Look, if your bracket isn't a total disaster by now, you’re basically a wizard. Or you just didn’t fill one out. Every year we tell ourselves we've figured out the formula—weight the adjusted defensive efficiency, look at the senior guard play, check the neutral-site shooting percentages. Then Sunday happens. The favorites tumble. The "locks" look like they're playing in work boots.
Right now, the question of who is still in march madness isn't just about the names on the jerseys; it’s about who managed to survive a weekend that felt more like a demolition derby than a basketball tournament. We’re down to the Sweet 16, and the geographical spread is as chaotic as the box scores. If you're looking for the blue bloods, a few are still hanging around, but they're looking over their shoulders.
It’s been a weird one.
The Heavyweights Who Refuse to Go Home
The top of the bracket actually held up better than the middle did, which is a bit of a departure from the "Year of the Upset" narratives we saw in the early 2020s.
Kansas is still here. Bill Self has this group playing a brand of high-low basketball that feels a little retro but is undeniably effective. Hunter Dickinson is still a problem for anyone without a legit 7-footer. They survived a scare against a feisty double-digit seed in the second round, but they’re in the second weekend. That's all that matters.
Duke is also still in the mix. They’ve got that mix of freshman lottery-pick talent and a couple of portal additions that have finally gelled at the right time. Seeing them in the Sweet 16 feels "normal," but their path hasn't been a cakewalk. They’ve had to lean on their perimeter defense more than their scoring lately.
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Then there’s the defending champ buzz. UConn, or whoever the reigning king is in your mind (currently the Huskies are the real-world benchmark for dominance), is playing like they’re bored with the first two rounds. They aren't just winning; they are erasing people. When you ask who is still in march madness, you have to start with the teams that look like they’re playing a different sport.
The Mid-Major Killers and the Chaos Agents
This is where it gets fun.
The Sweet 16 wouldn't be the same without a team from the Mountain West or the Atlantic 10 making everyone uncomfortable. This year, it’s the Mountain West again. They’ve been under-seeded for years, and now they’re proving the "mid-major" label is basically an insult.
- San Diego State is back in the second weekend. Their defense is essentially a legal form of harassment. They don’t care if they shoot 30% from the floor as long as they hold you to 25%. It’s ugly. It’s effective. It’s March.
- We’ve also got a 12-seed still kicking. Honestly, seeing a 12-seed in the Sweet 16 is almost a tradition at this point, but this specific team—let’s look at how they did it. They won their first game on a buzzer-beater and their second by 15 points. Momentum is a terrifying thing in a single-elimination tournament.
The reality of who is still in march madness is that the "gap" between the Power Five and everyone else has narrowed to a sliver. NIL and the transfer portal have leveled the playing field. A 24-year-old senior at a "small" school is often better than a 19-year-old five-star recruit who hasn't learned how to box out yet.
Breaking Down the Regions: Who Survives the Next Step?
The East Region is a bloodbath. You’ve got the 1-seed looking dominant, but the 4-seed is a team that won 10 straight heading into the tournament. That matchup is going to be the highlight of Thursday night. If you’re betting on this, good luck. The 1-seed has the depth, but the 4-seed has a point guard who hasn’t missed a free throw since February.
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Out West, things got hollowed out. A couple of major upsets on Friday opened the door for a 6-seed to have a legitimate path to the Final Four. This is the part of the tournament where "matchup nightmares" become reality. A team that relies on zone defense is suddenly facing a squad that shoots 40% from deep. That’s how brackets die.
Why the Blue Bloods Are Shaking
There’s a specific kind of pressure that comes with being a "name" school in the Sweet 16. For a team like Kentucky or North Carolina, making the Sweet 16 is the bare minimum. Anything less is a failure. For the teams they’re playing, it’s the biggest game of their lives.
That psychological edge is real. We saw it in the second round—big-name players tightening up when the shots didn't fall early. The teams who is still in march madness are the ones who stayed loose.
- Experience over Hype: The teams left have an average age that’s higher than usual.
- The "Three-and-D" Factor: If you can't guard the arc, you're already at the airport.
- Coach Adjustments: The chess match between the first and second halves has been wild this year.
Key Players Still On the Court
You have to talk about the individuals. There’s a guard out of the Big 12 right now who is averaging 28 points a game through the first two rounds. He’s the reason his team is still alive. Every time the offense stalls, he just goes and gets a bucket. He’s the kind of player that makes scouting reports irrelevant.
Then there’s the defensive specialist in the Big Ten. He doesn’t score much, but he’s basically erased every All-American he’s faced. Watching him work is a clinic. If you want to know who is still in march madness, look for the teams that have a "eraser" in the paint or a "pest" on the perimeter.
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The Transfer Portal’s Fingerprints
Nearly every team left in the field is led by someone who played somewhere else last year. It’s the new reality. One team in the Sweet 16 has four starters from four different conferences. They’ve only played together for five months, yet they look like they’ve been teammates for a decade.
This has changed the "who is still in" conversation because we no longer see teams "building" for three years. They build for three months. It makes the tournament more volatile. You can buy a championship contender in the off-season, but you can’t buy chemistry—and the teams left are the ones who found both.
What’s Next: The Path to the Final Four
The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight are arguably better than the Final Four. The games are faster, the desperation is higher, and the crowds are more intense because the venues are smaller.
If you’re following who is still in march madness, keep an eye on the injury reports. A rolled ankle on a Thursday can ruin a season by Saturday. Depth is everything now. The teams that can go 9 or 10 deep are the ones who will be cutting down nets.
The schedule for the coming days is packed. We go from 16 to 8 in 48 hours. It’s a sprint.
Actionable Steps for the Rest of the Tournament
- Check the Betting Lines Early: The opening lines for the Sweet 16 usually move fast once the "sharps" get involved. If you see a spread that looks wrong, it probably is.
- Watch the "Effective Field Goal Percentage": Don't just look at who wins. Look at who is getting high-quality shots. A team that wins on a fluke shooting night is a prime candidate to get blown out in the next round.
- Follow Regional Beat Writers: National media is great, but the beat writers who cover these teams daily know who’s actually tired or nursing a hidden injury.
- Sync Your Calendar: The Thursday/Friday split for the Sweet 16 is brutal if you have a job. Plan your "meetings" accordingly.
The tournament is narrowed down, the pretenders are gone, and we’re left with the teams that actually have the grit to survive. Whether it's a 1-seed or a 12-seed, the path doesn't get any easier from here.