Friday Night Has Been Wild in The NCAA Tournament

Okay so last night I went 2 for 4. Not bad. If I were a baseball player, I would be in the Hall of Fame. Apparently UConn is not as affected by the off court issues as much as I thought they would be and Coach K did not prepare for Villanova manhandling and basically running the Dukies out of the gym. At least Missouri lived up to its billing hanging 102 on Memphis in regulation.

But the great thing about the NCAA Tournament being played on Thursday night is that it also played on Friday night. And this year, Friday night has been a wild one.

A week ago we had upsets galore and two overtime games in the matches that tipped off after dinner. Tonight is shaping up to be almost as good but the upsets might not be as plentiful.

Louisville and Arizona will kick off the festivities and the Wildcats are the only double-digit seed left in the tournament. But this is Louisville's tournament to lose and I think the Cardinal will easily dispatch Zona, who by making it to the Sweet Sixteen proved a lot of doubters wrong.

Syracuse and Oklahoma will tip of in the second game of the first session and this is a game a lot of people will be waiting to tune into. I am included in that group. The Big East has fared well in the Sweet Sixteen, 3-0 last night. But the Orange will run into the Big Beast in Oklahoma's Blake Griffin. Griffin has shown why he is the player of the year throughout this tournament and I think Syracuse will have no answer for him inside. If the Cuse can hit the 3-point shot tonight, they can stay with Oklahoma but I think the Sooners will move on to the elite eight.

Kansas and Michigan State will open up the second round of games in a matchup that most people are probably overlooking. The Big Ten has sent seven teams to the Final Four since 2000 and Sparty is the last shot for the conference in this year's tournament. The problem for Michigan State and Tom Izzo is that you don't know which team is going to show up. Is it the squad that lost at home to Northwestern or the team that was in the top 10 of the rankings for most of the season. I think Michigan State will play well but Kansas will outlast the Spartans to advance.

The final game of the Sweet Sixteen will be North Carolina and Gonzaga. The Zags have a good inside/outside game and have shown a steady hand throughout the first and second rounds. Western Kentucky gave them a scare but Gonzaga didn't panic winning the game on a last second shot. But where Gonzaga lacks is in depth which is not an issue for Roy Williams and the Tarheels. North Carolina will wear down a game Bulldog team and become the fourth No. 1 into the elite eight.