Sweet 16 Match-up: Kansas vs. Villanova

Everybody likes to hear about the Cinderella teams in the NCAA tournament. That is a major story that people like to hear about and we hear about constantly. It makes a good story, the small school that wasn't ranked all year beating up on a larger school that is 'suppose' to make it to the elite 8 or final four. That's why Hoosiers is such a great movie. However, those type of scripts are usually reserved for Hollywood and not the NCAA tournament. There are occasionally teams that make it to the sweet 16 or even the elite 8 that are not in the top 5 teams in their region, but it is rare. Unfortunately for Villanova, the clock will strike midnight while playing Kansas. Once we break down the seasons and the tournament we will see that this is the easiest game to pick out of the Sweet 16 match-ups.

Regular Season

During the regular season, the Kansas Jayhawks did quite well. They were able to compile a 13-3 conference record and a 31-3 overall record. Their only loses came to in-state rival Kansas State, a great Texas team and a one-point lose to Oklahoma State. During this stretch, they compiled 20 straight wins before losing 3 out of 7. However, they were able to get back on track by winning 4 in a row before the tournament began. During the regular season, they led the nation in margin of victory by winning by an average of 21 points.

Villanova did not have quite as good of a regular season and barely made it to the tournament at all. The Wildcats ended the season with a 20-12 record with losses to some good teams and not so good teams. Their losses include: Marquette, Pittsburg, Notre Dame, DePaul, Rutgers, Syracuse, St. Joseph's, Georgetown twice, North Carolina State and Cincinnati. They ended up 9-9 in their conference play to rank near the middle in their conference. This clearly shows that Villanova had a pretty tough go this past year.

The Tournament