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An Early Look Of Nevada’s Sweet 16 Opponent and Potential Opponents

Here is an early look at the Wolf Pack’s opponent, Loyola-Chicago and the rest of the South bracket that’s in the round of 16.

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Here Is An Early Look At The Teams Nevada Will Face And Possibly Face This Weekend.

The Nevada Wolf Pack have advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 2018 NCAA tournament in most dramatic come-from-behind fashion.

They had to come back from a 14-point deficit to defeat Texas in the first round and in the second round, the Wolf Pack came back from 22 points to defeat the No.2 seeded Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday.

Those two miracle comebacks have propelled the Wolf Pack into the regional semifinals of the South region in Atlanta Georgia. It is there where Nevada will go up against fellow Cinderella team, the No.11 seeded Loyola-Chicago Ramblers on Thursday night.

Loyola-Chicago, like the Wolf Pack, are no strangers when it comes to dramatic victories in this year’s tournament. The Ramblers, who play in the Horizon League, defeated both Miami (FL) and Tennessee by scoring in the final seconds to pull off the upsets in both games.

And like Nevada, the Ramblers are not your average Cinderella. The Ramblers have won 12 straight games and are 19-1 in their last 20 games and have won 30 games overall this season. Safe to say these are two evenly matched teams that will be playing for the right to move on to the Elite Eight on Saturday.

Should the Wolf Pack defeat Loyola-Chicago, they will face the winner of the Kansas State vs Kentucky game. This match between K-State and Kentucky will not only be for the right to advance to the regional final but for Wildcat supremacy.

Kansas State advanced to the Sweet 16 by defeating the eighth seeded Creighton Bluejays in the first round on Friday and then they ended the season of the No. 16 seeded UMBC Retrievers by a score of 50-43 on Sunday. Kansas State is led by guard Barry Brown, a junior guard from Saint Petersburg, Florida, who is averaging 18 points per game in this tournament. Also, for K-State, Makol Mawien is another key contributor for this team. Mawien scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds in their victory of UMBC on Sunday. So, if those two are playing well Kansas State will be a tough out on Thursday.

Kentucky has been playing their best basketball for the last few weeks. This team, who are on a five-game winning streak has for lack of a better term, are getting hot at the right time. They defeated Davidson in the first round without making a three-point shot and cruised to a 20-point victory over buffalo in the second round.

The Wildcats have their core of talented freshman again this year, but it is the talent and playmaking abilities of Kevin Knox and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that have taken these Wildcats into the round of 16.

This region has been so far unpredictable as none of the top four seeds advanced past the first weekend. I expect to see even more wild and crazy finishes to decide who will represent the South region at the Final Four in San Antonio.