NCAA DI Men's Basketball Tournament: Elite 8 Predictions

Photo and story by Robert H Kelly

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved

PASADENA, TEXAS (March 19, 2023) The Elite 8 round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament will  take place on Saturday, March 25 and Sunday, March 26 are listed below. My predictions are below:

Saturday, March 25 

• No. 3 Kansas State over No. 9 Florida Atlantic 
• No. 3 Gonzaga over No. 4 UConn

Sunday, March 26 

• No. 5 San Diego State over No. 6 Creighton 
• No. 2 Texas over No. 5 Miami (Fla.) 

NCAA DI Men's Basketball Tournament: March 19, 2023 Predictions

 

Story and photo by Robert H Kelly

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved

PASADENA, TEXAS (March 19, 2023) The second round of games of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament will continue at various sites around the United States. The eight games that will take place on Saturday, March 19, 2023 are listed below. My predictions, along with game times (EDT), and broadcast networks are also indicated.

No. 3 Xavier over No. 11 Pitt | 12:10 p.m. | CBS

No. 3 Kansas State over No. 6 Kentucky | 2:40 p.m. | CBS

No. 2 Marquette over No. 7 Michigan State | 5:15 p.m. | CBS

No. 4 UConn over No. 5 Saint Mary's | 6:10 p.m. | TNT

No. 3 Baylor over. No. 6 Creighton | 7:10 p.m. | TBS

No. 9 Florida Atlantic over No. 16 FDU | 7:45 p.m. | truTV

No. 4 Indiana over No. 5 Miami (Fla.) | 8:40 p.m. | TNT

No. 3 Gonzaga over No. 6 TCU | 9:40 p.m. | TBS

NCAA DI Men's Basketball Tournament: March 17, 2023 Predictions

Story and photo by Robert H Kelly

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved

PASADENA, TEXAS (March 17, 2023) The first round of games of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament will begin at various sites around the United States. The sixteen games that will take place on Thursday, March 17, 2023 are listed below. My predictions, along with game times (EDT), and broadcast networks are also indicated.

No. 7 Michigan State over No. 10 USC | 12:15 p.m. |CBS 

No. 3 Xavier over No. 14 Kennesaw St. | 12:40 p.m. | truTV 

No. 3 Baylor over No. 14 UC Santa Barbara  | 1:30 p.m. | TNT 

No. 5 Saint Mary's over No. 12 VCU | 2 p.m. | TBS

No. 2 Marquette over No. 15 Vermont | 2:45 p.m. | CBS 

No. 6 Iowa State  over No. 11 Pitt | 3:10 p.m. | truTV 

No. 11 NC State over.No. 6 Creighton| 4 p.m. | TNT 

No. 4 UConn over No. 13 Iona | 4:30 p.m. | TBS

No. 1 Purdue over No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson  | 6:50 p.m. | TNT 

No. 6 Kentucky over No. 11 Providence | 7:10 p.m. | CBS 

No. 12 Drake vs. No. 5 Miami | 7:25 p.m | TBS 

No. 3 Gonzaga over No. 14 Grand Canyon| 7:35 p.m. | truTV 

No. 8 Memphis over No. 9 Florida Atlantic | 9:20 p.m.| TNT

No. 3 Kansas St. over No. 14 Montana St. | 9:40 p.m. | CBS 

No. 4 Indiana over No. 13 Kent State  | 9:55 p.m. | TBS 

No. 6 TCU over No. 11 Arizona State | 10:05 p.m. | truTV

RESULTS: First Round, Day 1 Results from NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championships.

Story and photo by Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved

PASADENA, TEXAS (March 16, 2023) The first slate of 16 games in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championships are completed My predictions saw 11 correct outcomes with five of my selections fall. The results of these games are below, broken down by correct predictions and five upsets (By MY picks. They are underlined).

CORRECT PREDICTIONS

No. 7 Missouri 76,  No. 10 Utah State 65  

No. 1 Kansas 86,  No. 16 Howard 58 

No. 1 Alabama 96, Texas A&M Corpus Christi 74  

No. 5 San Diego State 63, No. 12 College of Charleston  57 

No. 8 Arkansas 73,  No. 9 Illinois 63  

No. 5 Duke  74, No. 12 Oral Roberts 51  

No. 2 Texas  81,  No. 15 Colgate 61  

No. 7 Northwestern 75,  No. 10 Boise State 67  

No. 1 Houston 63,  No. 16 Northern Kentucky 52  

No. 4 Tennessee 58, No. 13 Louisiana 55  

No. 2 UCLA 86, No. 15 UNC Asheville 53  

UPSETS

No. 9 West Virginia  65,  8 Maryland  67  

No. 4 Virginia 67,  No. 13 Furman 68 

No. 2 Arizona  55, No. 15 Princeton 59 

No. 8 Iowa 75,  No. 9 Auburn 83  

No. 7 Texas A&M 59,  No. 10 Penn State 76  

The biggest upset of the day was No. 15 Princeton knocking off No. 2 Arizona by the score of 68-67. The last time the Tigers won a NCAA Tournament was 1998, when they defeated UNLV 69-57 in the first round.

