Butler Bulldogs set to strike again

With the last seven national champions in this year's sweet sixteen, there is no lack of experience in this tournament. All four number one seeds remain, but look for several to go down before the final four. Let's take a look at the match-ups in today's and tomorrow's sweet sixteen action.



Midwest Region

The Midwest Regional takes place in Minneapolis, MN where the top seed Kentucky Wildcats face the fifth seeded Wisconsin Badgers. Kentucky's press should easily wear out the over-achieving Badgers. The only fear for Kentucky is that it has not had a close tournament game yet, so this might be its first scare. In the end, the senior leadership of Keith Bogans and Marquis Estill will carry the team past Wisconsin.

In the other Midwest Region semifinal, the number two seed Pittsburgh Panthers will take on the number three seed Marquette Golden Eagles. While the Panthers seem to be rolling through this tournament on a mission to prove that they were deserving of a number one seed, Marquette's offense might be too much for the Panthers to handle.

With the momentum from its overtime victory over the Missouri Tigers, Marquette seems to have the firepower to pull the slight upset over the Big East champs. Marquette stars Travis Diener and Dwayne Wade have been unstoppable on the offensive end in both games, with the two combining for 50 points in the win over Mizzou. Expect Marquette to meet Kentucky in the regional final and for Kentucky to punch their ticket to New Orleans with a win on Saturday.



>West Region

At the start of the tournament, there was a lot of talk about how many good teams were loaded into the West Region, and if it was the most stacked of the four. It appears to still hold that distinction given that the one, two, three, and five seeds are still in the running, with the four most explosive teams remaining.

In the top half of the region, the number one seed Arizona Wildcats will face the number five seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Wildcats are coming off their double overtime thriller with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, which will definitely serve as a wake up call to this senior laden team. On the other side of the court, Notre Dame is riding the hot hands of sophomore point guard Chris Thomas and senior swingman Danny Miller. Miller lit up the Illinois Fighting Illini for 24 points, with 17 of those coming in the first half.

Look for the Wildcats to try and blanket the Irish shooters and make them create off the dribble. Notre Dame has the ability to knock off Arizona, but Arizona has too many scoring options for the Irish to stop them all.

In what looks to be one of the blockbuster matchups of this tournament, the number three seed Duke Blue Devils are set to face the number two seed Kansas Jayhawks. Both teams have been tested in the tournament so both teams will be well prepared. The key to this game will be the level of success that the Blue Devil bigmen have in defending Kansas All-American Nick Collison. When Collison is double-teamed, Kurt Hinrich and Keith Langford will have to knock down their shots.

For Duke to win, J.J. Reddick must get and make shots when he receives open looks. Dahntay Jones must stay out of foul trouble and Duke must establish some inside offense with Shelden Williams. Roy Williams' teams always lose this time of year and it would be stupid to bet against Mike Krzyzewski and the Dukies in March. Look for Duke to ride the momentum of this win all the way to New Orleans.



South Region

The South Region meets in the Alamo Dome with three teams who have won National Championships and the number one seeded Texas Longhorns. In the top half of the bracket, the Longhorns face the number five seed UConn Huskies. Ekema Okafor could give the Texas big-men fits, but expect Texas All-American point guard T.J. Ford and swingman Brandon Mouton to give the Huskies match-up problems.

The number six seed Maryland Terrapins will meet the number seven seed Michigan State Spartans in the other semifinal. Maryland is on a roll after Drew Nicholas' first round buzzer beater and their domination of the Xavier Musketeers. They will use their drive and their senior leadership to roll over the Spartans and then squeak past Texas to New Orleans.



East Region

The Oklahoma Sooners should watch their backs as they prepare to take on this year's Cinderella team, the Butler Bulldogs in the East Region. Hollis Price, the Sooners' best player and senior leader, has been slowed by ankle injuries and is not strong enough to will this team to victory. Look for the number 12 seed Bulldogs to continue their hot outside shooting and be the first team to eliminate a number one seed.

In the other half of the region, the number three seed Syracuse Orangemen will meet the surprisingly still-alive number ten seed Auburn Tigers. The East Regional is being played in Albany so this is basically a home court advantage for Syracuse. Freshman sensation Carmelo Anthony will lead this team past Auburn and then onto New Orleans.