After 48 games over four days, the NCAA tournament field has been trimmed from 64 to 16. As the tournament gets set to resume on Friday, we take a look at each of the Sweet 16 matchups and highlight the seniors to watch from each team.

Friday, March 29 – Albany Region

2 Connecticut vs. 6 UCLA

Friday, March 29, 7:00 PM ET

Game Preview: Can UCLA follow up their upset win over Maryland in the second round by taking down the mighty UConn Huskies in the Sweet 16? If so, it would be UCLA’s first win over UConn in the sixth meeting historically between the teams and the first Sweet 16 exit for UConn since 2007. These teams last met in the NCAA tournament in the 2017 Sweet 16 with the Huskies prevailing 86-71.

The case for UCLA is that they are playing with house money as few people expect them to knock off UConn. And with talented players like sophomore Michaela Onyenwere and seniors Kennedy Burke and Japreece Dean playing with nothing to lose, that makes them dangerous against a Connecticut squad that always plays with high expectations and pressure.

But the reason for those high expectations and pressure is that UConn nearly always delivers at tournament time. The Huskies are in the Sweet 16 for the 26th straight year and have a 24-2 record in this round of play. And with the way senior Napheesa Collier is playing right now and fellow senior Katie Lou Samuelson back in the lineup after missing four games with back spasms, they will look to extend that streak to 14 straight Elite Eights and 12 straight Final Fours.

Seniors to Watch: Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson (Connecticut); Kennedy Burke and Japreece Dean (UCLA)

1 Louisville vs. 4 Oregon State

Friday, March 29, 9:00 PM ET

Game Preview: The top-seeded Louisville Cardinals will face the fourth-seeded Oregon State Beavers in the Albany Regional semifinals in a rematch of last year’s Lexington Regional final, which Louisville won 76-43 to advance to the Final Four.

This is the third meeting all time between these teams with Louisville winning both matchups and holding Oregon State to exactly 43 points in both contests. In their first two games of this year’s tournament, the Cardinals are allowing just 42 points on 32.7 percent shooting. This marks Louisville’s third straight Sweet 16 appearance, while Oregon State has advanced to this round four straight years.

While Louisville is led by the senior trio of Asia Durr, Arica Carter and Sam Fuehring, Oregon State is led by redshirt sophomore Destiny Slocum and junior MikaylaPivec. What will be Oregon State’s strategy to slow down the high-scoring Durr (21.3 PPG, 15th in Division I)? And if they do key much of their effort on containing Durr, can Fuehring, Carter and the rest of the Cardinals make them pay?

Seniors to Watch: Asia Durr, Arica Carter and Sam Fuehring (Louisville)

Friday, March 29 – Portland Region

1 Mississippi State vs. 5 Arizona State

Friday, March 29, 9:00 PM ET

Game Preview: Top-seeded Mississippi State continues its quest for a third straight trip to the national championship game with a Sweet 16 matchup with fifth-seeded Arizona State. While Mississippi State is playing in its fourth straight Sweet 16, this is just the fifth overall Sweet 16 appearance for Arizona State. The Sun Devils have advanced to the Elite Eight twice (last time was in 2009), but have yet to make a Final Four.

This will be the third meeting all-time between these schools and first in the NCAA tournament; the previous two meeting came in the Cancun Challenge, with Mississippi State winning the most recent game, which came last season as the Bulldogs earned a 65-57 win behind Teaira McCowan’s 15 points and 14 rebounds.

Slowing down McCowan (the SEC Player of the Year) and fellow senior Anriel Howard will be a tough task for the Sun Devils in their hopes to pull of the upset. Arizona State led the Pac-12 and was 37th in Division I in scoring defense (allowing 57.7 points per game). However, Mississippi State’s defense is just as stout (57.5 points per game allowed, 34th in Division I) and they also boast the NCAA’s second-highest scoring offense at 86.6 points per game.

Seniors to Watch: Teaira McCowan and Anriel Howard (Mississippi State); Kianna Ibis (Arizona State)

2 Oregon vs. 6 South Dakota State

Friday, March 29, 11:00 PM ET

Game Preview: Oregon’s quest for its first Final Four berth continues this weekend when they face South Dakota State in the Sweet 16. This is Oregon’s third straight Sweet 16 and they are looking to advance to their third straight Elite Eight, but the Final Four has been elusive.

Of course, the first step on that journey is the upset-minded JackRabbits of South Dakota State, who knocked off third-seeded Syracuse in the second round to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.

This will be the second meeting of the season (and fourth overall) between these teams with South Dakota State leading the series 2-1. Oregon’s win came on Dec. 12 on the road in Brookings, SD as they rallied from a halftime deficit to earn an 87-79 win. South Dakota State has lost just two games since then and brings an 18-game win streak into Friday’s matchup.

Oregon is led by versatile guard Sabrina Ionescu (who owns a NCAA record 18 triple-doubles), Satou Sabally and Ruthy Hebard, who all average over 16 points per game. For South Dakota State, they are led by seniors Macy Miller and Madison Guebert, who both average over 14 points per game and shoot better than 43 percent from beyond the arc. The Jackrabbits as a team shoot 37.4 percent from three, the 14th highest percentage in Division I, and an equalizer in any game.

