Elite East--I mean Eight

How scary did Louisville look Friday night? They dropped an NBA-like 103 points on the only wannabe Cinderella remaining, Arizona. Eight teams remaining, four of them in the Big East. It's sort of like we're about to watch another incarnation of the Big East conference tournament. If that's the case, I wouldn't mind seeing another six overtime thriller, though I'd prefer Pitt doesn't suffer the same fate as they did back in mid-March.

My stab at an upset stabbed me right in the back, as Gonzaga was never in it against an upstart Tarheel team. UNC was just two points shy of the century mark, and they now carry the ACC banner into the Elite Eight.

Michigan St. defeated Kansas in what really did become a battle of coaches. There must have been at least four timeouts called in the final two minutes. Whenever a team calls a timeout, much of the responsibility for the ensuing play must be placed on the coach, as he has the opportunity to draw up a play from scratch. In the end, Tom Izzo outscored Bill Self 7-2 in the final 1:48 to net a Spartan victory.

And Blake Griffin continues to raise his potential NBA stock value. He averaged 30.5 points and 15 rebounds in the first two tournament games, and proved he's nothing if not consistent with a 30 and 14 performance against overmatched Syracuse. That's right: a Big East team lost. Weird, I know.

Elite Eight conference breakdown:

Big East: 4
Big 12: 2
ACC: 1
Big Ten: 1

A big, big man, a Blake, and a buzzer beater

Wow, did UCLA look overmatched against Villanova or what? The Bruins are young, and they'll be back, but they looked like they were in the way of a Villanova scrimmage on Saturday.

The only upset of the day was Purdue over Washington, a 5/4 upset at that. JaJuan Johnson has looked great, but will he be able to handle UConn's 7'3" Hasheem Thabeet? One of my favorite moments in Saturday's action, by the way, was when Thabeet, of his own accord, tried to walk past coach Jim Calhoun to sub into the game. Calhoun said something to the effect of "Where the heck do you think you're goin'?!" and told him to get back on the bench. I love that the 7-foot big man thought he could sneak past his coach unnoticed. The only way it could have been better is if he had been whistling as he tried to saunter past.

Michigan had no answer for Blake Griffin, as he scored 33 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. In two tournament games, he has 61 points and 30 boards.

But the game of the day was Gonzaga vs. Western Kentucky. It was close the whole way, and WKU tied it up with eight seconds left when the Player With the Most Superfluous Letters in His First Name Steffphon Pettigrew tipped in a miss. But Demetri Goodson went the length of the floor and banked in the game-winning shot just before the buzzer, netting a Bulldog win.

With Goodson's help, I went 8-0 Saturday. Will Sunday's games echo Friday's, and be full of upsets?