The Sweet Sixteen is Here

The Big 12 embarks on a crucial Sweet Sixteen for the league today. After failing to put a team into the Elite Eight last year, it’s time to reestablish the Big 12’s reputation as an elite basketball conference. 

We’ll start with some quick headlines today and then get to game previews.

What You Need to Know

• West Virginia has its man. The Mountaineers announced they’ve hired Ross Hodge from North Texas as their next head coach. Hodge is still coaching the Mean Green in the NIT and will finish his season before heading to Morgantown. Current WVU AD Wren Baker was at North Texas with Hodge before taking the West Virginia job. I think this is a really solid hire, especially given the circumstances. More on that here. 

• Power Four men’s basketball programs could fall behind the Big East in the revenue-sharing era. Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger writes that because Big East schools don’t have to devote most of their revenue-sharing money to football programs, they’ll have more to spend on men’s hoops than Big 12, SEC, Big Ten, and ACC schools. That could be a real problem. Here’s a more detailed breakdown. 

• KSL’s Josh Furlong has contract details for new Utah Head Coach Alex Jensen. He’ll make $3.6 million next season, making him the eighth highest-paid coach in the Big 12. That $3.6 million is $1.3 million more than Craig Smith made this year. 

• Mike Gundy wants to make Bedlam a part of spring football. Oklahoma State’s Head Coach pitched the idea of having the Sooners and Cowboys scrimmage each other during the spring to make NIL money. His idea is to divide the ticket money among the two schools to help their NIL efforts.

Sweet Sixteen Primer

I will skip the Yormark rating scale today because these are all five Yormark games now that we’re in the Sweet Sixteen. 

Here’s what you need to know about the four Big 12 games coming up in the next 48 hours.

All times listed are Central Time (CST)

#6 BYU v. #2 Alabama – 6:09 PM Central Thursday – CBS
Alabama -4.5

This game should be a track meet. 

Both teams have top-ten offenses, and Alabama operates at a pace faster than anybody in the country, according to KenPom’s adjusted tempo metric. We could be looking at a race to 90 points to win the game. 

It will be a total change of pace for Nate Oats and Bama, who just beat Saint Mary’s in the round of 32. The Gaels finished 360th in pace this year and want to grind every game they play to a screeching halt. 

The Crimson Tide talked this week about limiting the Cougars in transition and defending the three-point line. The latter might be where this game is won, which could be good news for BYU. The Cougars have a slight edge in three-point percentage over the Tide this year. 

Oats and BYU Head Coach Kevin Young do have some history together, but they haven’t gone head-to-head quite like this before. 

I cannot wait to watch this game. BYU is as hot as anybody right now, and I’m certainly not going to bet against them tonight. 

#4 Arizona v. #1 Duke – 8:39 Central Thursday – CBS
Duke -9.5

It’s hard to dispute that Duke looks like the best team in the country at the moment. 

The Blue Devils absolutely demolished Mount St. Mary's and Baylor to waltz into the Sweet Sixteen, and they haven’t lost a game in nearly two months. 

Star forward Cooper Flagg is rounding back into form after dealing with an ankle injury during the ACC tournament. 

So do the heavy underdog Wildcats even stand a chance?

They do if Caleb Love from the Oregon game shows up in Newark tonight. 

Love put together as dynamic of a performance as you’ll see in the round of 32 against the Ducks—29 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. 

The Blue Devils beat Arizona by 14 in Tucson earlier this year, but that was a Wildcats team in the midst of a 4-5 start that hadn’t found itself yet. They should be chomping at the bit to get another shot tonight. 

Here’s to getting a repeat performance of Zona’s win over Duke in the 2011 Sweet Sixteen. 

#10 Arkansas v. #3 Texas Tech – 9:09 Central Thursday – TBS
Texas Tech -5.5

Raise your hand if you had Arkansas getting out of a pod that included Bill Self and Rick Pitino to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. 

The Razorbacks have completely turned their season around after they were once 4-9 in the SEC and on the wrong side of the bubble. 

They utilize a surplus of length and athleticism, including a frontline featuring 6-foot-10 Trevon Brazile, 6-foot-11 Jonas Aidoo, and 7-foot-2 Zvonimir Ivisic. That should provide a stiff challenge for Big 12 Player of the Year J.T. Toppin. 

Both teams have dealt with injury issues recently, and there’s talk that the Hogs may get leading scorer Adou Thiero back in some capacity tonight. He hasn’t played in over a month. 

"We'll see tomorrow," Calipari said. "I mean, if we had eight to 10 minutes from him in case of foul trouble, it would help, but we're fine."

Tech’s versatility should come in handy. The Red Raiders have already proven they can win a tournament game shooting 46 three-pointers or scoring 50 points in the paint. 

With the Razorbacks' path to victory more limited, I like Grant McCasland to take the Red Raiders to their third Elite Eight since 2018. 

#4 Purdue v. #1 Houston – 9:09 Central Friday – TBS
Houston -8.5

Houston’s reward for fending off an under-seeded Gonzaga team (#9 in the country, according to KenPom) in the round of 32 is traveling to Indianapolis for a de facto Purdue home game. 

It’s also a return trip to Indiana for Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson, who was the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers from 2006 to 2008. 

Don’t bring that up to him, though. 

The good news is that Houston is plenty tough enough to handle a partisan tournament crowd. 

The Cougars are a team built on toughness that hasn’t lost since February 1st. They’re also used to the Sweet Sixteen spotlight. Sampson has taken Houston to the second weekend in six straight tournaments. 

Purdue looked impressive in easy wins over High Point and McNeese State, but Houston is not another double-digit seed. 

The Cougs lead the nation in points allowed and field goals allowed, so this will be the stiffest test that the Boilermakers’ elite offense, led by 20 points per game scorer Trey Kaufman-Renn, has seen this season.

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