Here in the Sweet 16, there’s a growing sense of the magnitude of the possibilities ahead. And not just because there will be more free tater tots if BYU keeps winning. For each survivor, there’s a chance to make a unique imprint on history. All it takes are a few more wins, no matter how unlikely. 

But now comes the hard part.

ALABAMA

There has never been any doubt as to the big sport in Tuscaloosa, the answer being as obvious as Big Al the Elephant. Alabama claims 18 football national championships. Before last March, the basketball team had been to one Elite Eight in the first 84 NCAA tournaments. But if the Crimson Tide should go all the way, Alabama instantly becomes the answer to the trivia question of which Division I school has combined for the most football and men’s basketball titles.

And maybe coach Nate Oats could join Nick Sabin on an Aflac commercial.

ARIZONA

Nobody from the West has won a national championship this century, and now we’re in 2025. Throw out UCLA and there have only been two Western champions in the past 65 years. What would John Wayne think? The last to do it was Arizona in 1997. Wildcats, an entire Pacific time zone turns its lonely eyes to you. Problem is, all those who open their eyes Thursday will see Duke on the other side. 

ARKANSAS

Do you know how many men have taken four different programs to the Final Four? None. Know how many 10-seeds have made it there? One, in 46 years. Coach John Calipari has a chance to get his name on both lists, now that woo pig sooie has put a bounce back into his step. The Razorbacks are probably the 16th choice in the bracket to win, but this is still a long way from losing to Oakland and Saint Peter’s in the first round.

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AUBURN

Fate owes the Tigers one, after its Final Four sucker punch in 2019. Remember Auburn leading Virginia by two points in the final second, but then the Cavaliers’ guard Kyle Guy got fouled on a last-gasp shot from the corner? Three free throws with 0.6 seconds left, and more than 72,000 people looking over his shoulder, plus millions on TV. Surely, he’d miss one. But he didn’t.

If the Tigers can get back to the Final Four, they can see if fate intends to pay up. But they have to get there first and come Friday night, Michigan won’t care much about what happened in 2019.

BYU

The Cougars have appeared in 31 previous NCAA tournaments, the most for any program that has never made it to a Final Four. But life is good when your great-grandfather invented the tater tots, so maybe the Cougars can get off that list. Such is part of the ancestry of BYU’s leading scorer forward Richie Saunders, and now the Ore-Ida folks have been giving away free tots 30 minutes after each Cougars’ tournament victory. Make that One Shining Moment with ketchup, please.

By that way, if BYU would advance to San Antonio, the mantle of the program with the most tournament appearances without a Final Four would fall to Xavier at 30. The Musketeers are the bunch who just beat Texas in the First Four, then after falling in the first round lost their coach Sean Miller…to Texas. You know how the old saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them.

DUKE

This could go as a final question in Jeopardy. This man, who died nine years ago at the age of 86, was the last coach not named Mike Krzyzewski to lead Duke to the Final Four. Pens down. Who is Bill Foster? That was 47 years ago. Coach Jon Scheyer could knock Foster right off Jeopardy. Right now, the Blue Devils are carrying the pride of the entire ACC in their backpacks.

FLORIDA

There are only eight programs in the select club of three or more championships. A Florida title would add a new member. And the Gators would be the only school with all their championships in the 21st Century. That’s Florida for you, a relative newcomer to this March glory stuff. The Gators won three total games in the first 45 NCAA tournaments and were pretty much a non-entity. But this is their 11th Sweet 16 in the past 30 years and they’re aiming for their sixth Final Four.

HOUSTON

Six previous Final Fours, no championships. It’s the greatest close-but-no-cigar record on the books. The Cougars have lost in the Final Four to everyone from the John Wooden/Lew Alcindor UCLA dynasty to Jim Valvano’s famous victory dash around the court for NC State to Patrick Ewing’s defense to Baylor in an all-Texas duel in the pandemic tournament. Now they want to cigar, even if they have to hold everyone under 60 points to do so. The road this week goes through Indianapolis, where Purdue and thousands of Boilermaker fans are waiting.

KENTUCKY

Only two men have both played for and coached a national champion. And we’re talking about a royal couple — Dean Smith and Bob Knight. But Mark Pope has a chance to top even them. He would be the first to do both at the same school. But for now, all Big Blue Nation eyes are on Kentucky vs. Tennessee Friday night — the first all-SEC showdown of what is threatening to turn from the NCAA tournament into the SEC/Everybody Else Challenge.

MARYLAND

The oft-used statement that 2000 Michigan State was the last Big Ten team to win the national championship is technically correct but should come with an asterisk. Maryland won in 2002 but hadn’t yet joined the conference. The ACC gets that claim. Those Terrapins even beat a Big Ten team to do it in Indiana. Same thing for the women, incidentally. The Big Ten’s one and only official title was Purdue in 1999. But the Maryland women won in 2006. Anyway, if the Terps could get the title this year, they’d at least clear up the confusion on the men’s side.

MICHIGAN

Only three coaches have won the national championship in their first season at a school. Coach Dusty May would make it four, and half would be Wolverines. Steve Fisher had three weeks as the interim coach in 1989 to win the title for Michigan. At least May has had an entire season. What would be truly fascinating is if the Wolverines could upset Auburn and Michigan State beat Ole Miss in the South Regional at Atlanta. Would you believe Michigan vs. Michigan State with a Final Four berth on the table?

MICHIGAN STATE

Here’s another Sweet 16. That’s how many men have won multiple national championships as a coach. Coach Tom Izzo deserves to be on that list before he’s done. Should it happen on the 25th anniversary of his first, so much the better. It would be the longest stretch ever between championships for a coach. It’s possible that his Spartans would have to beat four consecutive SEC teams to do it.

OLE MISS

Now’s the chance for the Rebels to do lots of things for the first time. Never won a Sweet 16 game before. Never gone to the Final Four. These are heady days for a program that owns only seven NCAA tournament victories in its entire history. But if Ole Miss can beat Michigan State on Friday, it’ll pass Georgia in tournament wins and no longer be in last place in the SEC.

PURDUE

The Boilermakers have been to six Sweet 16s in the past eight tournaments. That’s more than their chums down the road at Indiana have seen in the past 32 years. But when in-state bantering begins, there’s still that matter of five national championship banners in Bloomington. One for Purdue would at least help. Way too soon to consider that, though, with Houston next.

TENNESSEE

Tennessee has one of the highest attendance figures in the land. One of the largest arenas. A tradition with lots of grand names. Plenty of wins over Kentucky, and Rocky Top is still a toe-tapper even if the band does play it 231 times every game. What the Vols don’t have is . . . well, everyone from Peyton Manning down knows. No Final Four trips. Not one. Only two Elite Eight appearances, which is amazing given the long stature of this program.

That is the void they want so desperately to fill, and look who’s next in the way, infernal, eternal 17-Final Fours Kentucky. And if Tennessee wants to dream big, 70-year-old coach Rick Barnes would be the oldest national championship coach ever. Then again so would Izzo — six months younger than Barnes — and 69-year-old coach Kelvin Sampson from Houston. The senior citizen record now belongs to UConn’s Jim Calhoun, 68 in 2011.

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TEXAS TECH

From being picked to finish seventh in their conference to a Final Four, maybe even a championship podium. That’s virtually unheard of. And if the Red Raiders happen to get that far, they would help ease a conspicuous shortage for their state. There are upwards of 20 DI schools in Texas, but in 85 NCAA tournaments, the state has produced exactly two champions — UTEP in 1966 and Baylor in 2021. Texas Tech adding a third might be the biggest thing to come out of Lubbock since Buddy Holly.