2019 NCAA Tournament: Elite 8 Predictions

Here are my predictions for the Elite 8 of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The East Regional Final will be held at Capital One Arena in Washington DC. The South Regional Final will be held at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The Midwest Regional Final will be held at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The West Regional Final will be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Saturday, March 30th
(W3) Texas Tech (29-5) vs (W1) Gonzaga (33-3)- 6:09, TBS: This is going to be some game in Anaheim. The Red Raiders are coming off a domination over the Michigan Wolverines. The Bulldogs are coming off a solid performance over the Florida State Seminoles. The Red Raiders have a stud in Jarrett Culver and some solid supporting cast guys like Davide Moretti and Brandone Francis. The Bulldogs are loaded with Rui Hachimura, Killian Tillie, Zach Norwell, Brandon Clarke, and Filip Petrušev. I really like these two coaches in Chris Beard of the Red Raiders and Mark Few of the Bulldogs as they both have done great jobs this season. Tough call, but Red Raiders are a team that I believe can get the job done led by Culver to get to the Final Four.
Prediction: Texas Tech

(S3) Purdue (26-9) vs (S1) Virginia (32-3)- 8:49, TBS: This is going to be an interesting game in Louisville. The Boiler Makers are coming off a thrilling win in overtime over the Tennessee Volunteers in a game which the Vols came back to force overtime. The Cavaliers are coming off a scare and survive over the Oregon Ducks. The Boiler Makers obviously have Carsen Edwards, but they have had guys like Ryan Cline and Matt Haarms step up. The Cavaliers have a great core led by D'Andre Hunter, Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, and Jack Salt. I was going to initially take the Boiler Makers here, but I think they put all they can handle in that Sweet 16 performance so give me the Cavs and Tony Bennett to get to his first Final Four.
Prediction: Virginia
  Sunday, March 31st
(MW5) Auburn (29-9) vs (MW2) Kentucky (30-6)- 2:20, CBS: Here we have an SEC Showdown. The Tigers are coming off a dominant win over the North Carolina Tar Heels. The Wildcats are coming off a thrilling win over the Houston Cougars. The Tigers are playing very well right now led by Chuma Okeke, Bryce Brown, and Jared Harper. The Wildcats have PJ Washington back now to go with Keldon Johnson and Tyler Herro. The Tigers feel like a team that's just hot at the right time and I like them to advance.
Prediction: Auburn

(E2) Michigan State (31-6) vs (E1) Duke (32-5)- 5:05, CBS: The Spartans are coming off a domination of a performance over the LSU Tigers. The Blue Devils are coming off another close call, this time over the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Spartans are quietly playing great led by Cassius Winston, Aaron Henry, Matt McQuaid, and Nick Ward. The Blue Devils are loaded of course, led by Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, and Tre Jones and Reddish didn't play in the last game. Reddish or not, Mike Krzyzewski has Zion and Tom Izzo doesn't. Duke to the Final Four for the first time in four years in what should be the best of the four games.
Prediction: Duke