Sweet 16 Friday night open comment thread

11 seed Tennessee vs. 2 seed Michigan, 7:15 p.m., CBS

7 seed Connecticut vs. 3 seed Iowa State, 7:27 p.m., TBS

8 seed Kentucky vs. 4 seed Louisville, approximately 9:45 p.m. (30-45 minutes after Tenn/Mich ends), CBS

4 seed Michigan State vs. 1 seed Virginia, approximately 9:57 p.m. (30-45 minutes after UConn/Iowa St) ends), TBS

Of note for us are a pair of SEC teams hoping to keep the conference's unblemished NCAA record clean in the Vols and Big Blue. There are also 5 players who spent high school time in the state of Georgia playing. Kevin Ware of Louisville (and Rockdale County) has not played since before Christmas, and is said to be seeking a medical redshirt after he recovers from a horrific injury suffered at last year's Final Four.

But the Cavaliers will have leading scorer Malcolm Brogdon (two time state champ with Greater Atlanta Christian) and fellow sophomore Evan Nolte (two time state champ with Fulton County's Milton High School) as they take on Tom Izzo's Spartans. Tennessee meanwhile has a trio of kids from around our state. Freshman forward AJ Davis, son of long time NBA big man Antonio Davis, was a teammate of Brogdon's at GAC before playing his junior and senior seasons at Buford, and now coming off the bench for the Vols. Joining Davis on that bench to start the game tonight against Michigan is Swainsboro native and sophomore wing Armani Moore. Starting the game on the floor and on the wings in orange will be Jordan McRae, a senior and their leading scorer out of Liberty County.

And no these aren't tears, I've just been chopping onions for dinner.