Thursday night’s slate of games didn’t disappoint! Well, maybe some of you college hoops fanatics were disappointed by the giant slaying that went on last night. The 5th Seeded Houston Cougars won the catfight with the Arizona Wildcats. Houston played tough last night–real tough, and as I said in my post last night–Coach Kelvin Sampson has the 2022 Cougars looking like my all-time favorite college b-ball team, Phi Slamma Jama! For you Millennials, Gen Y, and Zer’s stay tuned. I am contemplating writing a post about the 1983 NCAA Tournament runner-up (oh the pain). Anyway, the Cougars are playing like they are on a mission to play for the National Championship. We shall see.

The Arkansas Razorbacks played with a huge chip on their shoulders last night and thumped overall No. 1 Tournament seed, Gonzaga, out of the tournament. The Arkansas Razorbacks were relentless in their game against The Bulldogs responding to each Zag run or attempted run with razor focus. The Razorbacks intense focus helped them outplay and defeat the Zags en route to a Saturday night match-up with the Duke Blue Devils who survived against the Red Raiders of Texas Tech and extended Coach K’s final tournament run before his retirement.

Finally, another team of Cats–the Villanova Wildcats continued their steady play during this year’s tournament defeating the Michigan Wolverines to advance to the Elite Eight on Saturday night.

Tonight’s slate of games features the final eight Elite Eight wannabes and should prove to be just as thrilling and exciting as last night’s games.

Here are my predictions for tonight’s games:

(3) Purdue University Boilermakers v. (15) St. Peter’s University Peacocks

I heard that today is National Peacock day or something like that. A few prognosticators are attributing some sort of magical effect or karma to St. Peter’s because of this . . . I say, “Fuhgeddaboutit!” The Cinderella Peacocks have been live on stage during the tournament but I think their glass slipper shatters tonight against the Boilermaker’s, the Big Ten’s last representative. Taking nothing at all from St. Peter’s–I just believe that Purdue got too much everything in this game and Head Coach Matt Painter will have the Boilermakers ready to play as they locomotive into the Elite Eight.

(4) UCLA Bruins v. (8) North Carolina Tarheels

This one is a really hard call–but, I am rolling with the Tarheels in this one because the Heels have been playing some great ball the last month or so of the season. UCLA has enough firepower to come out on top in this one but I believe the Tarheels edge the Bruins out in this one.

(10) Miami Hurricane v. (11) Iowa State Cyclones

Honestly, this game is a toss-up between two teams that play very tough and gritty. Whoever grinds the hardest will most likely prevail. However, I am more familiar with the Hurricane hoop squad and know that they go hard when they go hard. No slight to the Cyclones of Iowa State because when they make it to the Big Dance they usually show up and show out. Yet, in this game of storms–the Hurricane will be bigger, faster, and much stronger. Put the win on the board for the Hurricane!

(1)Kansas Jayhawks v. (4) Providence Friars

This may very well be the best game of the evening. The last No. 1 seed still standing, I have the Kansas Jayhawks winning it all this year. This is huge because I normally exit the Jayhawks early in the tourney based on their historical post-season tournament performance. However, I paid special attention to this year’s team and by golly, I believe the men from the Jayhawk state have what it takes to run the table in this year’s tournament. Nevertheless, I love the Providence Friar’s hoops squad too–they have been balling out all season and could turn the tables if Kansas doesn’t come to play. This is a very close game, and I predict that in the end, the Jayhawks rise triumphantly.