No. 10 seed Wichita State (30-4) vs. No. 7 Dayton (24-7)
First Round, South region; Indianapolis; 6:10 p.m.
BOTTOM LINE: Wichita State has topped 80 points a school-record 23 times and shoots 40.8 percent from beyond the arc, fourth-best nationally. The Flyers are in the tournament a school-record fourth straight season.
LONG STREAK: The Shockers have won 15 straight, the second-longest streak in school history. Fourteen of the wins have been by at least 15 points.
LOT OF EXPERIENCE: The Flyers won their first Atlantic 10 regular-season title with a roster featuring five seniors.
DID YOU KNOW: The Flyers wear a No. 5 on their jerseys to honor redshirt freshman center Steve McElvene, who died from a heart condition last May.
No. 11 seed K-state (21-13) vs. No. 6 seed Cincinnati (29-5)
First round, South region; Sacramento, California, 6:27 p.m.
BOTTOM LINE: Kansas State got its first trip in five years to the NCAA Tournament off to a good start, knocking off Wake Forest 95-88 in the First Four on Tuesday. That leaves the Wildcats just a day to get ready for the Bearcats, one of the nation’s toughest defensive teams.
PLAYING ANGRY: Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin was not happy with his team’s ranking, believing it should have been lower. He also was not thrilled that his team, despite playing in the South, would have to play in California. Expect that to be a motivating factor for the Bearcats.
PREMIUM ON SCORING: Cincinnati finished fourth nationally in scoring defense at 60.4 points allowed per game and was eighth in shooting percentage, holding opponents to 38.5 percent. Kansas State was 31st nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com, so don’t expect much scoring in this one.
CATS’ CONSISTENCY: The outcome of Friday’s game could depend on which version of K-State’s team shows up. The Wildcats have two wins over Baylor and beat West Virginia, both ranked teams, yet lost by 30 to Oklahoma, the Big 12’s ninth-place team.
No. 1 seed Kansas (28-4) vs. No. 16 seed UC Davis (23-12)
First Round, Midwest Region, Tulsa, Okla.; 5:50 p.m. ET.
BOTTOM LINE: Anything less than a comfortable two games this weekend and advancing to the Sweet 16 would be a disappointment for the top-seeded Jayhawks, beginning with their first-round NCAA Tournament game against the 16th-seeded Aggies.
AGGIE REBOUND: After finishing 11-19 last season, UC Davis reached its first NCAA Tournament by winning the Big West Conference Tournament championship over UC Irvine, seven days after losing by 30 points to the Anteaters. The Aggies then defeated North Carolina Central in the First Four on Wednesday night to advance to Friday.
DID YOU KNOW: Led by senior guard Frank Mason’s 20.8 points per game, Kansas enters the tournament 16th in the country with an average of 82.7 points per game. That’s tied for the highest scoring average in coach Bill Self’s 14 seasons, matching the 2002-03 team that averaged the same.
