” he said. It never gets old or a burden – which is why he was dancing in the locker room after the Wofford game. “In this profession I’m in, if winning is a relief, it’s time to retire.” Kentucky advances past Wofford, 62-56 Not so sweet . . . The cast doesn’t come off PJ Washington’s sprained left foot until later this week. Then they’ll know more if he can play. LSU Sweet . . . This is on the verge of becoming a true March epic. Player Wayde Sims shot and killed in September. Coach Will Wade suspended this month. The distractions could be laid out from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, but here the Tigers are, getting by their first two round games by five and two points, the latter on Waters’ scoop shot.<doc-sep>DES MOINES, IOWA - MARCH 23: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates a basket against the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the second half in the second round game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena on March 23, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) The first weekend of March Madness is in the books, and the Sweet 16 is all set. Check out the latest NCAA Tournament bracket to get ready for the next wave of games beginning on Thursday. The bracket for the Sweet 16 is set, and there’s a lot of chalk. Even though we had a ton of drama and intrigue in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, a lot went exactly like the chalk would lead you to believe. Of the top 16 seeds to make the field, 14 earned their way into the Sweet 16, including every top three seed for the first time in tournament history. There were two notable exceptions: 5-seed Auburn, which shot Kansas out of the gym on Saturday to earn a date with North Carolina, and 12-seed Oregon. While fans of Cinderella teams are likely disappointed, basketball purists are delighted at some of the high level hoops headed our way in just a few days’ time. All of the chalk holding form means that we have a ton of elite teams still looking to cut down the nets in Minneapolis, including five from the ACC, which boasts the three favorites to win it all in Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia. The SEC has four teams in the Sweet 16 while the deep Big Ten provides three squads still fighting for a championship. Here’s a look at the full bracket and a look at what matchups we are in store for in the Sweet 16. In the end, while we did get some big upsets in the first round of March Madness, these four days will go down in the history books as a bunch of near misses. While plenty of games went down to the wire, top seeds either benefitted from boneheaded mistakes from the underdogs or simply got lucky enough to move on. The Sweet 16 tips off on Thursday night with action from the South and West regions. The Midwest and East regions will be up the following day.<doc-sep>It was tense. It was nerve-wracking. It was brutal. In so many senses, it was classic Virginia basketball. And in the NCAA tournament in recent years, that hasn’t been a good thing. But on Thursday night, in true Virginia fashion, the Cavaliers persevered. They fought off those nerves, that tension. “It wasn’t a masterpiece,” head coach Tony Bennett admitted afterward. “But as the saying goes,” Bennett said, “survive and advance.” Virginia beat 12th-seeded Oregon, 53-49, in a South regional semifinal that was anything but pretty and anything but simple. It was a Sweet 16 slog of the highest order, with one made basket by either team between the 5:21 and 0:27 marks of the second half. But it was nonetheless impressive – in a uniquely Virginia way. Virginia's Ty Jerome, right, drives against Oregon's Francis Okoro (33) during the second half of a men's NCAA Tournament college basketball South Regional semifinal game, Thursday, March 28, 2019, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley) Virginia stays calm amid inescapable tension It was impressive because Virginia responded to every ounce of doubt the game threw at it. The 2018-19 Cavaliers were supposed to be operating in the shadow of the most embarrassing loss in college basketball history. They were supposed to be haunted by that UMBC upset. Crushed by the pressure still stemming from it. But they never have been. They put together an understated yet dominant regular season. They never fretted when behind by 14 to a No. 16 seed again last week. They dispatched Oklahoma in the Round of 32. On Thursday, when Oregon sent external anxiety spiking through roofs, the five players on the court withstood it. They responded with patience, and without panic. They played their game, and prevailed. They opened Thursday’s contest with 10 points in 14 minutes. They responded with 20 in six to take a 30-22 halftime lead. Mamadi Diakite throws it DOWN! 🔥 UVA is on a 10-0 run! #MarchMadness | @UVAMensHoops pic.twitter.com/KXKaUL1HEX — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 29, 2019 Kyle Guy misfired on his first five 3-pointers, extending his NCAA tournament miss streak to 17. But he responded; he kept shooting, and drilled two key triples in the second half. Story continues And when Oregon made its run? When Virginia couldn’t buy a bucket? When the Ducks took a three-point lead with under six minutes to play? Kihei Clark splashed a 3. The Cavs strung together crucial stop after crucial stop. Ty Jerome hit a go-ahead triple that turned out to be the dagger. And when Oregon trapped relentlessly in the final minute? Guy stayed calm, and found De’Andre Hunter for a lead-extending layup. The Cavs, without fail, got the ball inbounded and kept hold of it. Hunter buried his free throws. And the