Draymond Green’s triple-double last Friday was his second in the NCAA tournament.

By BRYANT K. KIZER

Contributing Writer

Four Ohio teams still remain in the hunt for the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s basketball tournament. Ohio State, Ohio University, Cincinnati and Xavier will be playing in the Sweet 16, starting Thursday.

After the fourth round, at least one Ohio team will be gone or at least one will still be in. Because Ohio State will take on Cincinnati this Thursday in Boston. Ohio State (29-7) the second-seed in the East bracket beat Loyola (Md.) 78-59 on last Thursday and they beat Gonzaga 73-66 on Saturday.

The Bearcats (26-10) the sixth-seed beat Texas 65-59 on Thursday and they knocked off Florida State 62-56. Both schools will play each other for only the second time since beating the Buckeyes in 1961 and 1962 for back-to-back national championship.

How many people had Ohio University in their bracket?

The Bobcats, who won the Mid-American Conference tournament, beat fourth-seed Michigan 65-60 on Friday, and then they beat 12^th-seed South Florida 62-56 on Sunday. How far will the Bobcats go?

Well the Bobcats (29-7) will face top-seed in the Midwest, North Carolina (31-5) Friday in St. Louis. The Tar Heels beat Vermont 77-58 on Friday and Creighton 87-73 on Sunday.

Xavier (23-12) the tenth-seed in the South, will take on third-seed Baylor (29-7) on Friday in Atlanta. Xavier toppled Norte Dame 67-63 on Friday and Lehigh 75-70 on Sunday.

How are your brackets?

With Duke, Missouri and Michigan out, who will stand tall this weekend and get to the final four?

In his “Barack-etology,” President Baraka Obama’s bracket is holding up so far with an outstanding 98%, he picked correct on 11 teams to get to The Sweet 16.

This Thursday, top-seed Syracuse (33-2) will take on Big-Ten’s Wisconsin (26-9) in Boston. With the Orange‘s Fab Melo out, this game should belong to the Badgers. Two of the best guards will meet. Syracuse’s Scoop Jardine vs. Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor.

From the West regional, top-ranked Michigan State (29-7) will take on Louisville (28-9) in Phoenix. The Big-Ten Tournament champions edged St. Louis on Sunday to advance to the “Sweet 16”. Big-Ten’s player-of-the-year Draymond Green had another monster game. Coming off of his triple-double on Friday, he followed it up with a double-double in their 65-61 victory over St. Louis. Green had 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Louisville’s Russ Smith came off the bench and led the Cardinals to a 59-56 victory over fifth-seed New Mexico. Smith, a 6-foot sophomore guard had 17 points.

Game 2: Marquette (27-7) vs. Florida (25-10) – The Gators have blown their two teams away. They beat Virginia 71-45 on Friday and they dumped Norfolk St. 84-50 on Sunday. Gator’s defense held Norfolk to under 28 percent on shooting. Junior guard Kenny Boynton led the Gators with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists. He will be match-up with Darius Johnson-Odom. Odom was tied for the team-high of 17 points in their 62-53 victory over Murray State on Sunday.

Tournament notes:

Did you know the former Cav and now Cavs’ broadcaster Austin Carr still holds the single-game record in points with 61? Carr, at Norte Dame, did it against Ohio in 1970. Carr also holds most field goals (25); they did not have three-point field goals in those days, and field goal attempts (44) in the same game. “I might have had 70 points if they had the three-point arc,” said Carr. Norte Dame won 112-82.

Draymond Green’s triple-double last Friday was his second in the NCAA tournament. Last year, Green had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists vs. UCLA on March 18. Since NCAA officially recognizes tournament triple-double in 1987, there have been eight in the record books.