NCAA Brackets 2015: Updated Schedule and Predictions After Thursday's Sweet 16

After a midweek hiatus between rounds, March Madness resumed Thursday with Day 1 of the Sweet 16. After the round's first slate of game's, half of the Elite Eight has been penciled in, with the remainder to be figured out Friday as the Sweet 16 wraps up. 

Friday features a matchup involving the lowest remaining seed, when No. 11 UCLA takes on No. 2 Gonzaga in Houston. Duke will attempt to continue its run following that contest on the same court when they face Utah. NC State will battle Louisville, and Oklahoma will scrap Michigan State in the evening's final tilt.

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Game	Time (ET)	TV	Prediction
(11) UCLA vs. (2) Gonzaga	7:15 p.m.	CBS	Gonzaga
(8) NC State vs. (4) Louisville	7:37 p.m.	TBS	Louisville
(1) Duke vs. (5) Utah	9:45 p.m.	CBS	Duke
(3) Oklahoma vs. (7) Michigan State	10:07 p.m.	TBS	Michigan State

Game	Date	Prediction
(1) Kentucky vs. (3) Notre Dame	Saturday, March 28	Kentucky
(1) Wisconsin vs. (2) Arizona	Saturday, March 28	Wisconsin

Sweet 16 Day 2 Predictions

(8) NC State vs. (4) Louisville

Days removed from becoming the first team of this year's tournament to knock off a No. 1 seed, NC State has to be feeling good about its matchup with Louisville. After all, the Cardinals barely managed to escape UC Irvine in their first game, winning by just two, and advanced to the Sweet 16 by beating UNI of the Missouri Valley Conference. 

But the reason this one is so difficult to predict is the Wolfpack's inconsistency all year long. The team defeated North Carolina on Feb. 24 only to lose its next game four days later, to Boston College by 16. It lost by five to Miami on Jan. 22, by four to Wake Forest on Feb. 3, then came within four points of knocking off Virginia, No. 2 in the country on Feb. 11.

NC State sported the 64th-best offense in the country, but it will be going up against a Louisville team that finished with the seventh-best defense. The Cardinals haven't allowed more than 76 points in a game this season—a number that NC State has eclipsed 12 times. 

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

In the sides' one meeting this season, Louisville gave up 74 to the Wolfpack, and State went on to win by nine—Louisville's fifth loss of the season. But as Jeff Greer of The Courier-Journal writes, the team's defending has improved since:

"

Nothing about that performance indicated Louisville (26-8) would still be playing into the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, but it is a reminder of how far the Cardinals have come in the last five weeks.

"Our defense is definitely not how it was last year or in previous years," sophomore guard Terry Rozier said. "He had every right to be frustrated ... (but) we've come a long way.

"

In that game, Terry Rozier was held to seven points on 3-of-11 shooting. He's averaging 16.5 and six assists over two tournament games, shooting better than 60 percent. 

The Wolfpack came out successful in these teams' only prior meeting in 2015, but their inconsistency, combined with Louisville's improvements since that contest, make the Cardinals a favorite in this one. 

Prediction: Louisville 74, NC State 70

(3) Oklahoma vs. (7) Michigan State

Oklahoma has gotten through to the Sweet 16, but possibly only because of its favorable seeding. Its first matchup against 14th-seeded Albany of the America East was closer than the 69-60 final score insinuates—the Great Danes clawed to within five points in the closing minutes. Against a team with just one rotation player taller than 6'7", TaShawn Thomas was able to bang his 240-pound frame for easy buckets down low, helping OU escape a second straight first-round exit. 

The Sooners' next test was against No. 11 Dayton of the A-10—which was possibly the only team in the tourney smaller than Albany, without any players above 6'6". Coming away with a seven-point victory, Oklahoma used its size advantage on the boards to help tack on a few extra possessions—which they needed, as the Flyers shot roughly the same percentage from the floor and outshot them from three.

Against the Spartans, a team with more size than OU's previous opponents, the Sooners may not have the advantage they've grown accustomed to. 

Michigan State's hot right now, days after knocking off second-seeded Arizona—and they may have a weakness OU can't match up with. B/R's Kerry Miller explains:

"

[H]ere's the question Oklahoma needs to figure out before then: Who slows down Denzel Valentine?

Valentine (6'5", 220 lbs) isn't quite as physically imposing as Iowa State's Georges Niang (6'8", 230 lbs), but they have a similar point-forward-with-three-point-range type of offensive game. In Iowa State's two wins over Oklahoma, Niang averaged 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. The Sooners simply didn't have an answer for him.

"

Tom Izzo's Spartans are surging, and when his teams are making a run, being on the opposing bench is never an easy task. Oklahoma's matchup luck may have run out. 

Prediction: Michigan State 78, Oklahoma 71