Sweet 16 Power Rankings and Predictions

Culture

The Sweet 16 starts up Thursday night with four games: Indiana-Syracuse, Marquette-Miami, Ohio State-Arizona, and Wichita State-LaSalle. Friday will see Louisville-Oregon, Michigan State-Duke, Kansas-Michigan, and Florida-Florida Gulf Coast. 

You can find a schedule here, but first check out, for the first time ever, the PolicyMic Sweet 16 Power Rankings:

1. Florida Gulf Coast

2. Florida Gulf Coast

3. Florida Gulf Coast

4. Florida Gulf Coast

5. Florida Gulf Coast

Whoops, wrong list. This is the right one, sorry about that:

1. Louisville - Will most likely be your NCAA Champion. 

2. Indiana - Will most likely be beaten in your NCAA Title game.

3. Ohio State - Ohio State barely escaped their second round match-up with Iowa State, but their bracket is cake (according to these PolicyMic power rankings, the West has three of the five worst teams left in the tournament). 

4. Duke - People seem to keep forgetting that Duke has only lost one game with Ryan Kelly in the line-up.

5. Kansas - Less than impressive in their two games the first weekend of the tournament, but Jeff Withey is playing inspired basketball and doesn't seem like he's going to let his team lose. 

6. Florida - Also played less than impressive basketball all weekend, but with such talent, they have a great shot at taking out FGCU and Kansas or Michigan to make the Final Four.

7. Michigan - The Wolverines might have played their best game of the year in their win over VCU on Saturday, if they continue playing at that high level, they could beat Kansas.

8. Miami - Winning is all that matters, and with a fortuitous call by the refs along with the clutch shooting of Larkin, Miami won. They have the talent to keep going, and should make the Elite 8 to face a tough Indiana team.

9. Michigan State - Talk about a tough bracket, Michigan State would love being in the West right now, but instead have to face Duke and most likely Louisville to make the Final Four. I love the Spartans, but that might be asking too much.

10. Syracuse - They strolled through Montana before struggling with Cal. Their zone is not likely to be successful against Indiana.

11. Marquette - Two squeakers for wins, but Marquette is still dancing. Athletic Miami will probably be too much.

12. Arizona - They luckily faced a cold shooting Belmont team and an over-matched Harvard squad to make it here. If they can beat Ohio State, taking out Wichita State or LaSalle wouldn't be too difficult for a spot in the Final Four.

13. Florida Gulf Coast - Dunk City. Let's Keep the dream alive.

14. Wichita State - Beating a 1-seed should be more impressive. But it was Gonzaga, and no one was that surprised by the early exit from the Zags. They do have a nice match-up against LaSalle to reach the Elite 8, but mighty Ohio State will likely be waiting for them there.

15. Oregon - The Ducks are good and fun to watch. But good and fun to watch does nothing for you against Louisville.

16. LaSalle - It was fun while it lasted LaSalle.

Taking these rankings into consideration, it looks like Louisville, Indiana, Ohio State, and Kansas will be your Final Four this year. But doubtful that it will go down that way.