March Madness: Elite Eight
The men’s Elite Eight is underway with the Final Four set for Indianapolis — semifinals on April 4 and the title game on April 6. Analytics currently peg Michigan as a narrow favorite amid a tightly bunched field and heavy Big Ten representation, so every bracket swing this weekend matters. ( )
Elite Eight regional finals are set for March 28–29 with these scheduled matchups: (3) Illinois vs. (9) Iowa at 6:09 p.m. ET and (1) Arizona vs. (2) Purdue at 8:49 p.m. ET on March 28, followed by (1) Michigan vs. (6) Tennessee at 2:15 p.m. ET and (1) Duke vs. (2) UConn at 5:05 p.m. ET on March 29. (ncaa.com) Four Big Ten programs — Michigan, Illinois, Purdue and Iowa — represent half of the Elite Eight, the conference’s deepest showing in this stage of the 2026 tournament. (usatoday.com) Michigan opened the tournament with a 101–80 win over Howard and followed with a 95–72 second-round victory over Saint Louis en route to its regional final; the Wolverines entered the bracket as a No. 1 seed in the Midwest. (ncaa.com) Betting markets list Duke as the top title favorite at roughly +300 while Michigan sits among the next-best odds at about +350, and prognostic models including Nate Silver’s updated bracket probabilities have published round-by-round chances for every team. (sportingnews.com) Tennessee, the No. 6 seed that advanced to face Michigan in the Midwest final, leans on a backcourt duo led by Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament, a matchup profile CBS singled out as a reason Tennessee could challenge a top seed. (cbssports.com) Three No. 1 seeds remain in the field — Duke, Michigan and Arizona — meaning the bracket still contains multiple top-seed paths to the Final Four and several two-vs-one regional finals (Arizona vs. Purdue and Duke vs. UConn) that could swing favorites’ title probabilities. (ncaa.com)
