-We had four games last night, and three of them were great. The one that wasn’t was the one that I thought West Virginia would win, and that did not happen in a very big way.
-#8 NC STATE VS #4 LOUISVILLE. I hadn’t really been impressed with Louisville this year, but I was in their win against Northern Iowa. I thought it was one of the best teams they’ve beaten, and one of the best games they’ve played, all year. These two are both in the ACC, so they’ve played each other already with NC State winning at Louisville. The Wolfpack are also coming off an impressive defensive performance and win against a very good Villanova team, so they are certainly up to the challenge.
-#7 MICHIGAN STATE VS #3 OKLHAOMA. Michigan State has looked as good as anyone in the country these past few weeks, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they got all the way to the Final Four. Oklahoma had to sweat out Dayton, but still came away with the win. Michigan State took down a Virginia team that appeared to be as good as any of the #1 seeds. That followed a strong showing in the Big Ten Tournament where they nearly took down Wisconsin.
-#5 UTAH VS #1 DUKE. Duke is as good as anyone in the country. Utah is good, but they’re not as good as anyone in the country and they’re probably not as good as Duke. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Blue Devils won in a fashion to where people are changing the station before the game is over.
-#11 UCLA VS #2 GONZAGA. The last time these two met in the Sweet Sixteen, it was epic. This time, it may be an epic blowout for the Zags, although I’m not counting out the possibility that UCLA will win for the simple purpose of annoying me. As I said yesterday, I do not feel they belonged in the field, and even if they win it all it won’t change my opinion. All that aside, though, I think they’re in way over their heads today.