So the third round of this year’s tournament was better than the second but still not great. I am going to go ahead and say it- if the Final Four ends up being Clemson, UConn, Duke, and Tennessee I am boycotting the entire event! That’s right, I will not watch a single second of the last three games of the season if we end up with those pairings. Let’s now rank the Sweet 16 games from best to worst and compare how my pre-round intrigue rankings compare to how the games actually played out.
| Ranking the NCAA Sweet 16 Games (Postgame) | Pregame Rank | Difference | |
| 1 | (1) North Carolina vs. (4) Alabama (Thurs 9:30)- CBS (5) | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | (1) Houston vs. (4) Duke (Fri 9:39)- CBS (5) | 4 | 2 |
| 3 | (2) Arizona vs. (6) Clemson (Thurs 7:09)- CBS (5) | 7 | 4 |
| 4 | (2) Marquette vs. (11) NC State (Fri 7:09)- CBS (5) | 5 | 1 |
| 5 | (2) Iowa State vs. (7) Illinois (Thurs 10:09)- TBS (247) | 8 | 3 |
| 6 | (2) Tennessee vs. (3) Creighton (Fri 10:09)- TBS (247) | 3 | -3 |
| 7 | (1) Purdue vs. (5) Gonzaga (Fri 7:39)- TBS (247) | 2 | -5 |
| 8 | (1) UConn vs. (5) San Diego State (Thurs 7:39)- TBS (247) | 6 | -2 |
Ramblings of the Ultimate Sports Sentimentalist 