Welcome to the March Insanity Elite 8 everybody.
The Candy 16 video games for Thursday and Friday have already come and gone and given us some immediate basic moments. UCLA and Gonzaga produced yet one more recreation that got here right down to the wire and certainly made Adam Morrison proud as a Gonzaga alum. Kansas State and Michigan State went to additional time with KSU level guard Markquis Nowell giving us an all-time efficiency whereas breaking the NCAA Event file for many assists in a single recreation with 19! We additionally obtained the mighty Volunteers falling to the ninth-seeded FAU Owls in a rock combat of a recreation. Now we now have to see if the Elite 8 video games may even come near matching these moments.
No. 3 Kansas State vs No. 9 Florida Atlantic
- When: Saturday, March twenty fifth, 2023
- Begin Time: 6:09 PM ET
- Location: Madison Sq. Backyard – New York, New York
- How you can watch: TBS
Kansas State vs Florida Atlantic Preview
Kansas State is coming off a extremely emotional win over Michigan State that required an additional 5 minutes of basketball. Markquis Nowell set a single recreation match file with 19 assists and certainly must put forth one other Herculean effort to beat this scrappy Owls group. If the Wildcats proceed their streak of sizzling taking pictures, it might not even matter what FAU comes up with for a recreation plan as KSU shot over 55% from the ground and 45% from past the arc.
FAU had a fairly good path paved for them with Purdue getting knocked off within the first recreation and Marquette shedding to Michigan State within the second spherical. Nevertheless, they nonetheless needed to exit and beat essentially the most environment friendly protection within the nation in Tennessee. They didn’t again down from the combat and really appeared like a Rocky film as the sport went on. They’d take their punch, take up it, and are available out swinging tougher and sooner than the Vols anticipated. They’ll take that and their three-point taking pictures into this recreation towards Kansas State hoping to knock off one other large on their Cinderella run.
No. 3 Gonzaga vs No. 4 UConn
- When: Saturday, March twenty fifth, 2023
- Begin Time: 8:49 PM ET
- Location: T-Cell Area – Las Vegas, Nevada
- How you can watch: TBS
Gonzaga vs UConn Preview
Gonzaga beat UCLA and gave us one other basic March Insanity recreation between the 2. This time, Adam Morrison was a bit happier with the end result. Drew Timme had an all-time recreation ending with 36 factors, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, and two blocks. He and fellow huge man, Anton Watson might want to have the defensive video games of their lives towards the likes of Adama Sanogo and Donovan Clingan. However these Huskies additionally need to deal with Timme and Watson on offense. Search for the Gonzaga’s guards to be the X-factor on this recreation.
UConn completely thrashed Arkansas to get right here and must be pretty contemporary as they have been capable of relaxation starters for good spurts all through the sport. Whereas Sanogo and Clingan would be the greatest gamers on the ground, search for UConn’s guards to have main benefits all through this recreation. Andre Jackson, Jordan Hawkins, and Tristen Newton may and will resolve this recreation with Gonzaga having significantly extra inconsistent backcourt play not solely via the season, however particularly this match.
No. 5 San Diego State vs No. 6 Creighton
- When: Sunday, March twenty sixth, 2023
- Begin Time: 2:20 PM ET
- Location: KFC Yum! Heart – Louisville, Kentucky
- How you can watch: CBS
San Diego State vs Creighton Preview
The Aztecs are heroes to many individuals on this match. For some, they took down a hate-able group in Alabama and for others, they continued the chaos of this significantly frenetic NCAA Event. In addition they at the moment are within the Elite Eight for the primary time in class historical past whereas that is Creighton’s second time getting there and first since 1941. The suffocating protection forces opponents to play ugly and that’s the place San Diego State thrives. Now they give the impression of being to take that into their recreation towards Creighton.
In the meantime, the Bluejays like to rise up and down the ground shortly and rise up a ton of threes. If they begin catching fireplace, they’ll blast anyone out of the constructing. That’s how they’ve been successful on this match as they shot over 35% towards Princeton and shot over 45% towards Baylor. This recreation may and will come down to protect play as Creighton has a pair glorious ones in Trey Alexander and Ryan Nembhard. San Diego State has the burly Matt Bradley, Darrion Trammell, and Lamont Butler.
No. 2 Texas vs No. 5 Miami
- When: Sunday, March twenty sixth, 2023
- Begin Time: 5:05 PM ET
- Location: T-Cell Heart – Las Vegas, Nevada
- How you can watch: CBS
Texas vs Miami Preview
Texas completely throttled No. 3 Xavier with its protection to get right here and performed a few of its finest offense of the season too. Xavier’s up-and-down nature got here again to hang-out it as they discovered shortly that Tex(as) was actually, “gon’ give it to ’em”. The Longhorns have the athletes to doubtlessly shut down Miami, however might be with out Dylan Disu, relying on how his foot heals.
Miami beat top-seeded Houston with their shot making and shot creating skills. Whereas the Cougars’ protection is normally its calling card, the Hurricanes stormed their approach to 89 factors, which was simply essentially the most Houston had given up all yr. With Nijel Pack, Isaiah Wong, Norchad Omier, and Jordan Miller main the way in which, Miami is taking part in with supreme confidence and appear to be reliable world beaters underneath coach Jim Larranaga.