NCAA March Madness: First Four Results

By Robert H Kelly

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved 

DAYTON, OHIO (March 15, 2023) The results from the First Four (play-in games) of the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Tournament. 

#16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 75, #16 SE Missouri State 71 (next opponent: #1 Alabama on Thursday, March 16)

#11 Pittsburgh over #11 Mississippi State (next opponent: No. 6 Iowa State on Friday, March 17)

#11 Arizona State 98, #11 Nevada 73 (next opponent: No. 6 TCU on Friday, March 17)

#16  Fairleigh Dickinson 84,  #16 Texas Southern 61 (next opponent: #1 Purdue on Friday, March 17)

NCAA March Madness First Four Picks

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved

PASADENA, TEXAS (March 14, 2023) Below are my picks for the First Four games of the 2023 NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Tournament

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

#16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi over # 16 SE Missouri State

#11 Pittsburgh over #11 Mississippi State

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

#11 Arizona State over #11 Nevada

#16 Texas Southern over #16 Fairleigh Dickinson

Bye-Bye Cinderella: Butler Advances To the Championship Game After Beating VCU, 70-62

(Photo by Robert Kelly-TexSport Publications, Copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved.)

By Robert H Kelly Copyright 2011 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (April 2, 2011) With a wham and a bam and not even so much as a “thank you m’am,” the Butler Bulldogs downed a stubborn, yet determined Virginia Commonwealth team 70-62 to return to the title game for the second year in a row at the 2011 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championships.

Playing before a capacity crowd at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, the Bulldogs proved their trip to the championship game in 2010 was not a fluke, where they eventually lost to the Duke Blue Devils 61-59.

In a game marred by poor shooting, the Bulldogs managed to outlast VCU.

Both teams shot less than 40% from the field. Butler was 21 of 59 (35.6%) from two-point range, while VCU chipped in a mere 23 of 58 attempts (39.7%).

Both teams were about equal from three-point range, with Butler hitting 8 of 23 (34.8%) and VCU making 8 of 22 (36.4%). Shevin Mack led all Butler with 24 points, with Matt Howard adding 17 and Shawn Vanzant chipping in 11.

VCU’s Jamie Skeen scored 27 points for the Rams with Bradford Burgess adding 15. In the end, rebounding was the key. Butler out-rebounded VCU 48 to 32 and VCU head coach Shaka Smith was quick to note that fact in the post-game press conference.

“That was a big part of it. I think you can’t get out-rebounded by 16 in a game and expect to win," he said.

Smith also was critical of some of the easy shots that the Rams missed, saying, “[To] be honest with you, we missed a lot of easy shots, too, that if those things go down, instead of being down four late, we might be up two or four.

So there are a few different factors that came into play, but again, Butler was better and they deserved to win."

Butler head coach Brad Stevens said, when questioned on pulling away at the end of the game, “That was two really good teams. VCU has a lot to be proud of.  They inspired a lot of people, including us. They played terrific all the way through."

"We were fortunate to pull that one out," Stevens said. "We had guys make individual plays time and again that were crucial.”

Stevens and his Bulldogs will have to wait until later Saturday evening to find out who they will face in Monday night’s championship final.

Kentucky and Connecticut will face off in the nightcap at Reliant Stadium to determine the other finalist.

2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

Every year, TexSport Publications gets into the mix and makes our predictions on the outcome of the 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

This year is no different. However this year, we will make our predictions after each round instead of the entire tournament at once.

Here are our predictions:

Midwest
Florida
Purdue
Old Dominion
Maryland
Notre Dame
Oregon
Georgia Tech
Wisconsin

West
Kansas
Kentucky
Illinois
Holy Cross
Duke
Pittsburgh
Gonzaga
UCLA

East
North Carolina
Marquette
Southern Cal.
Texas
Vanderbilt
Washington State
Boston College
Georgetown

South
Ohio State
BYU
Tennessee
Virginia
Louisville
Texas A&M
Nevada
Memphis

We will continue this post on our satellite blog http://texsportncaabasketballtournament.blogspot.com/