As soon as Selection Sunday passed, four teams appeared in the majority of brackets submitted for the Midwest’s Sweet 16 according to yahoo and facebook brackets. Kansas, along with Clemson, Wisconsin and Georgetown, had become the popular picks, with the occasional guesses of Vanderbilt, USC or Kansas State. Now, about a week later, the Sweet 16 has been determined, with the upstart pair of Wildcats in Villanova and Davidson, the pride of the Big Ten, Wisconsin, and the favorite, Kansas. While this foursome is filled with surprises, it will in no way be a cakewalk to the Final Four for the Jayhawks.

Many thought Villanova was undeserving of a spot in the Big Dance, taking away a spot that should have gone to Arizona State or Virginia Tech. As the lowest at-large berth, they matched up with the Clemson Tigers; a squad that beat Duke and threatened Tyler Hansbrough and North Carolina three times this year. They were a reason why many pundits labeled the ACC the best conference, as a main criticism had been the lack of depth outside of Duke and North Carolina. And in the first half, Clemson was up by as many as eighteen.

However, whatever halftime speech Clemson coach Oliver Purnell made most likely found itself in the trash, and Villanova came back for the unprecedented upset. They stuck to their game plan, which had come under scrutiny in the first half, and won the game by making foul shots, allowing no easy baskets and relying on star player Scottie Reynolds. They then rode that momentum into a game against Siena, in which Villanova never trailed.

Villanova is a guard-oriented offense under coach Jay Wright, just as they were two years ago when they ran the well-publicized four-guard offense with future pros Kyle Lowry and Randy Foye. That year they were a number-one seed and lost in the Elite Eight to eventual champion Florida.

This year, the Wildcats do not have as good a team as they had two years ago, but they are still a threat. The 12-seed is indicative not so much of their talent level, but of the losses they have amassed as a young team in a difficult conference. As a team devoid of a senior and with ten different players who have two or more starts, stability was difficult to come by.

A five-game losing streak including a loss to Rutgers and a 20-point blowout against St. Joseph’s reflected this, as did earlier losses to programs such as North Carolina State and DePaul. As they collected themselves as a team, they added victories against Pittsburgh, Connecticut and West Virginia to their resumes, and they lost by one in an extremely controversial game against Georgetown in which a touch foul 70 feet from the basket was called with 0.1 seconds remaining, leading to Georgetown’s winning free throws.

Since digging a 36-18 hole against Clemson in the first round, Villanova has outscored its opponents by a total of 36 points. The Wildcats have found their identity in their renewed strong guard play and their defense. Reynolds is playing like an All-American as a sophomore and they found the ability to calm a hot Siena team, which ran over Vanderbilt like a Hummer over a possum.

Looking ahead to potential Elite Eight matchups sees two looming teams in Wisconsin and Davidson. Wisconsin won the Big Ten, and Davidson has won 24 consecutive games, the best streak in the NCAA. Though at times the Big Ten appeared to be a conference where interesting and high-scoring basketball went to die, it was still a competitive major conference. Wisconsin’s defense is its claim to fame, holding offenses like Indiana to 49 points and Michigan State to 42. The Badgers shut down Kansas State’s pride and joy, Michael Beasley, in the second half, most likely ending Beasley’s short yet dominating NCAA career. They have also won 12 in a row and own an early season victory over Texas.

Meanwhile, Davidson has been compared to George Mason as an underdog who could make a run to the Final Four. Their decorated star Stephen Curry looks like a 15-year-old, but as soon as you underestimate him, he scores 30.

As a team that starts no one over 6-foot-8, they held Georgetown’s giant, Roy Hibbert, to six points and caused him to foul out. Not only can they score at will, as evidenced by 47 points tallied in the second half, but during a 10-minute stretch in the second half, they held Georgetown to four points. They are not new to playing accomplished teams either, for although their conference opponents were not exactly stimulating, they played Duke, North Carolina, and UCLA respectably early in the year.

Any Kansas fan who believes a ticket to the Final Four is virtually punched will be biting their fingernails during the next one or two games. The teams are talented and itching to beat the favorite. I recommend waiting before buying a ticket to San Antonio and realizing that although Kansas is the favorite to come out of the Midwest, this team should not be complacent. After all, stranger things than a Kansas loss have happened already in the first weekend.

— Edited by Daniel Reyes