An already chaotic NCAA Tournament became even more unpredictable after the completion of the Sweet 16 round; we are now assured of no 1-seeds advancing to the Elite 8 for the first time since seeding began for the 1979 NCAA Tournament. Texas is the lone remaining 2-seed, and the only regional that has teams with recent Final Four experience is in the West with Gonzaga and UConn, although you could add Texas from the Midwest (although their last Final Four was 20 years ago).
EAST REGION (Saturday, March 25)
(3) KANSAS STATE vs (9) FLORIDA ATLANTIC (6:09 PM ET, TBS) – Kansas State on paper looks to be the favorite in this matchup, and thanks to some heroic performances from Marquise Nowell and Keyontae Johnson the Wildcats were able to avoid a 2nd-half flurry from Michigan State and ended up winning the first overtime game of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. A win here would give the Wildcats their 5th Final 4 appearance and their first since 1964. However, Florida Atlantic has been venturing further and further into uncharted territory this season – their first Final Four would not be out of the question, either. This is the first time since 2008 that a team from Conference USA has advanced this far in the NCAAs, so naturally they will be moving up to the American next season.
WEST REGION (Saturday, March 25)
(3) GONZAGA vs (4) CONNECTICUT (8:49 PM ET, TBS) – Our own Jon Teitel has done a fantastic job covering the West Regional out in Las Vegas this week and we will be treated to what should be a classic matchup between the Zags and UConn. The Huskies looked relentless in their first weekend of tournament play against Iona and Saint Mary’s and took it up another level against Arkansas on Thursday night. Gonzaga, on the other hand, had to dig out of a deep hole against UCLA early in the 2nd half and ended up having to withstand a furious UCLA run in the final minute before Julian Strawther added his name to Gonzaga lore with a game-winning 3 against the Bruins. The Zags would be looking for their 3rd Final Four since 2018 and the Huskies would be looking for their first Final 4 appearance since 2014.
SOUTH REGION (Sunday, March 26)
(5) SAN DIEGO STATE vs (6) CREIGHTON (2:20 PM ET, CBS) – The Mountain West Conference collectively had an 11-game losing streak in the NCAA Tournament before San Diego State finally got off the mat and ended up getting wins against Charleston and Furman in the first weekend. After a bit of a slow start against Alabama last night, the Aztecs went on a 12-0 run to take the lead in the 2nd half and never trailed after that point. While Creighton is technically in the Elite 8 for the 2nd time in program history, their previous appearance was in 1941 with a much smaller field; this is the first time the Bluejays have won 3 games to advance to the Elite 8 in program history. They have quietly defeated NC State, Baylor and Princeton to qualify for today’s game. We are guaranteed a first-timer in the Final Four for whoever wins this game.
MIDWEST REGION (Sunday, March 26)
(2) TEXAS vs (5) MIAMI (5:05 PM, CBS) – Miami had a great shooting night from both Isaiah Wong and Nigel Pack as the Hurricanes blew out to a 2nd-half lead that got as high as 19 points against Houston. Not bad for a team that was staring down the barrel of a 5-12 upset against Drake just a week earlier. While Texas lost Dylan Disu to injury for potentially the remainder of the tournament, they got a complete team effort from Marcus Carr, Jimmy Allen, Tyrese Hunter and Christian Bishop and never trailed against Xavier in their matchup last night. This game will feature the ACC regular season champion versus the Big 12 Tournament champion.
So if you’re keeping score, we now have 2 teams from the Big 12, 2 teams from the Big East and 1 team from the ACC, Mountain West, WCC and C-USA.