NCAA Tournament 2018: Friday's Sweet 16 Winners and Losers

There was no bigger winner Friday night in the NCAA Tournament than Texas Tech, which not so long ago was a Big 12 doormat, and which is now headed for the first Elite Eight game in school history. 

The Red Raiders' win over Purdue was mild upset by seed, but the rest of the games were all chalk, with Kansas, Duke, and Villanova all moving on to join Kansas State, Loyola-Chicago, Florida State and Michigan. 

It was a big night for the big boys, and these were the biggest winners and losers. 

Winner: Silvio De Sousa

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

It has been noted before, but it bears repeating that Silvio De Sousa was in high school when this season began. Kansas has been desperate for big men all season, especially after McDonald's All-American Billy Preston got stuck in NCAA mud and left to play overseas.

De Sousa got himself eligible and joined Kansas for the second semester. His early performances were clumsy, but by the end of the season, he had bloomed into the kind of guy that will reliably get you offensive rebounds and can really, really finish on the break.

Like West Virginia in the Big 12 tournament, Clemson got physical with De Sousa, who took a shove to the head from Elijah Thomas. Standing alone at the line after a flagrant foul call, De Sousa hit two foul shots with a minute left in the first half, putting Kansas up 37-27. After the free throws, Lagerald Vick hit a three to put the Jayhawks up 13 at halftime. 

De Sousa was KU's only big man to come off the bench, finishing with nine points, six rebounds and a blocked shot. It was another huge moment in what has already been a huge March for a guy who would otherwise be in high school. 

Loser: Clemson's Defense

Nati Harnik/Associated Press

Defense is the key to Clemson's whole season, and that defense (especially at the three-point line) was the only reason anybody was picking the Tigers to upset the top-seeded Jayhawks in the Sweet 16. 

Clemson did that part of it well enough, holding Kansas to a 4-of-13 first half from the arc. But KU led 40-27 at halftime, and the Tigers had no answer for Kansas center Udoka Azubuike. "Doke," as he's affectionately known, went 5-of-6 from the field, leading his team in scoring with 10 at the break.

The Jayhawks also outscored Clemson 26-12 in the paint. 

The Tigers defense was wobbly then, but it totally collapsed in the opening minutes of the second half, when Kansas buried a couple of threes and took a 20-point lead with 18 minutes left. 

It forced Clemson into a zone. 

Winner: Villanova

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Villanova got a great challenge from a physical West Virginia team, but in the end, the No. 1 seed did what No. 1 seeds are supposed to do, dispatching the lesser Mountaineers with cold detachment. 

The Wildcats led by two at halftime, withstood a big run by West Virginia and then reclaimed control in the final six minutes. 

Player of the Year candidate Jalen Brunson scored 27 points, and Villanova as a whole shot 50.0 percent from the field, went 13-of-24 from the three-point line and held West Virginia to 38.6 percent from the field. 

It was a mature performance from a mature team headed to its second Elite Eight since 2016. 

Loser: West Virginia's System

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

For all the success West Virginia has had under Bob Huggins, and as great of a challenge as it is to face the Mountaineers' pressure defense and wild rebounding, there is legitimate criticism of the style: It cannot coexist with offensive play on the level required to win it all. 

Since 2005, West Virginia has 11 NCAA tournament appearances, including seven Sweet 16 runs, but it has just one Elite Eight appearance and one Final Four. 

Certainly this is nothing to scoff at. But this was at one time thought to be a different kind of West Virginia team, a more talented one, that could score when it counted. It was ranked second in the country at midseason but succumbed in Big 12 play to the same problem that eventually got the Mountaineers against Villanova. 

They couldn't shoot. 

Winner: The Big 12

Mary Schwalm/Associated Press

This wasn't thought to be one of the Big 12's strongest years but, lo and behold, it has three of the eight teams left in this tournament after Kansas and Texas Tech joined Kansas State in the Elite Eight. 

West Virginia, on the other hand, fell out. 

Those four teams accounted for the top four finishers in the conference, which Kansas won by two games. Head-to-head, Kansas also has the edge. The Jayhawks beat Kansas State three times and went 1-1 against Texas Tech, which beat Kansas State twice. 

So as far as the Big 12 teams are concerned, the ninth-seeded Wildcats remain the major underdog, if such a thing really exists at this point. 

Loser: Purdue's Senior Class

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Purdue's seniors—Isaac Haas, Vincent Edwards, P.J. Thompson and Dakota Mathias—had won 104 games in their four years and taken the program to heights not seen in decades. For a long stretch of this season, Purdue looked like a team with all the makings of a national champion. 

Maybe in another dimension that's the case, but in this one, center Isaac Haas was out with a fractured elbow. Texas Tech scored 78 points, and the Boilermakers' bid for their first Elite Eight since 2000 fell short. 

It was the second year in a row Purdue's season ended in the Sweet 16. Last year it was to Kansas, and this year it was to another Big 12 school. 

The Boilermakers defended the Red Raiders well enough, but they committed 17 turnovers and were outrebounded, 34-30. 

Winner: Duke

Nati Harnik/Associated Press

Well, it's another tough March for Duke haters. The Blue Devils held off Syracuse 69-65 on Friday night, and, oh look, here the Blue Devils are in the Elite Eight for the fourth time this decade. 

It came on the strength of another monster performance by freshman big man Marvin Bagley III. He scored 22 points on 12 shots and got seven rebounds, bailing out the Blue Devils on a night they shot 5-of-26 from the three-point line.

Grayson Allen had a particularly rough night, missing 11 of his 14 three-point attempts. Freshman guard Trevon Duval went 1-of-7, and when you threw in Gary Trent Jr. (5-of-13), the starting Duke perimeter went 10-of-35. 

And yet it didn't matter because the Blue Devils, like it or not, are pretty reliable this time of year. 

Loser: Low Seeds

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Many nights in the NCAA tournament feature dramatic upsets. Other nights are like Friday, when the only upset was third-seeded Texas Tech over second-seeded Purdue. 

Otherwise it was No. 1 Kansas over No. 5 Clemson, No. 2 Duke over No. 11 Syracuse and No. 1 Villanova over No. 5 West Virginia. 

Tournament history would have been a good predictor of such. A fifth seed has never won the national title, and No. 11 seeds have only made the Final Four three times.