Wins upset by SDSU, Miami establishes historic Elite Eight field
Parity has arrived in NCAA men’s basketball and the proof is in this year’s March Madness action.
On Friday, top-seeded teams Alabama and Houston lost in the Sweet 16, securing the first Elite Eight in NCAA Tournament history without a No. 1 seed.
Two No. 1 seeds had already seen their seasons ended before Friday’s action, with Purdue facing No. 16 Farleigh Dickinson in the first round and Kansas losing to No. 8 Arkansas in the round of 16. for a historic Friday.
The first upset of the night came from fifth-seeded San Diego State, which upset No. 1 seed Alabama by a final score of 71-64. With the huge upset, the Aztecs secured their ticket to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history, further becoming the first team from the Mountain West Conference to play for a spot in the Final Four.
Another fifth seed, the Miami Hurricanes, would go on to cap the carnage, cementing this once-in-a-lifetime Elite Eight with a proper 14-point blowout from Houston.
By CBS Sportswith Miami’s victory, Hurricanes head coach Jim Larranaga became only the third head coach to make three Elite Eight appearances at the helm of a team five or fewer seeds, joining the legends Tom Izzo and John Chaney.
The men’s win comes on the same day the Miami women’s team won its first trip to the Elite Eight in program history. After knocking out No. 1 Indiana earlier in the week, Miami beat No. 4 Villanova on Friday, taking the win by a final score of 70-65.
The NCAA Tournament is always hard to predict, but it would have been essentially blind luck to predict this particular Elite Eight – the lack of a No. 1 seed at this point, again, had never happened before. Still 11 games to play in the tournament.
Sports Grp1
