San Diego St. vs Alabama

This Alabama team can be so scary for opposing teams but so far in this tournament their best player Brandon Miller hasn't been a factor. They need him to step it up if the Tide were going to win a championship and unfortunately for Bama fans he had another pedestrian game on Friday night. San Diego State out hustled, and were the more physical team in this one as they pulled off the upset 71-64 over #1 seed Alabama. It's the Aztecs first Elite Eight appearance in program history. What a job well done for head coach Brian Dutcher. It was San Diego State's defense that really showed up. Watching this game, it seemed like every 10 seconds they were swatting Alabama's shot. Tide's Miller was held to only 9 points on 3 of 19 shooting. He also had six turnovers. As for the Crimson Tide, they are left with so many what-ifs. What if Miller could have showcased an all-time tournament performance stretch, could they ride his coat tails to the Natty? In the end, the Aztecs don't care about your what-ifs! They're moving on to the Elite Eight.

Miami vs Houston

For the second straight year, Miami is headed to the Elite Eight after beating Houston 89-75 meaning for the first time in NCAA tournament history #1 seeds would not be one of the last eight teams remaining. There was so much hope for this Houston team, but injuries ended up plaguing some of their best players and Miami's shooting was too much in the end. Scoring 89 points on this Cougars defense was almost unheard of and hats off to the Hurricanes for achieving that. It was definitely their night offensively, they had five players in double digits as sophomore guard Nijel Pack lead the way with 26 points. Miami's 73-year-old head coach Jim Larranaga is looking for his first Final Four appearance with the Hurricanes. He crashed the Final Four party with his Cinderella story #11 seed George Mason team back in 2006.

Princeton vs Creighton

The most Cinderella of them all for the 2023 NCAA Tournament is 15 seed Princeton. Making it to the Sweet 16 is a great storied run for that program. But the this red hot Creighton team would prove to be too much as the Blue Jays took away this Cinderella's invite to the dance advancing to the Elite Eight on a final score 86-75 over the Tigers. Two studs worth mentioning in this one -- Ryan Kalkbenner, the two-time Big East defensive player of the year, scored 22 points and Baylor Scheierman who made five three-pointers and finished with 21 points. Creighton will play San Diego State on Sunday. Each program looking for their first Final Four appearance ever.

Xavier vs Texas

What's crazy about this Texas run is the man leading the charge, Rodney Terry, isn't even the official head coach. He's the interim after former head coach Chris Beard was suspended earlier in the season. Well, he certainly deserves the job now after the Longhorns rolled Xavier 83-71 advancing to their first Elite Eight appearance since 2008. Texas' defense was really the story in this one keeping Xavier's hot three-point shooters in check. At half, the Longhorns were up 42-25 and the lead was too insurmountable for Xavier.