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Favorites dominate to set up a pair of 1 vs. 2 Elite Eight showdowns

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The way things left off in this NCAA tournament—with Wisconsin’s buzzer-beating three against Xavier, just after Texas A&M completed the greatest last-minute comeback in college basketball history—the roughly 90-hour break before the Sweet 16 tipped off seemed particularly long. The second round had largely bucked the first’s embrace of the underdog, but the upside to that was that the first four games of the Sweet 16 would be loaded with firepower.