crushing weight of failures past was relieved for 48 hours. Virginia wins despite offensive struggles The Ducks bothered the top-seeded Cavs all night with their length and stifling defense. They hit timely shots. They were every bit of the challenge Bennett expected. And had one or two more of their jump shots fallen in crunch time, they might have been too much of one. Because the Cavalier offense wasn’t just customarily slow, it was unusually inefficient. Or, if you prefer the more blunt term: It was bad. It cobbled together only 18 second-half points before the Duck defense went into desperation mode. Bennett barely played his bench, and got a goose egg from his reserves. Aside from a machine-like end to the first period, replete with robotic decision-making and crisp passing, the Cavs were laborious on the offensive end. But Virginia put together more than five minutes of defensive perfection late to emerge unscathed. Oregon didn’t score a single point between the 5:43 mark and 0:17 mark of the second half. That’s why the Cavaliers are moving on, to the Elite Eight, to the doorstep of that elusive Final Four under Bennett. They’ll get a hot Purdue team on Saturday. But if there’s one certainty about that game, it’s that in the face of Boilermaker heat, Virginia will remain cool. More from Yahoo Sports:<doc-sep>
For the second time in five days, Tennessee likely thought it had a wild NCAA tournament game won. It had a lead and mere seconds to hold onto it. Then, in the form of a critical mistake and controversial call, disaster struck. The mistake, after a five-minute overtime period, proved to be a season-ender. No. 3 seed Purdue knocked off the second-seeded Vols 99-94 in OT to advance to the Elite Eight. But it’s the end of regulation that everybody will be talking about – and that Tennessee will be ruing. Wild 10 seconds send crazy game to OT Four days after coughing up a 25-point lead to Iowa, then holding on to win in OT, the Volunteers flipped the script. They had erased an 18-point deficit, and scored 31 points in 11½ minutes. They led by two on Grant Williams’ put-back slam with 8.8 seconds left: Williams then denied Purdue’s Carsen Edwards at the other end with less than three seconds remaining. But on the ensuing inbounds play, with Tennessee up two, Vols guard Lamonte Turner fouled Edwards shooting a 3-pointer in the corner, giving Purdue life. Did the refs correctly call this a foul with 1.7 seconds left? pic.twitter.com/3WGvL9jTWE — AtoZSports Nashville (@AtoZSports) March 29, 2019 Edwards missed the first free throw, then calmly drilled the next two to tie the game. With 1.7 seconds left, Tennessee tried to throw the ball to midcourt and call a timeout to set up a potential game-winning play from the sideline. But Williams, who caught the inbounds, then made a second pass before the timeout could be called. Story continues Tennessee calls timeout with 0.1 seconds left because... well nobody knows why 🤷‍♂️#MarchMadnesspic.twitter.com/DGhLAfcbXj — Sports ReUp (@SportsReUp) March 29, 2019 With only 0.1 seconds on the clock by the time a ref acknowledge the timeout, the misguided play had all but ended Tennessee’s hopes of winning the game in regulation. But after a borderline epic second half, no neutral fan was complaining about five more minutes. Tennessee’s second-half comeback The Volunteers trailed 40-28 at halftime. They couldn’t hit shots. They couldn’t corral Purdue’s crisp offense. They couldn’t defend the 3-point line or the paint. And early in the second half, Purdue dug them a deeper hole. Ryan Cline came out of the locker room scorching hot. The first of his six second-half 3-pointers put the Boilermakers up 16. He followed it up with a 2-point jumper to extend the lead to 18. But Tennessee climbed back into the game. A 12-0 run midway through the half turned a 65-53 deficit into a tie game. From there, the two teams went back-and-forth. Cline was shooting out of his mind. He scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half, hitting six of his seven long-range attempts. Admiral Schofield, however, was matching him. Tennessee’s senior leader had one solitary point in the first half, on 0-of-4 shooting and 1-for-4 from the free throw line. This came four days after Schofield benched himself for OT of the Iowa win. But he rose to the occasion in the second half with 18 points, and was a major reason the Vols got back in the game. At multiple points in the final minute, they appeared to have it won. But Cline’s heroics tied the game at 80 with under 40 seconds to go: Williams put the Vols back in the lead, but Tennessee missed its chance to win the game in regulation when Turner fouled Edwards. Purdue holds on in overtime For 30 of the regularly scheduled 40 minutes, the story of Thursday’s first game in Louisville was Purdue’s offense. The Boilermakers go as Edwards goes. And Edwards was in top gear. He had 15 first-half points. He hit several contested jumpers. And Tennessee’s efforts to run him, Cline, Grady Eifert and others off the 3-point line left 7-foot-3 center Matt Haarms room to operate inside. Purdue’s offensive efficiency never really dissipated, either. Tennessee simply matched it for 10 whirlwind second-half minutes. But the Boilermakers, over 45 minutes, hit 15 of their 31 deep bombs. They scored 1.30 points per possession. And that number would have been higher if not for a dreadful 16-for-33 mark from the free throw line. It was thus fitting that Tennessee cooled off in overtime. Purdue kept churning. It got to the rim. It got to the line, where its misses prolonged the end of OT, but where it eventually polished off an impressive win.