Sunday's Elite Eight Preview And Open Thread (Now With More Correct Pairings, Baked Right In!!!)

It's getting down to crunch time, as the final participants in the Final Four will punch their tickets today.

Michigan State takes on Louisville at 2:20 p.m. on CBS, followed by Gonzaga and Duke going at it with the South region crown on the line (editor's note: you might have heard that Duke played Notre Dame last night. If so, your informant was likely grappling with a one year old when he wrote that and got his eyes crossed while looking at the schedule. I'm sure he regrets the error, though not picking Kentucky to win the tournament.)

I'm just not inclined to bet against the Spartans right now, as they've played about as far over their seeding as any team in the tournament thus far. That's partially a result of the fact that they were as under-seeded as any team. If this MSU squad was a #7 seed then I'm Tom Izzo's personal chitlin chef. But make no mistake, Sparty's playing good basketball right now. Of course Louisville has also looked a good bit stronger than they did earlier in the year. So really a win by either squad wouldn't be very surprising for me in this one.

Gonzaga has a chance to prove once and for all that they're more than a mid-major team that breezes into the tournament every year off a marginal schedule. At this point I don't think that's even close to a fair assessment of the solid program Mark Few has built. But then, I have them joining Kentucky in the title game, so I may not be an impartial observer. Everybody enjoy your bouncy hoops! And . . .

Go 'Dawgs!!!