Eighth seeded Kentucky, which finished second in the SEC tournament, slid by the the unbeaten Wichita 78 to 76 on Sunday evening to advance to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament, and defending NCAA champion Louisville out did Saint Louis Saturday afternoon 66 to 51 to win a spot too.
The rival teams in a state with no notable professional sports where college basketball and football reign will face off in Indianapolis on Friday at 9: 45 Eastern Time to determine which team will advance to the the Midwest Regional Finals. And if March means madness at all it is on in the state of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky Wildcats beat the University of Louisville Cardinals in the final four four years ago and went on to win the NCAA championship.
Under the leadership of Head Coach Rick Pitino (shown hugging his players after the NCAA win last year), the Cardinal's defeated the Michigan Wolverines 82 to 76 last year at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to take home the NCAA Championship. It was the third all-time championship win in the school's history. Whether Pitino can pull off a win on Friday remains to be seen. The last NCAA championship win before that was in 1986 under then Louisville Head Coach Denny Crum.
The Wildcats, led by Head Coach John Calapari since 2009, have won eight NCAA championships, the last time in 2012 after beating the Kansas Jayhawks 67 to 59.
Both Pitino and Calapari are high paid NCAA coaches with Calapari earning $5.5 million annually, plus bonuses, and Pitino $3.9 million a year, plus bonuses.
The University of Dayton Flyers is the only Ohio team to make the Sweet 16 this year, after upsetting the Ohio State Buckeyes Thursday afternoon . The Dayton Flyers will face the Stanford University Cardinals in Memphis, Tennessee Thursday evening. Standard beat Kansas on Sunday in Round 32 of the NCAA to advance to the Sweet 16 Tournament.
Others teams in the Sweet 16 are are Florida and UCLA, Arizona and San Diego State, Baylor and Wisconsin, Michigan and Tennessee, Virginia and Michigan State and Connecticut and Iowa State
