Bracket buzz: Fours are wild — again — in the Sweet 16

By seed the Sweet 16 sets up like this: Three No. 1 seeds, two No. 2s, one No. 3, four No. 4s, a No. 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11.

Notice the No. 4 seeds.

When the bracket was unveiled, the four line looked salty. Three of the four teams were mentioned as possible No. 2 seeds as late the conference tournaments. Louisville, Michigan State, San Diego State reaching this spot isn’t unexpected. And UCLA won the Pac-12 tournament.

Don’t be stunned if at least half of them reach the Final Four, like last year.

On Saturday, Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg told Daniel Edozie he would be starting in place of Georges Niang, who suffered a broken foot in Friday’s victory over North Carolina Central. Edozie responded in a way Hoiberg didn’t expect.

“I was sitting him down, I had my arm around him and told him how much I believed in him,” Hoiberg said. “Next thing I know he was running over to the trainer to get a plug to put in his nostril to stop the bloody nose. I looked over at (assistant) Doc Sadler and said, ‘I don't know if that is a good thing or not. I just told Daniel he's starting and his nose started bleeding.’ ”

Edozie got the start and hauled in four rebounds in 16 minutes.

The Iowa State-North Carolina game matched old Big Eight adversaries. North Carolina coach Roy Williams coached at Kansas, where his mid-1990s teams met an Iowa State team led by guard Hoiberg, the current coach.

“He’s probably the most favorite guy I ever played against as a coach and he was a player,” Williams said.

He also was one of the few Iowa high school stars Williams couldn’t whisk away to Lawrence. He got Raef LaFrentz, Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison.

“It was an actual privilege to go up against a Hall of Fame coach,” Hoiberg said.

Losses in the NCAA Tournament are often followed by coaching moves. That appears to be the case with Wichita State.

Chris Jans, the Shockers’ associate head coach, will be chosen the next head coach at Bowling Green, according to multiple media reports.

Jans has been Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall’s right-hand man since Marshall arrived in 2007 and has been among the most instrumental figures in the Shockers’ rise to national prominence.

This story was originally published March 23, 2014 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Bracket buzz: Fours are wild — again — in the Sweet 16."