Quite the chalky Eight Eight

Good morning! If you’re thinking the men’s NCAA Tournament is nothing but favorites remaining, you’d be right. It’s mostly 1s vs. 2s in the Elite Eight in the chalkiest regional final grouping since 2007. But hey, the games should be awesome, right?

Let’s dive in.

1. Houston, Auburn win; an all 1-seed Final Four looms

For the second-straight night, the NCAA Tournament’s late game delivered quite the dramatic finish. It just lacked the remarkable rally.

Houston’s 62-60 win over 4-seed Purdue in the Midwest Regional semifinals sure seemed headed for overtime on Friday night. But a perfectly executed out-of-bounds play gave us an even more memorable finish.

Afterward, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson explained his team sent plenty of time this week practicing that play, called “51,” which actually was designed for guard L.J. Cryer to get the pass. Instead, big man JoJo Tugler got the ball and and adjusted in real time.

“The play was for (Cryer). They guarded JoJo wrong, he slipped to the ball,” Uzan said, via the Houston Chronicle. “JoJo with his high IQ, gave it right back to me and was able to make a play.”

Uzan not only got the game-winning basket, but capped a night where he was frequently the only reliable scoring option for the Cougars (33-4). Cryer, the team’s leading scorer, was just 2-of-13 and finished with 5 point. Tugler and J’Wan Roberts combined for 8 points. Emanuel Sharp was the only other Houston player in double figures, but he needed 14 shots to score 17.

Much of X.com focused on a couple of late calls that benefitted Houston, including a no-call on Uzan in the final five seconds. I preferred the analysis on the BLOB, and the praising of Boilermakers point guard Braden Smith, who dished 15 assists (the only player in tourney history with two 15-assists games) and controlled much of the game’s flow.

Purdue (24-12) came up short of its second-straight Elite Eight, while Houston will be in its third regional final in the last five years.

Also in the Eight Eight? Four SEC teams, marking just the third time in tournament history that’s happened.

Auburn, the top seed in the South Region, joined that club with its 78-65 win over 5-seed Michigan. It took some work.

The Wolverines (27-10) led by nine points during the second half, but Auburn used a 20-2 run to grab the lead, and ultimately outscored them 39-17 over the final 12+ minutes for their third Elite Eight in program history.

A giant part of that was freshman Tahaad Pettiford, who scored 20 points, much of it on superb shot-making and perimeter shooting.

He’s developed quite the on-court relationship with big man Johni Broome (who scored a team-high 22 points) and ensured the Tigers (31-5) didn’t flounder when their offense broke down in half-court sets.

And now? the weekend’s games should be awesome. The eight remaining teams comprise eight of the top nine teams on KenPom. That’s a hoops lover’s dream.

2. Michigan St. rallies, Tennessee rolls

Friday’s early matchups produced two wildly contrasting games, but the end results were the same as much of the 2025 tournament: The favorites won.

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