The Latest on the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament on Friday (all times Eastern):
6:35 p.m.
Let’s be up front – everyone’s bracket is pretty much busted in the East. That means most of the millions of guesses made in office pools for the NCAA Tournament are hinging on things like whether North Carolina comes out of the South, rather than Kentucky or UCLA.
There’s another way to assess the East, though, through second chance games offered on many of the platforms that let people fill out brackets.
On ESPN, more people are backing No. 8 seed Wisconsin than any other East team to reach the Final Four. The tournament-tested Badgers face Florida on Friday night. The other semifinal pits South Carolina against Baylor.
Fans are backing Baylor 2-1 over South Carolina in ESPN’s second chance bracket. And they’re giving Wisconsin a slight edge over Baylor to reach the Final Four.
Nearly 18 percent of fans in the second chance brackets are picking Kansas to win it all, compared with about 11 percent picking Kansas for the title before the tournament’s first weekend.
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6 p.m.
The 2017 Elite Eight will be set following Friday’s regional semifinal action in the NCAA Tournament.
The marquee matchup will see second-seeded Kentucky face third-seeded UCLA in the South Region in Memphis. The two blue bloods met earlier this season, with the Bruins beating the Wildcats 97-92 on the road.
The winner could face No. 1 seed North Carolina on Sunday, though the Tar Heels will need to get past Butler first.
The East Region – the one that busted so many brackets during opening weekend – will also pick its finalists on Friday.
South Carolina, fresh off a stunner of Duke, will play third-seeded Baylor. Wisconsin will look to follow up on an upset win over top-seeded Villanova when it faces Florida.
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For more AP college basketball coverage: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-Top25
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