The men’s Sweet 16 begins on Thursday as the first four spots in the Elite Eight will be booked. The winners of Thursday’s NCAA tournament games will play Saturday evening for the chance to go to the Final Four.
Three of the four No. 1 seeds made it through opening weekend. No. 9 Iowa knocked off the other one, Florida, in the biggest upset of the tournament. The Hawkeyes now take on Nebraska, with Illinois and Houston waiting on the other side of the bracket.
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The other unlikely Sweet 16 entrant is No. 11 Texas, which made it through from the First Four and into the second weekend after wins over NC State, BYU and Gonzaga. The Longhorns face No. 2 Purdue while No. 4 Arkansas plays No. 1 Arizona.
Follow all of Thursday’s Sweet 16 action below (all times are Eastern).
March Madness schedule, odds, channel guideLive16 updatesThu, March 26, 2026 at 4:10 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 4:32 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
At the 10-minute mark, the Longhorns have a small lead. Tramon Mark has 12 early points for Texas; Trey Kaufman-Renn has 8 points and 4 rebounds for Purdue.
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 4:31 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
Our second Sweet 16 matchup is here as these two Big Ten teams face off in the South regional in Houston.
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 4:28 PM PDT
Nick Bromberg
We got our own version of TV timeout, kickoff, TV timeout in San Jose.
Since it took so long for the first TV timeout of the game to happen, the second TV timeout is happening right after a free throw by Texas’ Matas Vokietaitis.
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 4:27 PM PDT
Ben Fawkes
Purdue closed as an 8.5-point favorite and the betting public was all over the Boilermakers to cover, with nearly 80% of the money on Purdue at BetMGM.
A good start here for Texas backers — and the sportsbooks.
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 4:22 PM PDT
Nick Bromberg
Texas made seven straight shots before the first TV timeout … which came more than nine minutes into the game. These teams were gassed.
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 4:21 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
These two teams are playing at a breakneck pace to this point. There hasn’t been a stoppage in play in the first 9 minutes:
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 4:15 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
The Purdue sharpshooter is wasting no time early and has two 3-pointers in the opening 70 seconds of the game.
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 4:11 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
We have tipped off in the West regional matchup between No. 11 Texas and No. 2 Purdue.
Jordan Pope is in the starting lineup for the Longhorns despite a lower right leg injury.
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 3:05 PM PDT
Jeff Eisenberg
Last November, 365 Division I men’s college basketball teams began the season with dreams of advancing to the NCAA tournament’s second week. The 16 still alive all have one thing in common: They each hail from a power conference.
Six are from the Big Ten, raising the possibility that league could finally end its 26-year national title drought. Four are from the SEC, though regular season champion Florida surprisingly is not among them. Three are from the Big 12. UConn and St. John’s hail from the Big East. And Duke is the ACC’s lone team left standing.
Who has a chance to climb ladders and cut down the nets in Indianapolis? Here’s a look at how I’d rank this year’s Sweet 16 from most likely to least likely to win the national championship.
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 2:50 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
This isn’t Sweet 16 talk, but since the North Carolina job just opened, here’s a list of potential coaching candidates the Tar Heels could go after.
Will UNC be able to pull somebody like Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd or Michigan’s Dusty May?
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 2:35 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
Every March Madness provides a stage for prospects to separate themselves. One good run and a late-first can become a late-lottery pick. One bad weekend and the question marks won’t go away.
With the Sweet 16 set to begin on Thursday, here are four prospects — one from each bracket — that will be interesting to watch this weekend.
Read the story from Kevin O’Connor right here.
Click the photo above to read the story. (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports)
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 2:20 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
Midnight came early again for Cinderella. All 16 teams that advanced to the second week of this year’s NCAA tournament hail from one of the five power conferences.
So, what gives? Why is March Madness becoming less mad? Why are the NCAA tournament’s giants swatting aside the giant slayers more consistently than they did just a few years ago? Jeff Eisenberg and Dan Wolken of Yahoo Sports examined what’s behind this trend and offer differing theories.
Click on the photo above to read the story. (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports illustration)
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 2:06 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
All it takes is one March Madness game for a player to stamp their name into NCAA tournament lore forever.
Who has gone off in this year’s tournament so far? Hint: The highest single-game point scorer plays on Thursday night.
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 1:54 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
The first rounds of March Madness saw plenty of favorites win — all 16 favored teams won on Friday for the first time since 1992 — but also its share of upsets (see: Iowa beating No. 1 Florida).
What’s in store for the Sweet 16?
Let the Yahoo Sports betting team break down the best bets.
Thu, March 26, 2026 at 1:46 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports Staff
Good evening folks and welcome to our live tracker for Thursday’s Sweet 16 games!
We still have a couple hours before tip-off of the first game of the day, but there’s plenty going on around the sport to catch up on.