March Madness Schedule 2015: Sweet 16 Bracket, Matchups, Game Times and TV Info

Exhale—the madness takes a hiatus with the Sweet 16 on approach.

There's a brief resting period for fans bored to tears by Friday's action before the weekend sent shock waves around the globe thanks to jarring upsets.

Gone is Villanova in the East, as is second-seeded Virginia. In the Midwest, the Wichita State Shockers, well, shocked second-seeded Kansas.

Those highlights are just the beginning, though, as the final 16 teams are sure to make things even more interesting—hence the rest period.

Below, let's take a look at the pertinent info surrounding the Sweet 16.

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2015 Sweet 16 Schedule

	Thursday
	Friday
Time (ET)	Matchup	TV	Pick
7:15 p.m.	No. 3 Notre Dame vs. No. 7 Wichita State	CBS	Notre Dame
7:47 p.m.	No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 8 North Carolina	TBS	Wisconsin
9:45 p.m.	No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 5 West Virginia	CBS	Kentucky
10:17 p.m.	No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 6 Xavier	TBS	Arizona
7:15 p.m.	No. 2 Gonzaga vs. No. 11 UCLA	CBS	Gonzaga
7:37 p.m.	No. 4 Louisville vs. No. 8 North Carolina State	TBS	NC State
9:45 p.m.	No. 1 Duke vs. No. 5 Utah	CBS	Duke
10:07 p.m.	No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 7 Michigan State	TBS	MSU

Top Matchups to Watch 

No. 4 Louisville vs. No. 8 North Carolina State

It's like the bracket just begs for a Tom Izzo-Rick Pitino showdown.

The latter's team, ranking 21st in ESPN's RPI rankings, just escaped UC Irvine in 57-55 fashion before taking care of business against Northern Iowa, 66-53.

Big-game shakiness out of the way, Louisville next encounters North Carolina State, 40th in RPI, after the Wolfpack pulled off the stunning upset of top-seeded Villanova thanks to domination on the glass in 45-32 fashion.

Team	ADJ OFF	ADJ DEF
Louisville	74	5
NC State	27	85

As the efficiency rankings at KenPom.com show, the dominoes set up a bit of a war of strengths.

Trevor Lacey (15.7 points per game) and NC State most times get whatever they want on the offensive end of the court, averaging 70.4 points per game and also ranking among the top 31 teams in the nation at 37.8 rebounds.

Case in point: a 74-65 road upset of these same Cardinals in mid-February, then ranked No. 9 in the nation. There, three Wolfpack starters scored in double digits, and the team won the battle on the boards 47-37.

Given Louisville's sluggish start and struggles against this same Wolfpack team now on a red-hot tear, look for rebounds to make the difference. The edge goes to NC State and ruins more than a few dream matchups further on in the bracket.

Prediction: NC State 70, Louisville 68

No. 1 Duke vs. No. 5 Utah

So much for Mike Krzyzewski's team struggling with consistency or a defensive-minded San Diego State team.

Duke laughed the Aztecs out of the building in the third round behind 26 points from Jahlil Okafor in the 68-49 romp. The Blue Devils shot 54.5 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from deep, earning praise from the legendary coach himself.

"They're together," Krzyzewski said, per The Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "We have talent, we're getting older by experience, and so we just—we got better here these two games."

As great as Duke looks, there's no reason to overlook Utah. The Utes survived what seemed to be everyone's favorite upset pick in a second-round clash with Stephen F. Austin before upsetting Georgetown.

Not only are the Utes on a streak, they rank seventh in adjusted defensive efficiency at KenPom.com, the ideal counter to Duke's No. 2 rank in adjusted offensive efficiency.

There's a reason analysts such as ESPN's Jeff Borzello are so excited for the matchup:

If forced to pick a winner, it's impossible to go against Duke, though.

An off night in shooting happens to any team, but the Blue Devils haven't shot worse than 45 percent from the floor in more than a month and change. Okafor is a nightmare matchup for any opponent, including Utah's Jakob Poeltl.

Prediction: Duke 74, Utah 70

No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 7 Michigan State

Izzo's Michigan State Spartans entered the tournament as perhaps the most obvious sleeper.

Not to suggest the path looked easy—far from it—but because an Izzo-coached team is always a contender, like it or not.

The Spartans first held strong against a pesky Georgia team out of the SEC before taking down Virginia by six points, a Cavaliers team with just three losses entering the bracket.

There, guard Travis Trice put the Spartans on his back and scored a game-high 23 points, while the stifling Michigan State defense caused the Cavaliers to shoot 29.8 percent from the floor and 2-of-17 from deep.

Expect nothing short of a defensive battle in the Sweet 16 when Michigan State collides with Oklahoma. The Sooners rank sixth in KenPom.com's defensive efficiency rankings and held both of their first two opponents in the bracket to 66 points or less.

Izzo won't have much of a problem drawing up a game plan to counteract the Sooners. Junior Buddy Hield leads Oklahoma in scoring at 17.3 points per game, but if he's off, the team has serious issues pulling out wins.

Look for Michigan State to center its attack on Hield while senior Branden Dawson dominates the glass, giving the Spartans another upset and a ticket to the Elite Eight.

Prediction: Michigan State 64, Oklahoma 60

Stats and info are courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.