A look into the Future: The Elite 8

Well, Three Quarters of the field has been eliminated and my bracket has been beaten but not dead. A good showing in the elite 8 (like 5/8) and a perfect final four and I will be the front runner for my pool.

However, I am not feeling great about my picks right now. My elite 8 according to my bracket was North Carolina, Butler, Kansas, Georgetown, Pitt, Stanford, UCLA and West Virginia. Sadly Butler, Georgetown and Pitt are no longer in the tournament. Butler came so close...

So anyway, if knowing what I know now, here are my picks for the elite 8 and final four.

North Carolina vs. Washington State. I correctly picked this match up. Loving the Pac 10 was a good decision because they have 3 teams in the Sweet 16. Anyway, North Carolina appears to be on a mission right now. They certainly wont look past WSU and this will be much more of a test for them. But Arkansas was a decent team and they destroyed them. I don't foresee any real problem for North Carolina.

Tennessee vs. Louisville. I am not going to lie, I thought Louisville would run out of steam. But they are playing great basketball. This should be a really good game. I am quite torn, but I am going to take Tennessee. From a talent standpoint alone, I think Tenn. is better. From a coaching standpoint, I would much rather have Petino than Bruce Pearl. But, talent outweighs coaching in Basketball.

Kansas vs. Villanova. Villanova proved the Big East is the best Basketball conference in the country by making it to the sweet sixteen as a team that "didnt belong" in the tournament. But Kansas is just a little bit better than Siena and Clemson. Kansas's depth gets them a 10 point win.

Davidson vs. Wisconsin. I did not think Wisconsin, or any Big Ten team for that matter, would make it to the Sweet 16. Wisconsin played some really good defense to stop Michael Beasley, but I think Cinderella keeps dancing. Stephen Curry is awesome. He finds a way to score against the really good defense of Wisconsin, and they march on.

Memphis vs. Michigan State. Nietzel has shown up for the big games, and the point guard Lucas is having a great tournament. Raymont Morgan needs to play better for them to beat Memphis, but I think this will happen. I just cant pick a team that doesn't make it's free throws. People are going to be talking about Lucas instead of Love after this one. I can't believe I am going to say this: Go Green, Go White!

Stanford vs. Texas. Great interior players vs. great guard play. Can Texas match up to Brooke Lopez? No. Can Stanford slow down DJ Augustine? Maybe. This game is tough for me to call. Especially because of the Bias i have towards Stanford since I picked them in my final four. This game could go to overtime again, but if Robin Lopez plays better this game goes to Stanford. I still dont understand how a team loses their best player and gets better, so I am going to pick Stanford.

UCLA vs. Western Kentucky. UCLA has too good of a defense to lose to this team. They need to wake up from that funk (other than Kevin Love) from the second round. But UCLA is experienced and Collison and Love lead them to the elite 8.

West Virginia vs. Xavier. You all know I am rooting for WV. Xavier looked like a really tough team, but beating Purdue and Georgia doesnt prove a lot to me. Beating Duke no problem does. I like WV.

As for the Final Four: Im sticking with my picks! But if I had a bad feeling about any team its probably Stanford, with Michigan State going to the final four. But, my original teams are still there so i gotta stick to them!

Enjoy the games today!