No real shocks. Purdue from the Big Ten which for some reason had nine teams in this field kept the conference’s dubious streak alive as the Boilermakers keep Tom Izzo’s 2000 outlier championship streak alive.
UCLA from the PAC 12 went down which means no team in this field west of Lawrence, Kansas is still alive. Arizona in 1997, was the last such team west of the Big 12 which won a national championship.
Some great programs alive in our Elite 8.
Duke, Arkansas, Houston, Villanova, St. Pete’s, North Carolina, Kansas, and Miami make up the field. The three teams from the ACC still alive give the conference the honor of having three teams alive out of the final eight.
Look at the list of coaches still alive: 1 Coach K, 2 Jay Wright, 3 Bill Self, 4 Kelvin Sampson, and 5, I don’t know at this point.
Kansas is the only No. 1 seed still alive, while St. Pet’s become the first ever N0. 15 to make the Elite 8.
I don’t see any gut cinch wins in the Elite 8. Every one of these eight teams has played incredible team defense and pretty much taken care of the basketball.
There are so many potential storylines it’s dizzying to contemplate all of them. I’m not even going to try..
Like all passionate basketball fans, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy the Elite 8 in this wonderful NCAA Tournament.
Arkansas vs. Duke is the game I’m most excited to see. This is the game I have circled. Who controls pace, turnovers, and offensive boards in this game?
Does Coach K continue his magical exit ride?
I can’t wait to see.