They’re only 16 teams left standing in the NCAA tourney and will be narrowed down to eight by Saturday. But for now, let’s take a look at the sweet sixteen matchups.

Kentucky vs. West Virginia

After a first round blowout by Kentucky, they were challenged a little bit by Cincinnati in the round of 32. Kentucky pulled away by a large margin towards the end but only lead by five with 12 minutes to go in the game. The game was starting to get chippy. Cincinnati forward Octaves Ellis drew a technical foul and was drawing some frustration from the Kentucky players. West Virginia plays a very aggressive style, leading the NCAA in forced turnovers. The reason you can’t count out the Mountaineers is because the style in which they play. That was very clear Sunday night where they forced Maryland to 23 turnovers. When Maryland’s star freshman point guard Melo Trimble was knocked out of the game with an injury, the terps were having difficulty even maintaining the ball for a possession.

Prediction: Even though West Virginia’s style of play gives them a chance for an upset, Kentucky point guards Aaron Harrison and Tyler Ulis will be able to handle the pressure and lead the Wildcats to victory. Although it is to be noted that West Virginia coach Bob Huggins is 8-2 all time against Kentucky coach John Calipari.

Notre Dame vs. Wichita State

Notre dame has had two close calls in their first two games against Northeastern and Butler. Both games coming down to the final seconds. After a grind it out kind of win against Indiana, they got the matchup they wanted against instate rival Kansas. After a closely contested first half the Shockers pulled away in the second half winning 78-56. Despite the close wins Notre Dame is still hot riding a seven game win streak into this one. They are led by senior Jerian Grant and have great shooters as well. Wichuta State still have key contributes to the final four team from two years ago. The Shockers are lead by their tremendous back-court duo in Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet.

Prediction: Despite the close calls the past two games, I still see Notre Dame coming out on top in this one. Notre Dame has too much depth for the Shockers and there’s no doubt Jerian Grant is focused on getting this team to a final four. But don’t expect this to be a blowout.

Wisconsin vs. North Carolina

This in my opinion will be the best game out of all the sweet 16 matchups. You have one of the top candidates for the John R. Wooden player of the year award in Frank Kaminsky for Wisconsin and one of the best point guards in the nation in Marcus Paige for North Carolina. Both are seniors who are working for a national championship. These two teams were challenged in their last game. Oregon gave Wisconsin everything they had. The game was tied with five minutes left, but the Badgers pulled away to win 72-65. Arkansas was close with North Carolina most of the game, but the Tar Heels won the game 87-78 in a high scoring affair. Outside of Kaminsky, the Badgers have Sam Dekker, Nigel Hayes, and are getting point guard Traveon Jackson back from injury. They as well have sophomore Bronson Koening, who started the year as the Badgers top reserve but was moved to the starting point guard role after Jackson was injured. North Carolina is lead by Paige but has some good players as well. Brice Johnson, Kennedy Meeks, Justin Jackson, and J.P. Tokoto have been solid contributors as well.

Prediction: Wisconsin will win this game just simply based on the amount of weapons they have. The Tar Heels outside of Paige doesn’t have the depth Wisconsin has. Expect it to be a close game to start out, but expect Wisconsin to pull away as the game moves along.

Arizona vs. Xavier

Both teams are coming off wins where they were challenged early but dominated the second half of the game, especially Arizona, who were only leading Ohio State at halftime 26-25 but went on to win 73-58. They were led by Chartiers Valley native T.J McConnell, who had 19 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals. Xavier’s game ended up being a little closer than Arizona’s but played much better in the second half than they did in the first against Georgia State.  Arizona is one of the most balanced teams in the country with six guys averaging 9 or more points a game. They are lead by star freshman Stanley Johnson. But outside of him, they have guys such as Brandon Ashley, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, T.J. McConnell, Kaleb Tarczewski, and sixth man Gabe York. Despite these tandem of players, they are often criticized for not having much out of these six players. The scoring for Xavier is balanced as well and are lead by senior center Matt Stainbrook.

Prediction: I think Xavier is a very underrated team and gets overlooked by a lot of people. That being said, I still think Arizona wins on the amount of talent they have. It is to be noted that Arizona coach Sean Miller was the head coach at Xavier from 2004-2009.

Louisville vs. N.C. State

Louisville barely escaped U.C. Irvin in their first round matchup but blew out Northern Iowa in the next round. N.C. State had a great comeback vs. LSU and then pulled off a huge upset against one seeded Villanova. N.C. State defeated Louisville in a game played at Louisville during the regular season 74-65. After Louisville’s dismissal of guard Chris Jones, some of their leaders had to really step it up. They are lead by guard Terry Rozier, big man Montrezl Harrell, and forward Wayne Blaskshear. Outside of those three they don’t really have anyone that can score. The Wolfpack are lead by Trevor Lacey, Ralston Turner, and Anthony Barber.

Prediction: This is a very possible upset, but I still see Louisville winning this game based on their top players and head coach Rick Pitino.

Oklahoma vs. Michigan State

Oklahoma beat Albany in their first round game but was challenged by Dayton in the second round. The Sooners were only up two with under four minutes remaining but big plays down the stretch propelled them to 72-66 victory. As for Michigan State, they defeated Georgia and then they had a huge upset against two seeded Virginia where Travis Trice was huge for the Spartans. Oklahoma is lead by junior guard Buddy Hield while the Spartans are lead by Travis Trice, Denzel Valentine, and Brandon Dawson.

Prediction: Expect this to be a very close matchup, but Michigan State to prevail based on their experience and coach Tom Izzo.

Duke vs. Utah

Duke has had two blowout wins thus far in the tournament where they have dominated on both sides of the ball. Utah has had two games where they pulled away at the end against Stephen F. Austin and Georgetown. Duke has some of the biggest weapons in college basketball such as other leading candidate for the John R. Wooden award along with Frank Kaminsky in Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow, Quinn Cook, and Amile Jefferson. The Utes are lead by Delon Wright.

Prediction: Although Utah is another one of those underrated teams, Duke will win based on the massive amount of talent they have.

Gonzaga vs. UCLA

Gonzaga has had two blowout wins thus far through their first two games of the NCAA tournament. After many questioning if UCLA should have even made the tournament, the Bruins are now sitting in the sweet sixteen. They had a close win against SMU in the first round and a decently big win against UAB in the second. Gonzaga is lead by stretch power forward Kyle Wiltjer, guard Kevin Pangos, center Przemek Karnowski, and Byron Wesley. UCLA is very balanced with five players averaging over 10 points per game. Norman Powell, Ben Alford, Kevon Looney, Tony Parker, and Isaac Hamilton are those players.

Prediction: Although UCLA is hot Gonzaga has so many weapons offensively and will ultimately be to talented for UCLA. Gonzaga forward Kyle Wiltjer was on the 2012 Kentucky team that won the national championship before transferring to Gonzaga.

All of these games will be played Thursday and Friday of this week. Have fun watching.