Friday Recap and Saturday Preview:

With all the top seeds making it through the first weekend, you would think we would have had better games than these. Out of the 8 Sweet 16 games, only 2 were really good games. We had one Thursday night with Pitt/Xavier and one tonight with Kansas/Michigan State. The Spartans made some good plays down the stretch, with a big and one from Kalin Lucas. And Kansas missed the front end of a critical 1 and 1.

The other three winners Friday really came to play. Louisville just killed Arizona, winning by 39 points. To win a Sweet 16 game by 39 points really is remarkable. It makes you wonder if this game was an aberration for Louisville or a sign they are really the team to beat.
Oklahoma played a very impressive game, making Syracuse's zone look silly. The final margin was not an indication of how much the Sooners and Blake Griffin dominated this game. Syracuse couldn't do anything offensively and at times in the last 10 minutes of the game looked disinterested.
And North Carolina had few problems with Gonzaga, using a blistering shooting display to build a lead that grew to 20+ in the second half. This just was not a good matchup for the Zags, with UNC having more talent at every position.

So with that, we are now to the Elite Eight, with hopefully some more competitive games this weekend. Here's what you can expect Saturday:

#1 UConn vs. #3 Missouri (4:40) - Connecticut has looked very good in this tournament, having no trouble dispatching their first two opponents and shutting the door on Purdue. But Missouri is probably the story of this Elite Eight, with their great offensive performance and frenetic defense. The story of this game will be who can force the other to play at their tempo. If Missouri can speed the game up and force turnovers, they can effectively negate the impact of Hasheem Thabeet and have a good shot at winning. If UConn is able to slow it down and work in their half court offense it might be a long day for the Tigers.

#1 Pittsburgh vs. #3 Villanova (7:05) - If you judge by how these two Big East teams have fared in the first three rounds, you'd have to give Villanova the edge. They have been dominating in their last two victories over UCLA and Duke, two big time teams. The big matchup of the game will be Dante Cunningham against DeJuan Blair. Pitt doesn't play pretty at times but just finds a way to win. Villanova won the regular season meeting between these teams, but that was in Philly. I expect a good, close battle in this one.