The Tar Heels, who failed to even make the NCAA tournament in 2010, will have to get past Marquette. The last time these two teams met in the NCAA tourney was in the 1977 championship game, which the Golden Eagles won 67-59.
Another team looking to make the present different from the past is No. 4 Kentucky. The Wildcats will face No. 1 OSU, a team Kentucky is 0-5 against in NCAA tournament play.
The Richmond Spiders are the lowest seeded team still alive in the tourney, and they will have the biggest task ahead of them come Friday night as they’ll have their hands full with the Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas last played in the Alamodome in 2008, when they won the national championship.
Here’s a preview of the four Friday night matchups that will finalize which teams will be in the Elite Eight (all times ET).
East
No. 11 Marquette vs. No. 2 University of North Carolina (-5)
Prudential Center, Newark, NJ, 7:15 p.m.
One thing to watch: It will be the Tar Heels’ freshmen trio — Harrison Barnes, Kendall Marshall and Reggie Bullock — versus three of the five Golden Eagles’ former junior college players — Darius Johnson-Odom, Dwight Buycks and Jimmy Butler. Barnes is UNC’s leading-scorer and Johnson-Odom is Marquette’s.
No. 1 Ohio State University (-6) vs. No. 4 University of Kentucky
Prudential Center, Newark, NJ, 9:45 p.m.
One thing to watch: The Wildcats have outstanding freshmen in Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones. Knight is averaging 17.5 points and 4.2 assists per game, while Lamb and Jones have both had games where they scored more than 30 points — albeit in the regular season. To rival the youth of UK, the Buckeyes’ have three great seniors in David Lighty, Jon Diebler and Dallas Lauderdale, and one exceptional freshman in Jared Sullinger who consistently puts up a double-double.
Southwest
No. 1 Kansas University (-10.5) vs. No. 12 Richmond
Alamodome, San Antonio, TX, 7:27 p.m.
One thing to watch: The Morris brothers: Markieff averages 13.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, while Marcus averages 17.3 points and 7.4 points per game. The brothers and their heavily-favored Jayhawks team will face off against the Spiders and senior forward Justin Harper, who averages 17.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.
No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth University vs. No. 10 Florida State (-4)
Alamodome, San Antonio, TX, 9:57 p.m.
One thing to watch: Junior guard Bradford Burgess is leading the Rams with 14.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, but Burgess and the VCU team will be facing the Seminoles who lead the nation in field goal defense. Helping out FSU’s defense will be ACC Defensive Player of the Year Chris Singleton, who has played in the last two games, but is just now getting back to regular form after having arthroscopic surgery in February on his broken right foot.
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