March Madness: 1 bold prediction for each Elite Eight game

The Michigan Wolverines survived the Alabama Crimson Tide on Friday night, 90-77, setting up a big matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers on Sunday afternoon. According to FanDuel odds, the Wolverines are 7.5-point favorites, and are -335 to win outright.

On the same side of the bracket in the West Region, Arizona handled Arkansas with ease, and Purdue used a last-second tip-in to advance over Texas. As for the East Region, Duke also used some late heroics to get past St. John’s, and UConn held on late against Michigan State. Finally, Big Ten foes Illinois and Iowa will face each other with a spot in the Final Four on the line.

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There are so many storylines to debate and discuss with the Elite Eight starting today and going into tomorrow, and we make one bold prediction for each matchup with everything on the line to get to Indianapolis.

No. 9 seed Iowa vs No. 3 seed Illinois

The Hawkeyes and the Illini met on Jan. 11, where Illinois secured the road win, 75-69. However, Iowa is shooting the lights out of the basketball, and we are predicting the Hawkeyes will get revenge on Saturday night.

For starters, the teams know each other, so the seed should not matter like in most other tournament matchups. In head coach Ben McCollum’s first season, Iowa is the last remaining “cinderella” team. After leading Drake to the tournament a year ago, he brought over six players from the Bulldogs roster, led by star point guard Bennett Stirtz, who has fit right in with the nation’s best guards.

Iowa has won its three tournament games all by single digits and a combined 13 points, but it has mastered the ability to limit opponents’ offensive rebounds and second-chance opportunities. The Hawkeyes haven’t been making three-pointers like they had this season, but they have kept games at a slow pace and have received strong contributions from their bench in Alvaro Folgueiras and Tate Sage.

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Illinois has the bench and the size to match Iowa, but I expect the…

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Publish date : 2026-03-28 18:00:00

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