March Madness 2017: Complete Sweet 16 Schedule, Updated Bracket and More

College basketball fans needed this three-day break.

If you tuned into the First Four play-in games, it was all hoops, all day from Tuesday through Sunday last week. The yearly basketball buffet is always over-the-top satisfying, and this rest allows for digestion.

Sweet 16 action starts cooking again on Thursday with the No. 3-seeded Oregon Ducks trying to slow down the No. 7-seeded Michigan Wolverines, a team with Cinderella potential.

You'll find the rest of the schedule below, along with a few players to keep an eye on.

Schedule

Matchup	Date	Game Site	Time (ET)	Network
Thursday
(3) Oregon vs. (7) Michigan	March 23	Kansas City	7:09 p.m.	CBS
(1) Gonzaga vs. (4) West Virginia	March 23	San Jose	7:39 p.m.	TBS
(1) Kansas vs. (4) Purdue	March 23	Kansas City	9:39 p.m.	CBS
(2) Arizona vs. (11) Xavier	March 23	San Jose	10:09 p.m.	TBS
Friday
Matchup	Date	Game Site	Time (ET)	Network
(1) North Carolina vs. (4) Butler	March 24	Memphis	7:09 p.m.	CBS
(3) Baylor vs. (7) South Carolina	March 24	New York	7:29 p.m.	TBS
(2) Kentucky vs. (3) UCLA	March 24	Memphis	9:39 p.m.	CBS
(4) Florida vs. (8) Wisconsin	March 24	New York	10:09 p.m.	TBS

Bracket

Players to watch

Caleb Swanigan

Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Purdue Boilermakers center Caleb Swanigan gives new meaning to the term "big man."

And not in a negative way.

According to ESPN.com's Myron Medcalf, the 250-pound sophomore is down from 360 pounds, a mark he reached the summer before eighth grade.

Medcalf's whole feature is worth reading; it looks back on an unfathomably tough upbringing, which included spurts of homelessness in Indianapolis and Utah with six siblings, a single mother and a cocaine-addicted father.

Only a handful of years later, Swanigan has emerged from the ashes and become a full-blown star at Purdue.

The 6'9" Big Ten Player of the Year averaged 18.5 points, 12.6 boards and 3.0 assists heading into March Madness, and he's actually upped his production in the Big Dance.

In Purdue's two tourney wins, Swanigan has poured in an average of 18 points, 13 rebounds and an impressive 5.5 dimes.

Against an Iowa State Cyclones team that simply refused to die in the second round, Swanigan, nicknamed "Biggie," dropped 20 points, 12 boards and seven assists while splashing 3-of-6 threes.

The Boilermakers get the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks on Thursday, and an upset seems plausible. Bill Self has no one capable of containing Biggie—but then again, who does?—down low. If Swanigan continues to dominate all facets of the game, as he did against Iowa State, Purdue could eventually find itself Final Four-bound.

That's only possible if the potentially NBA-bound big guy takes over.

Nigel Hayes

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Nigel Hayes took his leap in his sophomore season as Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker led the Wisconsin Badgers the national title game before falling to the Duke Blue Devils.

Bo Ryan retired and Greg Gard took over. In Gard's first year, the Badgers reached the Sweet 16 and Hayes took another step forward as a full-blown stud.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

This season has been more of the same.

After a back-and-forth nail-biter, it was Hayes who buried the tournament's No. 1 seeded—and reigning champion—Villanova Wildcats on Saturday:

This was no coincidence. The Badgers, who drew a No. 8 seed in the East region, were badly underseeded.

CBS Sports' Jerry Palm thought they were dealt the most unfortunate hand of all 68 teams:

"

Wisconsin was the committee's most underseeded team (yes, I know Wichita is higher rated than some NBA teams in Kenpom). Nova paid for it

— Jerry Palm (@jppalmCBS) March 18, 2017"

ESPN insider Fran Fraschilla seemed to think Villanova, forced to play a potential-packed No. 8 seed, was the real victim:

If the Badgers are to contend for a Final Four berth in a wide-open region with top seeds Villanova and Duke eliminated, it will be Hayes who carries them. Through two games, he's averaging 17.5 points and nine rebounds while shooting 48 percent from the field.

Hayes is easily the most experienced player left in the field, and Wisconsin has reason to believe that can translate into another deep run.