The 2023 NCAA Tournament has reached one of its most iconic points in its annual schedule: The Elite Eight. Saturday’s two regional finals will send the winning teams on to college basketball’s biggest stage, the Final Four, where they’ll play for a shot at the national championship in Houston. All the chaos of the early rounds is brought to a head here in the Elite Eight, with just one team emerging from each corner of the bracket.
And while there is some sadness that we no longer have wall-to-wall tournament action for 12 hours or need to flip back and forth between games, there is some urgency in the scarcity. This is the end of the road for the 2023 season, so just like the teams looking to capitalize on each remaining opportunity, there is an entire collection of sports fans who tune in to the Elite Eight to soak up each last shining moment.
Saturday’s Elite Eight action starts with the East Regional final between No. 3 seed Kansas State against No. 9 seed FAU and will be followed by the West Regional final between No. 3 seed Gonzaga and No. 4 seed UConn.
Let’s get into some key storylines heading into both games.
Battle of the bigs
The battles on the block between Gonzaga center Drew Timme and UConn forward Adama Sanogo will be entertainment worthy of its own promotional billboard in Las Vegas, advertising a clash of bigs that will determine the tournament fate of two proud programs. Timme is coming off an all-time NCAA Tournament performance with 36 points and 13 rebounds in the Sweet 16 win against UCLA, setting a new tournament record with 10 games of at least 20 points. Now stepping on the court for his 13th career NCAA Tournament game, Timme likely needs another big performance to keep Gonzaga’s title hopes alive.
That path to Houston currently runs right through Sanogo, who lacks Timme’s tournament experience but is playing at an elite level, averaging 23.3 points…
..
