| Fourteen top-four seeded teams made it to the | | | | 27 |
| Sweet 16 and three #12 seeds upset #5 seeds during | | | | #2 Oklahoma versus #3 Syracuse - Friday, March 27 |
| the first two rounds of the 2009 NCAA Basketball | | | | Midwest Regional: |
| Tournament March 19-22. | | | | #1 Louisville versus #12 Arizona - Friday, March 27 |
| Advancing to the Sweet 16 to continue their March | | | | #2 Michigan State versus #3 Kansas - Friday, March |
| Madness bids were #1 seeds Pittsburgh, Connecticut, | | | | 27 |
| North Carolina and Louisville, #2 seeds Duke, Memphis, | | | | So who will make it to the Elite 8? |
| Oklahoma and Michigan State, #3 seeds Villanova, | | | | Consider these cold, hard historical facts: |
| Missouri, Syracuse and Kansas, and #4 seeds Xavier | | | | 1) When you know that no team less than a #4 seed |
| and Gonzaga. Only #4 seed Wake Forest was | | | | has won the championship for 20 straight years, you |
| eliminated by #13 Cleveland State and #4 seed | | | | might want to eliminate #5 Purdue and #12 Arizona. |
| Washington was eliminated by #5 seed Purdue. | | | | That leaves #1 seeds Pittsburgh, Connecticut, North |
| The three #12 seeds that pulled off upsets of #5 | | | | Carolina and Louisville, #2 seeds Duke, Memphis, |
| seeds included Wisconsin over Florida State, Western | | | | Oklahoma and Michigan State, #3 seeds Villanova, |
| Kentucky over Illinois and Arizona over Utah. Other | | | | Missouri, |
| upsets included #11 Dayton over #6 West Virginia, and | | | | Syracuse, and Kansas, and #4 seeds Xavier and |
| #10 Michigan over #7 LSU. Only one game went into | | | | Gonzaga. |
| overtime as #9 Siena eliminated #8 Ohio State in | | | | 2) Only three of the #1 seeds are likely to advance to |
| double overtime. | | | | the Final 4 since only 70% of #1 seeds advance into |
| There were two horrific blowouts as #1 Connecticut | | | | the Elite 8. The odds say that either Pittsburgh, |
| swamped poor #16 Chattanooga by 56 points, 103-47, | | | | Connecticut, North Carolina or Louisville will not make it |
| and #1 North Carolina made short work of #16 | | | | among the Elite 8. |
| Radford by 43 points, 101-58. Connecticut ripped #9 | | | | 3) Amazingly, only one or two of the #1 seeds have |
| Texas A&M by 26 (92-66) in its second contest. | | | | made it to the Final 4 in 18 of the last 24 years. Last |
| Besides Siena's double overtime win over Ohio State, | | | | year was an exception as ALL four #1 seeds made it |
| 6 other teams won games by a basket or less. They | | | | into the Final 4 for the first time ever. |
| included Wisconsin, UCLA, Oklahoma State, Marquette, | | | | Morehead State eliminated Alabama State 58-43 in |
| Purdue and Gonzaga. Only Purdue would make it to | | | | the play-in game for the 64th slot in the tournament. |
| the Sweet 16. | | | | Here are the 2009 NCAA Tournament First Round |
| Only one double digit seed--#12 Arizona-would make it | | | | Results: |
| into the Sweet 16. When you add up all 16 seeding | | | | East Regional: |
| spots, the total of 49 set a record for the lowest ever, | | | | #1 Pittsburgh eliminated #16 East Tennessee State |
| besting the prior record of 50 set in 1989. The place | | | | 72-62 |
| top-seeded teams fared worst this year was the | | | | #2 Duke eliminated #15 Binghamton 86-62 |
| Midwest Regional which saw #4 Wake Forest, #5 | | | | #3 Villanova eliminated #14 American University 80-67 |
| Utah, #6 West Virginia, #7 Boston College and #8 Ohio | | | | #4 Xavier eliminated #13 Portland State 77-59 |
| State get eliminated in their first game. | | | | #12 Wisconsin upset #5 Florida State 61-59 |
| The Big East became this year's elite conference with | | | | #6 UCLA eliminated #11 Virginia Commonwealth 65-64 |
| an NCAA-record 5 teams among the final Sweet 16: | | | | #7 Texas eliminated #10 Minnesota 76-62 |
| Louisville, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Villanova and | | | | #8 Oklahoma State eliminated #9 Tennessee 77-75 |
| Syracuse. North Carolina also tied Kentucky for the | | | | West Regional: |
| most NCAA tournament victories (98) with its win | | | | #1 Connecticut eliminated #16 Chattanooga 103-47 |
| over LSU. | | | | #2 Memphis eliminated #15 Cal State Northridge 81-70 |
| Here are the 2009 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 | | | | #3 Missouri eliminated #14 Cornell 78-59 |
| Regional Semifinal Match-Ups: | | | | #4 Washington eliminated #13 Mississippi State 71-58 |
| East Regional: | | | | #5 Purdue eliminated #12 Northern Iowa 61-56 |
| #1 Pittsburgh versus #4 Xavier - Thursday, March 26 | | | | #6 Marquette eliminated #11 Utah State 58-57 |
| #2 Duke versus #3 Villanova - Thursday, March 26 | | | | #7 California eliminated #10 Maryland 84-71 |
| West Regional: | | | | #9 Texas A&M eliminated #8 Brigham Young |
| #1 Connecticut versus #5 Purdue - Thursday, March | | | | 79-66 |
| 26 | | | | South Regional: |
| #2 Memphis versus #3 Missouri - Thursday, March 26 | | | | #1 North Carolina eliminated #16 Radford 101-58 |
| South Regional: | | | | #2 Oklahoma eliminated #15 Morgan State 82-54 |
| #1 North Carolina versus #4 Gonzaga - Friday, March | | | | #3 Syracuse eliminated #14 Stephen F. |