March Madness 2024: Predicting every Sweet 16 men's game - ESPN

Sweet 16. Second weekend. Regional semifinals. Whatever you call it, we've made it to this point. Just about one-quarter of the field is left, and we can all take a breath. Some of how we got here was expected: No. 1 seeds UConn and Purdue did UConn and Purdue things; North Carolina kept hammering home why it deserved that 1-seed, while Houston has us wondering if it is in fact the weakest of the top four teams. (This is the first time since 2019 that all four 1-seeds and all four 2-seeds made it out of the first weekend — just the fifth time since the field went to 64 teams in 1985.)

But some of it wasn't expected: 11-seed NC State rode the momentum from its five-wins-in-five-days run to the ACC national championship through two more postseason wins. Clemson knocked off 3-seed Baylor. There will once again be no Kansas or Kentucky in the second weekend.

We've discussed how we got here (check out our takeaways from Day 1 of the second round here, and Day 2 of the second round here), and where the teams all now rank.

Now, let's turn to the actual games. ESPN college basketball experts Jeff Borzello, John Gasaway and Myron Medcalf take an early look at every Sweet 16 matchup and predict what will happen on Thursday and Friday.

Find your bracket here.

Thursday, 7:09 p.m. ET, Los Angeles

Borzello: Clemson was fantastic defensively in its first two games of the tournament, slowing down two explosive offenses in New Mexico and Baylor. Arizona is a different test. The Wildcats showed real mettle in the win over Dayton, getting big baskets and stops down the stretch. Caleb Love, Keshad Johnson and Jaden Bradley give Arizona a different dimension than the last two tournaments.

Prediction: Arizona 82, Clemson 70

Gasaway: Arizona