With the Final Four coming up on Saturday, April 6 on TBS let’s recap the Elite Eight which took place Saturday, March 30 as well as Sunday, March 31. The Elite Eight gave us another round of exciting basketball as eight teams battled for a spot in the Final Four in Phoenix, Ariz. at State Farm Stadium. The Elite Eight recap will include two one-seeds, a two-seed, a three-seed, two four-seeds, a six-seed, and of course, the team everyone has fallen in love with this year, the Cinderella team of the 2024 men’s tournament, 11-seed NC State. This year’s Elite Eight was dominated largely by the higher seeds, with one major exception. Find out below what lower seed managed a pretty convincing upset in this year’s Elite Eight.

(1) UConn vs (3) Illinois

After dominating performances in the first three rounds, last year’s National Champions, UConn once again found themselves in the Elite Eight in 2024. So far, UConn has taken down 16-seed Stetson, nine-seed Northwestern, and five-seed San Diego State. In those games, their closest margin of victory was 17 points, and came in the second round against Northwestern.

Meanwhile, Illionois’s path to this year’s Elite Eight looks a little different than UConn’s. Illinois’s largest margin of victory is the same as UConn’s narrowest margin of victory at 17 points. This 17-point victory came in the first round against 14-seed Morehead State. In the second round, Illinois took out 11-seed Duquesne. Then, in the Sweet 16, they narrowly escaped with a three-point victory against two-seed Iowa State.

First Half

The first game of my Elite Eight recap, UConn came out of the TD Garden’s locker room looking like they have throughout the first three rounds of this year’s tournament, simply put, unbeatable. In the first four minutes of the game, they managed to get out to a 9-0 lead over Illinois. However, Illinois would finally get their offense going and found themselves down only two after the first ten minutes of the game. The remaining ten minutes of the first half continued to be highly competitive. With less than two minutes to go, Illinois actually managed to tie the game at 23. UConn would pull back ahead slightly before half as both teams went to the locker room with UConn leading 28-23.

Second half

The second half started very similar to the first with UConn looking like they were out to prove a point. Only, this half they were doing it in a dominant fashion. While Illinois was able to scrap and claw their way back into the first half, it appeared UConn was not going to let that happen in the second half. The UConn Huskies kept the Illinois Fighting Illini scoreless for the first seven minutes of the second half! At the same time, they managed to put up 25 points of their own. After the first seven minutes of the second half, UConn went from leading 28-23 to now leading 53-23. After this run the game was never competitive again, Illinois was never able to make a run big enough to get themselves back into this game. UConn would eventually go on to win 77-52. UConn will now go back to the Final Four to face the winner of Alabama vs Clemson (coming up in my Elite Eight recap).

(6) Clemson vs (4) Alabama

Alabama finds themselves in the Elite Eight after a run through this year’s tournament that includes taking down a one-seed. In the first round Alabama put on an offensive showcase with little signs of defense as they took down Charleston 109-96. The second round would be their lowest-scoring game of the tournament, taking down 12-seed Grand Canyon 72-61. Then in the Sweet 16, Alabama would take on one-seed North Carolina. This would prove to be their toughest matchup yet as they barely managed an 89-87 victory.

Clemson managed their way into the Elite Eight by winning games with a narrowing margin of victory in each of the first three rounds. In round one, Clemson took on 11-seed New Mexico and came out with a 21-point win. Their second-round matchup pitted them against three-seed Baylor. Clemson was able to finish that game with an eight-point win. Finally in the Sweet 16, Clemson faced off against two-seed Arizona and was able to narrowly win 77-72.

First half

In the final game on Saturday of my Elite Eight recap, Clemson got out to an early 6-0 lead. However, Alabama was quickly able to close the gap, tying the game at six just over three minutes into the game. After the first ten minutes of play, Alabama found themselves trailing 18-13. Clemson would proceed to go on a run, extending the lead to 13 at one point. Alabama was quick to answer cutting the lead back down to just two with less than five minutes remaining in the first half. With just under three minutes remaining, Alabama hit a corner three that would give them a one-point lead. Alabama ended up taking a 35-32 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Second half

The second half started out very competitive. Each team came out of the locker room making baskets early on in the second half. After the first five minutes of the second half, Alabama was holding onto a 49-45 lead. After a few made threes, Alabama was able to extend their lead out to nine. They were able to hold onto this nine-point lead for a while. With just under four minutes remaining in the game, Alabama was still holding onto that nine-point lead. Clemson would find some fight late and a three-pointer with just over two minutes remaining even cut the lead down to three. But Alabama would eventually come out victorious by a score of 89-82. Alabama will now face defending national champions UConn in the Final Four.

(1) Purdue vs (2) Tennessee

Purdue’s path to the Elite Eight was pretty convincing if you ask me. To recap how they got to the Elite Eight, the Boilermakers closest game was a 12-point margin of victory. They also have not allowed a team to score more than 70 points in any of their matchups in this tournament. It started off with a 78-50 stomping of 16-seed Grambling State. Then, in the second round, they proceeded to score 106 points against eight-seed Utah State in a commanding 39-point win. In the Sweet 16, they met up with five-seed Gonzaga, who would prove to be their toughest matchup to this point. The game against Gonzaga resulted in an 80-68 victory for Purdue.

