The Morning According to Us: Ranking the Sweet 16 Games

We go through all eight in terms of perceived value. You want to disagree? We like to argue.

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In the battle to get to here, what Sweet 16 games might interest you the most?

Did ya see the top of ESPN.Com's front page yesterday? For a while, it was stories on LeBron James, a tug-of-the-heartstrings piece, something on ridic college pitcher Stephen Strasburg, etc. For a while—briefly—there was no real college hoops presence. Now it's Wednesday, though, so the NCAA Tournament shall return to us tomorrow evening with the Sweet Sixteen round. Sixteen teams = eight games, so we decided to make a list of those games 1-8 in terms of interest level (for you) and value. If you disagree with us, which you probably will, please e-mail us. We like discourse. It's healthy. Here goes nada.

1. Syracuse vs. Oklahoma
Movie tagline ready: "The hottest team versus the best player!"

2. Missouri vs. Memphis
We've heard the argument that 'Nova vs. Duke is a similar game to this, but this game will be sloppier. Fine. We think this will be fun as all heck. It's gonna be like watching the '02 Sacramento Kings play the '06 Phoenix Suns (but sloppier, yes).

3. Villanova vs. Duke
Remember in the '05 Sweet 16, when 'Nova shoulda taken down UNC? This is Jay Wright's shot at righting that ACC wrong.

4. Kansas vs. MSU
Lot of hoops vintage in this one, and Sherron Collins vs. Kalin Lucas is going to be fun.

5. UNC vs. Gonzaga
We've gone back and forth on whether we should have this higher. 'Zaga took it to 'em in the 2006 Preseason NIT. If Lawson is rolling, though, this could be a rout.

6. Louisville vs. Arizona
Arizona is deeper than you think, and a good story (the only "underdog" here). Louisville should truck them, but how long did they let Siena hang around? If Jordan Hill gets hot in this game, he'll become a lottery pick, and he knows this.

7. Pitt vs. Xavier
This game probably stays close the whole way, but honestly, isn't it time for Pitt to just destroy someone?

8. Purdue vs. UConn
We like how scrappy Purdue is, but we honestly see little chance of this game being tight: UConn wrecked its first two opponents by an average of 41 per. Will they win this by 41? No. But 12-15 seems likely.

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