The 2022 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 schedule has been dissected, and evenย re-picked by our experts, has finally arrived with Thursday night's action from the West Region in San Francisco and the South Region in San Antonio. The evening will feature two of the three remaining No. 1 seeds in action and both of the only No. 2 seeds, including Duke squaring off with No. 3 Texas Tech in the latest — and possibly final — stop on the Mike Krzyzewski retirement tour.
From a viewing perspective, the evening will get started with No. 1 seed Gonzaga taking on No. 4 seed Arkansas in the West Region (7:09 p.m. ET) with the other early slate option being No. 2 seed Villanova and No. 11 seed Michigan — one of four double-digit seeds to make the Sweet 16 — in South Region action (7:29 p.m.). Bouncing between those games will provide anything a college basketball could desire, from a track meet in Gonzaga-Arkansas to the slower-paced half-court battle between the Wildcats and Wolverines.
The first late-slate game is perhaps the one that will draw the most intrigue as No. 2 seed Duke tries to keep this historic season rolling in a matchup with No. 3 Texas Tech in the West Region (9:39 p.m.). But don't get so caught up in narratives that you miss out on what could be the best game of the entire day: the nightcap in the South Region between No. 1 Arizona and No. 5 Houston (9:59 p.m.).
Enough with the schedule. Here are the storylines to watch on Thursday night, followed by a live streaming guide for all the action.
Duke faces toughest test of tournament run
Ever since the second-round matchup with Tom Izzo and Michigan State was set, it was clear that every time Duke takes the floor in this NCAA Tournament there was going to be a potential for it to be the final game for Krzyzewski as a head coach. Facing an old friend in Izzo and a common foe in Michigan State brought even more…