The NCAA Men’s college basketball Tournament springs forward to the ‘Sweet-16’ Thursday in 4 regional sites without the defending national Champion Villanova, and a pair of #2 seeds, both Duke and Louisville,
who  were eliminated.

Coming up Thursday, top seed Gonzaga of the West region will face 4th seed West Virginia at 430p in Santa Clara as the Zags gun for their first Final-4 showing in school history. That game will be followed by #2 seed Arizona meeting 11th seed Xavier at 7pm.

Meantime, in Kansas City Thursday, Oregon advances to the Midwest regional semifinals and greets Michigan at 4:09pm here on KBND.
 
The Ducks rallied late to beat Rhode Island in Sacramento yesterday, 75-72. Tyler Dorsey dropped a 3-ball with 38-seconds to play to secure the win sending Oregon, 31-5, to the Sweet-16 for the third time in 5-years.

#1 overall seed Kansas plays Purdue in the other Midwest regional semifinal after Oregon’s game.

UCLA advances to the South Regional semis as the Bruins beat Cincinnati, 79-67. UCLA takes on Kentucky Friday at 630pm, after North Carolina faces Butler.

USC bows out of the big dance losing to Baylor, 82-78 in the East where South Carolina closed out Duke and will meet Baylor Friday, and Wisconsin tangles with the Gators of Florida.

The Dancing Queens of Oregon State, the 3-time Pac-12 Women’s Champion, are back in the Sweet-16 after the Beavers defeated Creighton, 64-52 in Corvallis yesterday. OSU, 31-and-4, meets Florida State in Stockton Saturday. Today, Oregon meets #2 seed Duke.

Back to Men’s hoops and the N-I-T, Boise State, featuring Mt. View graduate James Reid, plays at Illinois State tonight at 6pm on ESPN.