Tag: Xavier Muskateers

Power Ranking the remaining teams in the Sweet 16

16 teams remain in this year’s NCAA Tournament but who has looked the best so far?

The NCAA Men’s Tournament is officially moving into the second week and the field has narrowed from 68 to just 16. It’s one of the more diverse Sweet 16 teams in recent memory.

Just two No. 1 seeds remain in Alabama and Houston, coincidentally, the top two seeds in the tournament. Beyond the Crimson Tide and Cougars, seven of the remaining teams are four seeds or higher in Texas, UCLA, Xavier, Gonzaga, Kansas State, and UConn. Then you have tournament long shots in Arkansas, Creighton, FAU, Michigan State, and Princeton.

A few things are clear after the opening weekend about the 16 teams remaining but plenty still remains unclear as well. You can view some of the biggest takeaways from the first two rounds in our article from earlier on Monday.

That being said, the one thing that for certain is that the parity in this year’s tournament is quite strong. While Alabama looks the part of a tournament favorite, beyond the Crimson Tide, there are strong arguments for five or six other programs to potentially come out on top next month in Houston. That makes it quite hard to power rank the 16 teams remaining heading into week two. That being said, we gave it a go and did just that.

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Chris Holtmann on playing Xavier, Cincinnati, and Dayton: “Absolutely we would consider that”

The Ohio State men’s basketball head coach, Chris Holtmann, would love to start playing Dayton, Xavier, and Cincinnati more frequently.

The Ohio State men’s basketball head coach, Chris Holtmann, would love to play the big boys of college basketball in the state, a trend the men’s basketball team has started by scheduling Cincinnati.

Although the Cincinnati Bearcats have made strides in football, much of Ohio’s universities still strongly consider basketball their team’s most successful sport.

After all, both Dayton and Xavier have been ranked within the top five in the last few years. Even Cincinnati is just a year or so removed from being a top-ten program.

That type of success isn’t reflected in many other states throughout the country. However, for some reason, the Buckeyes don’t play the Bearcats, Musketeers or Flyers very often.

What does Holtmann feel about potentially bringing those top-notch opponents to Columbus? Well, according to Eleven Warriors’ Colin Haas-Hill, he would “absolutely” consider that.

It’s not just the big dogs though. It’s the mid-majors as well, programs Ohio has a plethora of.

“If you’re asking about mid-majors in the state, we’re playing Akron this year, we played Kent (State) last year, we played Youngstown State. We’re open to doing that and we intend to do that every year,” Holtmann continued.

Having more in-state opponents is something Ohio State, and every other opponent that gets the call, should consider. While it’s not necessarily that easy, it is feasible.

What is even more intriguing is the idea of putting together something similar to the Crossroads classic that the major basketball programs in Indiana compete in every year. Butler, Indiana, Notre Dame, and Purdue all come together at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and make it a showcase event.

Getting there has a lot of obstacles, but this is something sorely needed. Getting Ohio State on board with something like this always seemed to be the biggest dragon to slay, and that now seems to have fallen by way of the sword Holtmann is carrying.

If ever there was a chance at making this a reality, it’s now.

 

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