Purdue is just two wins away from its first Final Four given that 1980.
To get to Minneapolis, the Boilermakers will first face Tennessee on Thursday. If they win that game, they’ll face Virginia or Oregon on Saturday inside the Elite Eight.
Those three teams have taken unique paths to the Sweet 16 in Louisville, but all three are gambling well. Like Purdue, they have been confronted with their share of March heartbreak. These are the group’s status in the way of a Boilermakers’ Final Four run.
Tennessee
The second-seeded Volunteers (31-5) were one of the best groups in the USA during the typical season, ascending to the No. 1 ranking for four weeks in January and February while they were on a 19-recreation winning streak.
Tennessee, which ended the regular season ranked No. 6 inside us of a, has had trouble advancing past the Sweet 16, just like Purdue. The Volunteers are making their 7th all-time trip to this spherical but have not gained. Last year, they were a No. Three seed in the event but lost to March darling Loyola Chicago in the 2d Round.
Coach Rick Barnes said defeat hung over the Vols as they fought through close victories in the first two rounds this season.
“That’s what they wanted to do, which was to get back (to the tournament) and spot if they might cross similarly,” Barnes stated. “So that’s been on their thoughts. They desired to do that. I thought that they carried a little greater stress due to that.”
The Volunteers slipped beyond Colgate seventy-seven-70 inside the first spherical, after which it constructed up a 25-point lead in opposition to No. 10 seed Iowa earlier than seeing it melt away. They regrouped and won in additional time to earn the right to face Purdue.
Virginia
The Cavaliers (31-3) had been excellent normal-season teams inside you. S. A. During instructs Tony Bennett’s tenure, prevailing 30 games and earning a No. 1 seed four instances in 10 years.
Success in the match has been much more elusive for Virginia, which hasn’t been to the Final Four since 1984. The Cavaliers 2018 infamously became the primary men’s No. 1 seed ever to lose to a No—sixteen seed after they were toppled by the UMBC Retrievers.
They recovered to earn a No. 1 seed once more this season, dropping only one sport against teams now not named Duke. The Cavaliers are led using 2016 Indiana Mr. Basketball Kyle Guy and are influenced to exorcise the demons of Beyond March’s failures.
“We’re nowhere close to relaxed, nowhere near satisfied,” junior guard Ty Jerome said after the Cavaliers’ sixty-three-fifty one second-round win over Oklahoma. “We’re not even near our give-up goal.”
Oregon
After a favorite-heavy first weekend, the twelfth-seeded Ducks are the only remaining Cinderella in the tournament discipline. Oregon, which made the Final Four in 2017, is the single closing seed beneath No. 5 and is sporting the banner for a Pac-12 conference that changed into maligned all season.
Oregon (25-12) got here byby winning in the Pac-12 Tournament and then upsetting Wisconsin 72-fifty four in the first Round, making the Badgers the easiest Big Ten team to lose in the Round of 64. In the second Round, the Ducks easily dispatched No. 13 seed UC Irvine, which disappointed Kansas State.
“We don’t need to visit the Sweet 16 and lay an egg simply,” junior shield Payton Pritchard said. “We’ll cross in and combat. We’re satisfied with making Sweet Sixteen. However, we need extra. We do not play basketball to make two rounds. We play to win it all.”
