The Midwest region has lived up to the billing, with Purdue two wins closer to redemption and an exciting clash of styles between Tennessee and Creighton on the horizon in the Sweet 16.
After hearing all about the shocking first-round loss to Fairleigh Dickinson last year, the Boilermakers look dead set on pulling off a Virginia-esque bounce back run to a National Championship. Their win over Utah State was major evidence of that, as they totally dismantled a strong Aggie team.
They face a Gonzaga team that utilized a monstrous second half performance to blast Kansas out of the tournament. After a slightly subpar regular season, the Zags are starting to look like the high-level team we're used to seeing, now in their ninth consecutive Sweet 16.
Creighton survived a huge scare from a seriously fatigued Oregon team in double overtime in the second round, while Tennessee also went down to the wire with Texas in its own second round matchup.
With plenty of anticipation for these excellent matchups on Friday night, here are our official predictions for which two of these teams will meet up in the Elite 8 on Sunday.
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(5) Gonzaga vs. (1) Purdue
Time: 7:39 PM EST, Friday
Channel: TBS
How They Got Here: Gonzaga defeated McNeese State, Kansas. Purdue defeated Grambling State, Utah State.
Odds: Purdue -5.5
Super star center Zach Edey delivered a masterclass in the first two rounds for Purdue, and the Boilermakers backcourt combination of Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer has been at the top of its game.
If Purdue is going to continue this run, that will need to continue against a Gonzaga team that can run and score the ball at a very high level. The Bulldogs play fast and have four players averaging over 12.5 points per game, which includes distributor extraordinaire Ryan Nembhard, who averages 6.9 assists per game.
This has been billed as the weakest iteration of Gonzaga basketball in a while, but it certainly does not look like that right now. McNeese State was a very trendy upset pick, but the Zags made quick work of putting that notion to bed.
The two teams met in the regular season at the Maui Invitational with Purdue winning 73-63, and there are a few things we can glean from that game, long ago as it may have been.
Gonzaga actually was fully in control of that game into the second half, before the Boilermakers tightened up defensively and forced the Bulldogs into a few lengthy scoring droughts. Both teams shot the ball miserably from three-point range, so expect a higher-scoring game this time around.
Edey dominated the glass with 14 rebounds in that game, and while we think this one will be close, Zach Edey's ability to grab second-chance opportunities and spring his offense with defensive rebounds should prove to be the difference.
The Pick: 79-75, Purdue
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(3) Creighton vs. (2) Tennessee
Time: 10:09 PM EST, Friday
Channel: TBS
How They Got Here: Creighton defeated Akron, Oregon. Tennessee defeated Saint Peter's, Texas.
Odds: Tennessee -2.5
There are all sorts of exciting things about this matchup on paper, starting with a showdown between two of the most prolific scorers in college basketball in Tennessee's Dalton Knecht and Creighton's Baylor Scheierman.
While Knecht carries his team on his back offensively, Scheierman has significant help in the form of center Ryan Kalkbrenner (17.4 points per game) and Trey Alexander (17.7 ppg).
This is a result of Creighton's three-point happy, fast-paced offense that allows their stars lots of possessions to get opportunities. Scheierman and Alexander shoot the ball well from deep, and Kalkbrenner creates all sorts of mismatches down low while finishing up a lot of misses on the offensive glass.
They're going to meet a good match for that style in this game, as Tennessee features center Jonas Aidoo to try to line up against Kalkbrenner, while the Volunteers have plenty of strong defenders at guard and on the wing and will look to slow the pace of the Bluejays down to a point they're more comfortable with.
Normally in this sort of matchup, I'd pick the faster and more offensively gifted team, and there's no doubt that Creighton is that, but we've seen physical teams give the Bluejays trouble in recent years, and there's no team more physical than Rick Barnes' Volunteers. We have seen this team get into slugfests in the tournament, drag a team down to their style, and beat them. Last year's win over Duke immediately springs to mind. Vols, close.
The Pick: 67-64, Tennessee
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