Seniors to Watch: Maite Cazorla (Oregon); Macy Miller and Madison Guebert (South Dakota State)

Saturday, March 30 – Greensboro Region

2 Iowa vs. 3 NC State

Saturday, March 30, 11:30 AM ET

Game Preview: One of these programs is guaranteed to end a decades-long drought from the Elite Eight when they face off on Saturday in Greensboro as second-seeded Iowa looks for its first appearance since 1993 and third-seeded NC State looks for its first appearance since 1998. Both teams went on to advance to the Final Four in each of those Elite Eight appearances.

This will be the third meeting all-time between these teams and the first in 17 years as NC State defeated Iowa in a non-conference tournament in 2002 and Iowa was victorious in their only other NCAA tournament meeting back in 1997, well before most of the players in this year’s contest were born.

Iowa is led by ESPNW National Player of the Year Megan Gustafson, who averages 28.0 points and 13.5 rebounds per game while shooting 393-of-561 (.701) from the field. Kiara Leslie leads NC State with averages of 15.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting 38.4 percent from beyond the arc on over five 3-point attempts per game. Both seniors have been strong in the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament with Gustafson averaging 27 points per game in wins over Mercer and Missouri, and Leslie averaging 23 points in wins over Maine and Kentucky (26 points and 10 rebounds).

Seniors to Watch: Megan Gustafson (Iowa); Kiara Leslie(NC State)

1 Baylor vs. 4 South Carolina

Saturday, March 30, 1:30 PM ET

Game Preview: Is seven a lucky number for Baylor? They won the NCAA tournament for the first time in 2005; seven years later they won it again in 2012; and seven years later they are the tournament’s top overall seed in 2019. Their quest for title No. 3 continues with a matchup against South Carolina, the 2017 national champions.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the teams with Baylor dominating South Carolina with a 94-69 win on Dec. 2. That game improved Baylor to 7-0 and dropped South Carolina to 4-4. The Gamecocks have gone 19-5 since that loss and have made significant strides since early in the season. Despite better health, improved chemistry and confidence from South Carolina, Baylor still enters this game as the favorite behind the outstanding play of senior Kalani Brown and junior Lauren Cox on the frontline and junior Juicy Landrum and senior Chloe Jackson in the backcourt and the excellent defense of DiDi Richards.

In their December meeting, Baylor dominated the paint, outscoring South Carolina 52-28. For South Carolina to pull off the upset, this is an area that must improve; the Gamecocks can’t allow the Baylor bigs to control the paint, which is much easier to say than to do. But even if Brown and Cox don’t dominate – they combined for just 18 points in a second round win over California – Baylor has the balance to still put up big numbers as they were the only team to break 100 points in the second round.

Seniors to Watch: Kalani Brown and Chloe Jackson(Baylor); Alexis Jennings (South Carolina)

Saturday, March 30 – Chicago Region

1 Notre Dame vs. 4 Texas A&M

Saturday, March 30, 4:00 PM ET

Game Preview: Notre Dame (2018) and Texas A&M (2011) have both won a national championship this decade, and they met each other along the way both times. In the Irish’s run to the title last year, the teams met in this same spot (the Sweet 16) with Notre Dame prevailing 90-84 to advance to the Elite Eight. When Texas A&M won the title in 2011, they defeated Notre Dame 76-70 in the national championship game.

If last year’s meeting is any indication, get ready for a scoring duel between Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale and Texas A&M’s Chennedy Carter. These are two of the most explosive offensive players in the game – Carter ranks sixth in Division I at 22.9 points per game, while Ogunbowale ranks 16th at 21.1.

Last year, Carter won the scoring duel as she dropped 31 points (10-25 FG, 3-7 3P, 8-13 FT) compared to 27 points (10-23 FG, 3-5 3P, 4-4 FT) for Ogunbowale, but it was Ogunbowale’s Irish that came away with the victory. Both players can create shots for themselves and for teammates depending on how opponents choose to defend them, which should make for an interesting chess match between the coaches to try to find an edge.

Seniors to Watch: Arike Ogunbowale, Jessica Shepard, Brianna Turner and Marina Mabrey (Notre Dame)

2 Stanford vs. 11 Missouri State

Saturday, March 30, 6:00 PM ET

Game Preview: For the third straight NCAA tournament at least one double-digit seed has advanced to the Sweet 16 (No. 11s Buffalo and Central Michigan in 2018; No. 10 Oregon and No. 12 Quinnipiac in 2017) as No. 11 Missouri State upset No. 3 seed Iowa State in the second round. It is the fourth Sweet 16 appearance for Missouri State and their first since 2001, when they advanced to Final Four for the second time in program history.

On the flip side of that coin is the Stanford Cardinal, which is back in the Sweet 16 for the 26th time overall and 12thstraight year. Stanford has advanced to the Elite Eight in 11 of the past 15 seasons and made it to the Final Four in seven of the last 11 seasons. Clearly, Stanford has the richer program pedigree, but pedigree doesn’t win games. Missouri State has gone 24-2 since a Dec. 16 loss to Gonzaga and has knocked off three straight Top 25 opponents for the first time in school history. They are the Cinderella story of this tournament and are essentially playing with house money at this point.

This will be the third meeting all-time between these schools with Stanford winning both – an 82-65 win in November 2015 and a 74-63 win back in December 1993. This year’s Cardinal squad boasts a strong inside game and a combination of size and length that could be a problem for Missouri State to handle. But after knocking off a No. 6 and a No. 3 seed to get here, the Lady Bears won’t back down against the No. 2 seed Cardinal.

Seniors to Watch: Alanna Smith (Stanford)