Gainesville Sun · Mar 24, 2017
UF Notebook: Southern comfort at the Big Apple
Florida guard Canyon Barry (24) and guard Eric Hester (2) laugh during practice at Madison Square Garden in New York.(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
NEW YORK — The Big East has held its annual conference tournament at Madison Square Garden since the early 1980s.
But Friday night's Sweet 16 matchups at MSG have a distinctly more Southern flavor.
Two SEC teams (fourth-seed Florida and seventh-seed South Carolina), plus a Big 12 team from Texas (third-seed Baylor) are among the four teams left in the East Region. Eight-seed Wisconsin is the only school remaining north of the Mason-Dixon line, having upset top-seed Villanova last week in Buffalo.