Quite simply, this is not the year of the Cinderella squad. The silver lining: The second-weekend matchups are loaded.

Four teams are already locked into the NCAA men's tournament Elite Eight. Four more must earn their place. Breaking down Friday's Sweet 16 matchups.

Two tickets to the 2025 Final Four were punched Saturday. Two more will be punched Sunday. And how do you feel about the lack of so-called Cinderellas now? That was among the storylines after the first two rounds of this NCAA Tournament — how the only double-digit seed that made the Sweet 16 was an Arkansas team coached by John Calipari.