Tennessee’s path to the Elite Eight was much tighter than Purdue’s. It started really well, they managed to beat 15-seed Saint Peter’s 83-49. In their second-round matchup, Tennessee took on seven-seed Texas. In this matchup, Tennessee came out on top 62-58 in a closely contested matchup. Their Sweet 16 game was another nail-biter for Tennessee fans as they took down three-seed Creighton 82-75.

First half

The first game from Sunday on my Elite Eight recap pits one-seed Purdue against two-seed Tennessee. Zach Edey started things off by scoring Purdue’s first four points of the game. Although Zach Edey was off to a hot start, this game started out extremely close. Both teams battled for not only the lead but also the momentum that is so crucial to winning in March Madness. After the first ten minutes of play, the game was tied at 17. Tennesse did manage to go on a run over the next five minutes. With 5:11 on the clock, Tennessee was leading 32-21. However, after trailing by 11, Purdue would not allow another basket from Tennessee until there were only 43 seconds remaining in the half. In that time, Purdue managed to close the gap and eventually took a lead late in the half. Both teams hit the locker rooms with Purdue holding onto a narrow 36-34 lead.

Second half

Early on in the second half, it seemed like Tennessee had made the proper halftime adjustments to come out and keep this a competitive game. Within the first minute, Tennessee had taken a 39-38 lead. Tennessee was managing to keep this a competitive game. This was largely due to a 13-point run from Dalton Knecht, who was the only Tennessee player to score a point for a stretch reaching from 5:55 remaining in the first half all the way until there was 17:19 remaining in the second half. For almost nine minutes straight, Tennessee relied solely on Knecht to keep them in this game. After ten minutes of second-half play, Purdue was leading 54-48. With 8:55 remaining, Tennesse was able to cut the lead to just two, and after a 7-0 run it felt as though Tennessee might have the momentum needed to close this game out. Shortly after cutting the deficit, Tennessee hit a corner three that would tie the game at 56. Purdue would continue to rely on big man Zach Edey for much of the rest of the game. While Knecht had a tremendous game scoring 37 points, it wasn’t quite enough to take down Purdue and Zach Edey who had a legendary game with 16 rebounds and a career-high 40 points.

(4) Duke vs (11) NC State

Duke had a pretty cushiony run up until the Sweet 16. In the first round, Duke faced off with 13-seed Vermont. Duke won this game 64-47. Then in the second round, they took on 12-seed James Madison. Duke would put on an offensive and defensive showcase in this game, winning by a score of 93-55. Finally, in their Sweet 16 matchup against one-seed Houston, Duke had a tight matchup. Duke would eventually go on to take down the one-seed by a score of 54-51. Duke advanced to the Elite Eight with a narrow three-point victory.

NC State’s run has captured the hearts of millions of Americans. an 11-seed who has managed their way into the Elite Eight on the back of lovable big man DJ Burns Jr. In the first round, NC State took down six-seed Texas Tech 80-67. Their second-round matchup was a little bit closer with NC State taking down 14-seed Oakland 79-73. The Sweet 16 brought with it two-seed Marquette for NC State to face off with next. NC State upset Marquette 67-58.

First half

This game started out close with both teams trading a couple of baskets early. DJ Burns Jr. was off to a hot start, scoring NC State’s first two baskets on mid-range jumpers. after the first couple of baskets, both teams went cold for a stretch. Five minutes into the game, NC State was leading 6-4. Ten minutes into the game, Duke managed to get ahead and was now leading 15-11. As the first half clock struck zero, Duke was holding onto a 27-21 lead.

Second half

In the second half, Burns came out hot once again scoring the first basket of the half on NC State’s first possession. After the first five minutes of the second half, Duke was still managing to hold on to a 33-29 lead. With 13:24 left on the clock, DJ Horne hit a three-pointer that cut the lead to just one. About 30 seconds later, Horne hit a pair of free throws that gave NC State a 36-35 lead. After going back and forth for a while, NC State was able to slowly extend their lead. With just five minutes remaining, NC State was leading 56-44. NC State would hold onto their lead and eventually won 76-64. The driving force behind this unlikely victory for NC State was of course, once again, DJ Burns Jr. who scored 29 points on 13-19 from the field. America’s Cinderella story continues for at least another week before NC State faces off with Purdue in the Final Four.

What’s next?

Now that we have finished the men’s Elite Eight recap, we look forward to the Final Four. The first matchup of the Final Four on Saturday, April 6 will pit one-seed Purdue against 11-seed NC State. The second matchup on Saturday night will be one-seed UConn taking on four-seed Alabama. While I may not know what the Final Four has in store, I do know one thing at least. I know America will be rooting for NC State.

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