2009 NCAA Basketball tournament Elite Eight

With the Sweet Sixteen matchups halfway done, Friday will produce the Elite Eight in the 2009 NCAA tournament. Number one teams from the East and West Region has moved on which produces the possibility of all Number 1 teams from all four regions reaching the Final Four in back-to-back years.

East Region:

The East Region of the NCAA bracket saw the first seed, Pittsburgh defeat Xavier 60-55 and Villanova beating down coach K and the Duke Blue Devils. This is the first time the Villanova Wildcats has beaten Duke in more than 50 years. Duke was overtaken by a much stronger and powerful Villanova team.

West Region:

In the West, Connecticut overcame the NCAA recruting violations controversy to beat Purdue handedly 72-60 . UConn is under investigation for violating NCAA rules during its recruitment of Nate Miles and many thought the distraction would be too much for the Huskies team. However, the team came out and outrebounded Purdue 48-33 to dominate the game.
In the other game, Memphis failed to reach the finals in back-to-back years as they lost to the Missouri Tigers 102-91 in a high-scoring affair. It does not get any easier for Missouri as they are set to play the powerful UConn team on March 28th at 4:40pm EDT.

Midwest Region:

Videos

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Photos

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Many wonders what time the tipoff is for the March 27 game.
In the Midwest, the favorite Louisville is set to play Arizona at 7:07pm ET and last year's NCAA champions, the Kansas Jayhawks is facing off against the second ranked team, Michigan State at 9:37pm ET. The winner of these two games will play each other to qualify for the 2009 NCAA Final Four.

South Region:

The top four teams from the South are still in the NCAA March Madness with number one UNC playing fourth seed Gonzaga at 9:57pm ET and number two Oklahoma Sooners and its' star player Blake Griffin facing the third seed Syracuse at 7:27pm ET.

We are four games away from finalizing the Elite Eight and with all the number one seeded teams in each region still in it, the NCAA tournament may see power-house teams playing each other in the Final Four once again in 2009.