OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – MARCH 20: Alex Caruso #21 of the Texas A&M Aggies takes a shot against Paul Jesperson #4 of the Northern Iowa Panthers in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena on March 20, 2016 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
NCAABy Dan Levy on

The NCAA Tournament field of 68 has been whittled down to just 16 teams still competing for the 2016 national championship. And while everyone was excited for bracket-busting upsets the first few days, and insane comeback victories with multiple overtimes as the field came into shape for the second weekend, the end result is a fairly “chalkish” Sweet 16. That’s not a bad thing.

Sure, there are some higher seeds, but the names attached to those numbers feel less like party crashers than had Middle Tennessee State or UNI advanced. And, yes, going into the second weekend of March Madness without Michigan State seems incredibly odd given they were a 2-seed—less so without No. 2 seed Xavier—but most of the real heavyweights are still alive in this tournament. Here are 16 things you need* to know about the Sweet 16.

Sweet 16 by seed

While there surely were some big upsets in the first two rounds, the top four seeds in the tournament—Kansas, North Carolina, Virginia and Oregon—all advanced to the Sweet 16.

Of the top 16 seeds in the tournament—No. 1 through No. 4 in each region—10 advanced to the second weekend. Of the six other teams still alive, two of them are No. 5 seeds, barely much of an upset over the No. 4 seeds in those regions, and only one of those two had to face a No. 4 seed to advance as No. 5 Maryland was the favorite against No. 13 Hawaii in the South region’s second round.

2016 NCAA Tournament Records by Seed

  • No. 1 – 8-0
  • No. 2 – 5-2
  • No. 3 – 5-2
  • No. 4 – 5-2
  • No. 5 – 4-2
  • No. 6 – 2-3
  • No. 7 – 3-3
  • No. 8 – 1-4
  • No. 9 – 3-4
  • No. 10 – 3-3
  • No. 11 – 4-3 (does not include First Four)
  • No. 12 – 2-4
  • No. 13 – 1-4
  • No. 14 – 1-4
  • No. 15 – 1-4
  • No. 16 – 0-4 (does not include the First Four)

All Four No. 1 seeds advanced for just the second time in 7 years

All four top seeds made the Sweet 16 for just the second time in the last seven seasons. Since the 2006 NCAA Tournament, the top four seeds have all advanced to the second weekend six times in the last 11 tournaments, but only once, now twice, since the 2010 Big Dance.

In each tournament over the last decade, at least three of the four top seeds advanced to the Sweet 16, but that doesn’t always indicate future tournament success. Since the 2008 NCAA Tournament, where the top four seeds all earned spots in the Final Four, the No. 1 seeds have filled 23 of their expected 28 spots in the Sweet 16, but just 16 of the 28 spots in the Elite Eight.

Just once since 2008 has the tournament featured all four top seeds in the Elite Eight—the 2009 event, one year after the chalk Final Four. More than one No. 1 seed has qualified for the Final Four just one time since 2010.

Last year, three No. 1 seeds made the Final Four, but in the previous five tournaments, no more than one top seed had cut down regional nets.

The ACC dominates the Sweet 16 by-conference rankings

The ACC nearly ran the table in the tournament in the first two rounds, advancing six teams to the Sweet 16 out of seven that made the tournament. (Sorry, Pitt. Oh, and congrats, Louisville, you will be hosting a Sweet 16 despite your team being one of the best in the ACC yet not part of this group because of your postseason ban.)

  • ACC – 6 teams (12-1 record)
  • Big Ten – 3 teams (8-4)
  • Big XII – 3 teams (6-4)
  • Big East – 1 team (5-4)
  • Pac 12 – 1 team (3-6)
  • SEC – 1 team (3-2)
  • WCC – 1 team (2-0)

Conference records via CBSSports.com

Those numbers don’t mean a whole helluva lot unless they’re put in context of how many bids each conference got. So let’s do that.

Bids by conference

Four power conferences each received seven bids, with the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac 12 sharing that distinction. The Big East had five bids, but despite only one team advancing to the second weekend, they do have just one fewer win than the Big XII, which got three teams in the Sweet 16. Boom or bust for the Big XII teams.

The SEC needed a miracle finish to get any teams in the Sweet 16, but by odds fared far better than the Pac 12, which has to be the biggest disappointment, with just one team in the Sweet 16 and just one other—No. 3 Utah—that won even one game.

The Sweet 16 by state

The 2016 NCAA Tournament will truly be crowing the national champion. The 16 remaining schools in the Big Dance hail from 14 different states across the country. Only North Carolina—UNC and Duke—and Indiana—IU and Notre Dame—have more than one team representing their states this tournament.

Not only are nearly as many states as teams represented, but so are different regions of the country. There are teams everywhere from New York to Oregon and Florida to Washington. And yet, there is some East Coast Bias—or at least Eastern time zone bias—still left in the tournament.

Of the 16 schools left, nine are in the Eastern time zone, five are in the Central time zone and two are in the Pacific time zone. Sorry, Mountain, and whatever Arizona is.

Last Year’s Sweet 16, revisited

About Dan Levy

Dan Levy has written a lot of words in a lot of places, most recently as the National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. He was host of The Morning B/Reakaway on Sirius XM's Bleacher Report Radio for the past year, and previously worked at Sporting News and Rutgers University, with a concentration on sports, media and public relations.

View all posts by Dan Levy