Welcome to the heavyweight Sweet 16 of 2024. This group of regional semifinalists collectively carries one of the highest average seeds we've seen since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
Yes, NC State would appear to be a surprise member of the "second weekend" club as a No. 11 seed. (Still, anyone who saw the Wolfpack defeat No. 1 seed North Carolina in the ACC title game can't be too shocked.) Likewise, Clemson is a No. 6 seed and Gonzaga and San Diego State are No. 5s.
The other 12 teams, however, were all supposed to make it this far.
These mostly high-seeded teams have advanced to the regional semifinals courtesy of some incomparable individual performances. We already highlighted some of these players last week in our piece on the 68 impact players of the tournament.
Now we're down to 16. Some of these names are repeats. Others are new to this high honor. All have played their way onto this list based on winning performances over the past two games. They're very likely to make a difference once again.
Here are the 16 impact players of the 2024 Sweet 16.
