Many people love March Madness with their heart and soul, until their bracket is broken, especially due to upsets. March Madness Elite 8 consisted of the Duke Blue Devils, Michigan State Spartans, Gonzaga Bulldogs, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Virginia Cavaliers, Purdue Boilermakers, Auburn Tigers and Kentucky Wildcats.
Duke vs. Michigan State
Tip off Zion Williamson got the ball passes to guard Tre Jones who brought the ball down court. Forward Rj Barrett got the ball and passed to the forward Javin Delaurier, but he wasn’t ready, so he turned the ball to Rj Barrett from Michigan State who then tossed it to center Marques Bolden, who dunked the ball to make the first basket of the night. Duke then came back and opened up the defense to complete their first basket as a dunk. With 15 minutes left in the first half. Duke was down by five with 9:30 left. Duke tied the score at 16, bringing the Blue Devils up to speed against the Spartans. By five minutes, the Blue Devils gained a small nine point lead, but the spartans didn’t like that so they decided to take action and show the Blue Devils how they roll to tie the game ending the first half. The game stayed neck and neck into the second half, with both teams showing excellent defense while bringing the heat on offense. With 5.2 seconds left in the game, the score was 68-66, and Duke was down by two points. Rj Barrett stepped up to the free throw line and missed his first and made his second. Michigan got the ball into play, but was immediately fouled by Duke. With Duke down by one, Michigan brought the ball into play. Guard Cassius Winston grabbed the ball and quickly runs down court winding down what little seconds Duke had left ensuring Michigan’s presence in at Minneapolis.
This outcome left many brackets broken and many March Madness fans upset, including Isaac Smith, sophomore sports management major said, “Well, I love college basketball and the Duke, UNC rivalry, so in my brackets I had Duke vs. UNC in the National Championship game. I played with Zion back in seventh grade, so I was really rooting for Duke to win it all. Since Duke got knocked out, I probably won’t even watch the rest of the tournament. I feel like the ratings and views will drop since they didn’t make it.”
Gonzaga vs. Texas Tech
Tip off; Forward Brandon Clarke got the ball and brought it down court where Gonzaga made a turn over, giving the ball to Texas Tech who made the first basket of the game. Gonzaga comes back down court, making a shot and tying the game in the first half. With 12 minutes left in the first, the score was 13-11 Texas Tech. After guard Matt Mooney made an amazing three, he put Texas Tech in the lead by two points. The game throughout the first half was neck and neck. Both teams locked down on defense and showed up on offense. With 7 minutes left in the first half, the score was tied at 24 until both teams took a couple shots. Going into the second half, the score was tied up at 37. A minute left in the game and the score was 68-62 Texas Tech. Gonzaga regained control of the ball and forward Rui Hachimura shot but is blocked by forward Tariq Owens of Texas Tech. With 54 seconds left in the game, the score was 69-64. The score then became 75-69 when Gonzaga regained possession, but missed the shot, ensuring Texas Tech’s place in the Final Four.
Virginia vs. Purdue
At tip off Purdue got possession. Forward Grady Eifert passed the ball to guard Nojel Eastern and he brought the ball down the court. They rotated the ball a little bit which got it to guard Ryan Cline who knocked down a three, scoring the first points of the game. Virginia gained possession of the ball and brought it down court and got the pass to forward Mamadi Diakite in the paint, scoring Virginia’s first points of the game. Purdue kept the lead throughout the first half. It wasn’t until the second half that Virginia’s guard Kyle Guy got the ball outside the three point line and shot, putting Virginia ahead of Purdue, 32-30. Once Virginia got hot, they continued to blaze, keeping the lead during the second half. It wasn’t until there were four minutes left in the game that Purdue regained the lead by one, making the score 64-63. With 16 seconds left the score becomes 69, 63 Purdue’s Mamadi Diakite stepped up to the free throw line. He made the first shot and missed the second, leaving the score 70-67. With 14.3 seconds left, Gonzaga’s guard Joel Ayayi stepped up to the free throw, making the first shot and missing the second leaving the score 70-68 Purdue. Purdue put the ball in play and the ball was knocked down the court by Gonzaga. Guard Geno Crandall regained control of the ball for Gonzaga and passed the ball Zach Norvell who made a bank shot, clearing out the time left on the clock and tying the game at 70, pushing the game into overtime. The score became 78-75. Virginia’s Kihei Clark stepped to the free throw line. With 1.3 seconds left in overtime, Kihei Clark made both shots, guaranteeing the Final Four spot for Virginia and leaving the final score 75-80.
Auburn vs. Kentucky
At tip off, Auburn got the ball and brought it down court, making a turn over and giving the ball to Kentucky. Guard Ashton Hagans came down the court and made a pass in the paint to forward Reid Travis who made the layup. putting up the first points of the game. Auburn brought the ball down the court and again shot and missed, turning the ball over to Kentucky. Kentucky ran down the court on a fast break and made another layup, pushing Kentucky up by four points. Coming out of the gate, Kentucky kept the lead on Auburn, their biggest lead by 10 points, throughout the first half. In the second half, Kentucky continued to hold the lead, with the score now 30-35. With 17 minutes left, the score was tied at 37. With 10 seconds left in the game, the score was tied at 60. Kentucky tried to put up bank shots but missed and then rebounded by Auburn, who rushed down the court. Auburn held the ball, passing back and forth and waiting until the final three seconds to shoot. They missed the shot, taking the game into overtime. During overtime, Auburn hit the ground running in the beginning, not giving Kentucky any chances to score. With 20 seconds left in overtime, the score was 74-71 Auburn. With five seconds left, Auburn got Kentucky’s rebound, throwing it down court and enjoying their new found spot in the Final Four.
Lots of brackets were broken this year in the Elite Eight. The Auburn Tigers, the Virginia Cavaliers, the Michigan State Spartans and the Texas Tech Red Raiders are in the Final Four amd only a few brackets are left intact.
