NBA fans enjoy a wild March that kicks off Thursday with the men’s Sweet 16

What can you expect from the tournament? An overview of the top eight spots in the next-to-leading division I men’s basketball tournament

The eight spots in the round of 16 will be decided on Monday. If you want to know what to expect from the games we don’t want to miss, check out our picks.

For the second year in a row, Florida Gulf Coast was a No. 12 seed and won the N.C.A.A. tournament. It was a 74-63 win over Washington State. Sha Carter led Florida Gulf Coast with 24 points, and Tishara Morehouse added 16 points. The Eagles held the Cougars’ leading scorer, Charlisse Leger-Walker, to 5 points on Saturday. They may have a harder time putting the clamps on Villanova’s star forward, Maddy Siegrist. In the first-round win against Cleveland State, Siegrist had 35 points to become the fifth Division I women’s player to reach 1000 points in a single season.

Indiana overwhelmed Tennessee Tech in its first N.C.A.A game on Saturday as a top seed. Miami, on the other hand, needed a 17-point comeback in the second half to beat Oklahoma State. The Hoosiers are playing to get to their third consecutive round-of-16 game, while Miami has made the second weekend only once. In this year’s tournament, the universities met in the second round.

Alabama raced to a 18 point lead in the first quarter of Saturday’s game. The biggest comeback of all time in the tournament happened when the Bears won 78-74. UConn faced no such struggles, racing to a 53-20 halftime lead on the way to a 95-52 win over Vermont. The last time UConn and Baylor met, in the 2021 tournament’s round of 8, the game ended on a missed shot from Baylor’s DiJonai Carrington that was tightly contested by two UConn defenders, a play that was loudly decried after the game for the absence of a foul call. Can we get similar drama in the rematch?

The Sweet 16 has 11 conferences in it. You have to go back to the previous year’s winners to find the current NCAA champion.

In April of 2021, the transfer portal system was changed by the NCAA to allow athletes to switch schools immediately. It’s had an effect on spreading talent. Division I men’s basketball players went into the portal last year.

Tip-off Times for the Women’s Sweet 16: Why “Everything isn’t going to be good” — and how “not every” kid knows what is going on

Here’s a quick look at the tip-off times for the Sweet 16, and the tournament as a whole. The women’s Sweet 16 begins on Friday.

By this stage of the tournament, a sense of destiny often starts to show on one or two teams that have the right combination of talent and energy. But this year is kind of hard to pin down.

Neither of the two remaining No. 1 seeds, Alabama and Houston, have looked like the hands-down best team. Two other top seeds, Kansas and Purdue, are out. There are two No. 2 seeds.

Then there’s Florida Atlantic. The No. 9 seed has rejected the Cinderella label, saying its 33-3 record came from hard work and focus, not a fairy godmother.

This is the second time in three years that four of the top “blue blood” programs — North Carolina, Kansas, Duke and Kentucky — are not in the Sweet 16. From 1980 to 2019, at least one of those teams got this far in every year’s tournament.

Despite his skepticism, Izzo has taken advantage of the portal — and it’s helped his team in this tournament. Leading scorer Tyson Walker transferred from another school to help make up for the lack of contributions from other players.

The portal is not as bad as they think. I mean … every place isn’t for everybody,” Izzo said recently. It’s not good that EVERY kid who has a bad day just thinks about leaving. At this level, if you’re half in, you’re nowhere.”

The Maryland-Mexican Basketball Big Slam Final Four at 3 Notre Dame and the Prospects of Transferring Player Experiences in the NBA

3 Notre Dame at 11:30 a.m. CBS is airing the game between Maryland and Notre Dame. ESPN2

The flexibility of the transfer portal and a policy change in 2021 will allow basketball players to swap schools without having to sit out a waiting period. But it also reflects the women’s game growing popularity and the emergence of more talented athletes.

The eight regional games are being played in Greenville, S.C., and Seattle before moving to Dallas for the Final Four on Friday, March 31. The national title game will be played on Sunday, April 2.

Defending champion South Carolina hasn’t lost a game in more than a year, led by a group of seniors that includes reigning national player of the year Aliyah Boston. The Hokie center Elizabeth Kitley is the player of the year and she is leading her team to its best tournament ever.

UConn is also making a charge, helped by the return of guard Azzi Fudd from a knee injury. Fudd led the Huskies in scoring on Monday for the first time since November, taking some of the load off of forward Aaliyah Edwards.

One of the most successful transfer groups is in Tennessee, where newcomers Rickea Jackson, Jasmine Powell and Jasmine Franklin have combined to average 60 points a game.

The Vols face Virginia Tech in the Sweet 16, which added two transfers of its own to their roster in Taylor Soule from Boston College and Tiffany Owosu from Maryland.

Also leaving Maryland was Reese, who’s now at LSU. Maryland is in the Sweet 16 as a result of losing two coveted transfers, including guard Diamond Miller.

No. 9 seed Miami also got a crucial boost from Haley and Hanna Cavinder, twin-sister guards (and TikTok darlings) who transferred from Fresno State. It was Haley Cavinder who made crucial free throws to upset Indiana — and then shush the crowd while waving goodbye.