Mostly heavyweights left in NCAA, especially in South, West

The NCAA tournament arguably got the best of both worlds in its first week. There were a plethora of upsets in the first round to satiate fans of out-of-nowhere stories. Then all but two of the remaining double-digit seeds were shuffled out during an entertaining weekend.

It leaves pretty much nothing but heavyweights, and that’s especially true of the four games on Thursday. It’s almost pure chalk, with Maryland (the No. 5 seed in the South regional) subbing in for fourth-seeded California. When a team that opened the season ranked in the top five tries to qualify as the plucky underdog, it’s clear there are no plucky underdogs.

But both the South and the West brackets offer a little bit of everything to discerning basketball junkies, including a tried-and-true March regular, a program revived by its senior class, a school that has re-established itself thanks to a shrewd coaching hire and a team that’s gotten this far for the first time under a fifth-year coach.

Consider …

The Bluebloods

Kansas (South) and Duke (West): After back-to-back round of 32 losses, Kansas (32-4) returns to the regional round with arguably the steadiest, most consistent team in the country. The Jayhawks haven’t lost since late January, and in a field littered with senior talent, they rely on one senior (Perry Ellis) and a stout junior class that includes guards Frank Mason and Wayne Selden.

Kansas is the best bet to come out of the South bracket and deliver Bill Self his third Final Four appearance. But it’s too soon to tell whether this is the best of his Kansas teams to date.

It’s completely reasonable to say this Duke team isn’t the deepest or most talented of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s remarkable run in Durham. But the Blue Devils (25-10) are still standing after fending off UNC Wilmington and Yale last week in Providence, and have a pair of scorers in Grayson Allen and Brandon Ingram that few foes can match.

The concern is always the same game in and game out for Duke: Foul trouble. Even with a six- or seven-man rotation, the Blue Devils can keep things interesting with their offense. But whenever Ingram and/or Marshall Plumlee must spend extended periods on the bench, it leaves Duke especially vulnerable to good offensive teams. There’s pretty much nothing but those left in the field.

[Watch Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski discuss Duke’s 0-4 West Coast record]

Built for this year

Villanova (South) and Oklahoma (West): A program peaks in 2009 under a dynamic leader who burnished his coaching chops in the Colonial Athletic Association. But they soon lose their way, and hit a crossroads just a few years after their greatest success to date.

Two programs fit that description. Behind Door No. 1 is Villanova, which bottomed out at 13-19 in 2012 before Jay Wright re-committed to the way the Wildcats were built when they made the Final Four in 2009. Oklahoma is behind Door No. 2, and it jettisoned Jeff Capel after a pair of 18-loss seasons in the wake of the Blake Griffin-led Elite Eight appearance and hired Lon Kruger to do what he always does: A reliable rebuild.

Both choices worked out for the respective schools. Wright, a Philly guy through and through, constructed this generation of the Wildcats around current seniors Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu, then added Josh Hart, Kris Jenkins and Darryl Reynolds to the mix the following year, then Phil Booth last season and finally Jalen Brunson this year. It’s a brilliant offensive group and balanced, and it has Villanova back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since that ’09 Final Four.

As for Oklahoma, Kruger’s teams usually don’t collapse, so expect the Sooners (27-7) to remain a force for some time. But this is guard Buddy Hield’s last go-round, and the two-time Big 12 player of the year represents a chance for Oklahoma to get to the Final Four for the first time since 2002 – assuming it can make it out of the four-way coinflip that is the West regional.

The nouveau riche

Miami (South) and Oregon (West): It would be unfair to overlook Ernie Kent’s work at Oregon, where he took the Ducks to the Elite Eight in 2002 and 2007. But overall, neither Miami nor Oregon comes to many minds when basketball powers are discussed.

Still, both schools made shrewd hires the last time their coaching jobs swung open. Miami (27-7) brought in former George Mason coach Jim Larrañaga, and he’s won as many NCAA tournament games (four) as all of his Hurricane predecessors combined. Much like Miami’s ACC title team in 2013, this bunch is built around experience; guards Sheldon McClellan and Angel Rodriguez are fifth-year seniors and can match Villanova’s tested core in the regional semifinals.

Oregon (30-6) lured Dana Altman from Creighton, and all he’s done is average 25.5 wins, claim at least one postseason game in all six of his seasons and continue to replenish the Ducks’ roster after seemingly annual waves of attrition.

For this iteration of Oregon, two seniors (Chris Boucher and Elgin Cook) play major roles, but two sophomores (Casey Benson and Dillon Brooks) are the top distributors and freshman Tyler Dorsey is the team’s most dangerous outside shooter. There’s a wealth of talent here, plenty capable of navigating the West regional.

[Laura Keeley previews the Duke-Oregon matchup]

The big break

Maryland (South) and Texas A&M (West): These schools are tied together by Mark Turgeon, who left Texas A&M for Maryland in 2011. Both Turgeon and Billy Kennedy (his successor with the Aggies) navigated a conference change during their respective stints, but neither had enjoyed true postseason success until now.

The Terrapins (27-8) were plenty-hyped entering the season, and their starting five is a fine blend of experience (Jake Layman and ACC transfers Robert Carter Jr. and Rasheed Sulaimon) and young NBA-caliber talent (sophomore guard Melo Trimble and freshman center Diamond Stone). Inconsistency has dogged Maryland, but it does have its first Sweet 16 since 2003 to show for its trouble.

Like Maryland, Texas A&M (28-8) will probably have a substantially new look next season, but for the Aggies it’s because they’re heavily dependent on a senior class centered around Danuel House and Jalen Jones. They helped deliver A&M’s first regional semifinal trip since 2007, and will rely on defense against Oklahoma to keep them around the tournament for at least a couple more days.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 12:16 PM with the headline "Mostly heavyweights left in NCAA, especially in South, West."