The Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC emerged as the big winners after the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
Those three leagues entered the tournament with a combined 15 teams and will send a total of nine to the Sweet 16.
Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin will represent the Big Ten in the Sweet 16.
Arizona, Stanford and UCLA will go from the Pac-12.
All three SEC teams in the Big Dance — Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee — are in to the Sweet 16.
The American Athletic Conference (Louisville and UConn) and the Big 12 (Baylor and Iowa State) each have two Sweet 16 representatives.
The ACC (Virginia), A-10 (Dayton) and Mountain West (San Diego State) all have one.
The Big 12 began the tournament with the most teams (7), but five of them are now gone, including No. 2 seed Kansas, which was stunned Sunday by Stanford, potentially ending the college careers of Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid.
The ACC, the A-10 and the Big Ten each placed six teams in the tournament and only one remain from both the ACC and the A-10. The Big Ten, as mentioned, still has three teams alive.
The American and the Big East each placed four teams in the tournament, and while half of the American remains alive, the requiem for the Big East became official after Creighton lost to Baylor Sunday night, ending the college career of Doug McDermott, who finished with 3,150 career points and appears headed to the lottery.
This marks the first time since 1993 that no Big East team is repped in the Sweet 16.
Ironically, Louisville and UConn of the American are former Big East clubs, although Louisville will join the ACC next season, when six former Big East coaches will be coaching in the league (Jim Boeheim, Mike Brey, Jamie Dixon, Leonard Hamilton, Rick Pitino and Buzz Williams).
Also, with North Carolina losing to Iowa State on Sunday, the state of North Carolina won’t be represented in the Sweet 16 for the 1st time since 1979, USA Today reported.
Photos: Jeff Roberson/AP; SI.com
