For the first time in five years, the NCAA Tournament is returning to the Carrier Dome.

The venue last hosted Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games in 2010, when one of the most talented teams in recent years saw its championship hopes disappear on the Carrier Dome floor.

In the regional semifinal, played March 25, 2010, the No. 1 seed Kentucky Wildcats defeated the Cornell Big Red, seeded at No. 12 in that year’s tournament. The Wildcats were led by superstar freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, as Kentucky easily dispatched the Cinderella Big Red 62-45 on its way to an Elite Eight berth.

In the other semifinal in the Dome that night, No. 2 West Virginia knocked off No. 11 Washington 69-56. The Mountaineers were led by Da’Sean Butler and head coach Bob Huggins.

Those two regional semifinals set the stage for the most recent Elite Eight game played in the Dome, which took place March 27, 2010. It was No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the East region that year, and Kentucky had been ranked No. 1 in the country for much of the regular season.

However, it was West Virginia that came out on top that night, advancing to its first Final Four since 1959 with a 73-66 victory, led by Butler and point guard Joe Mazzulla.

West Virginia went on to lose to eventual national champion Duke in the Final Four in 2010.

Now five years later, the Carrier Dome will host three more NCAA Tournament regional games on March 27 and March 29, in what has become a bracket filled with lower-seeded teams advancing deep into the tournament.

Sweet 16 games will be played Friday, starting at 7:37 p.m. with No. 4 Louisville vs. No. 8 N.C. State. That game will be followed by No. 3 Oklahoma taking on No. 7 Michigan State, which is scheduled to tip off at 10:07 p.m.

The winners of each game will play in the Elite Eight on March 29 with a trip to Indianapolis on the line.

— Compiled by Brett Samuels, news editor, blsamuel@syr.edu

Published on March 26, 2015 at 8:31 pm