Friday afternoon. Eight teams prying for four spots in this year’s Elite 8. Five of them are schools where reaching Elite 8’s and Final 4’s are commonplace for their program. The other 3, Gonzaga, Indiana and Oregon State haven’t been blessed with such history.

Texas has reached the Elite 8 three times since 2015 but they are a program with rich history. Starting in 1982-83, their first season participating in the NCAA, Texas found themselves in the Elite 8 every season for the next 10 years except one Sweet 16 knockout.

Gonzaga is looking to reach the Elite 8 for the second time in program history. The last time the Bulldogs played themselves that far was back in 2011. Carried by Courtney Vandersloot, the 11 seeded Gonzaga knocked off Iowa, UCLA, and Louisville before falling short to Stanford. You may not be familiar with a program like Gonzaga but they have had 13 tournament appearances in the last 15 years.

Indiana is also searching for the second Elite 8 appearance in program history after their first appearance in 2021. Oregon State is looking to one up these two schools by making their third appearance since their 2018 and 2016 appearance.

Friday’s game include some incredible players as well as the obvious great teams. In this new era of basketball you would have to think that these teams are carried by great guard play. This is true but Friday’s games are about the forwards. Each game holds it’s own compelling forwards matchup. We’ll get to the guards on Saturday.

Let’s get right into the KEYS for Friday’s matchups

#2 NOTRE DAME #3 OREGON STATE 2:30PM EST

• How does OSU handle ND zone? OSU has only played against a zone defense 7% of their offensive possessions this season.
• What will Notre Dame do against Raegan Beers on post touches?
• Can Notre Dame be efficient against the Beaver’s elite defense? 5th in Def FG% at 35% and 8th in the country in defensive rebounding.
• Notre Dame’s BIG 3 (Hidalgo, Citron, Westbeld) Does their lack of depth finally catch up to them?
• OSU doesn’t have an answer for Hidalgo. Her impact should be the deciding factor.

#1 SOUTH CAROLINA #4 INDIANA 5:00PM EST

• Mackenzie Holmes vs Kamilla Cardoso
• Can Indiana stay in the game with 3 point shooting? 8.2 makes per game. SC has improved in this area from last year. 4.4 per game up to 6.6 this season
• Indiana supporting cast will have to play big part on offense.
• IU transition defense. Need to slow SC down in the full court.
• SC- 9 players avg 15+ min. IU- 6 players avg 15+ min

#2 STANFORD #3 NC STATE 7:30PM EST

• NC State guards must have major impact. (James, Rivers, Brooks)
• Will the athleticism of Stanford’s forwards(Brink, Iriafen) be too much for River Baldwin and Mimi Collins?
• Who wins the paint?
• Saniya Rivers’ play should be the deciding factor for NC State
• Pace of play: Fast favors NC State – Slow favors Stanford

#1 TEXAS #4 GONZAGA 10:00PM EST

• Elite Offense vs Elite Defense. Zags 80.9ppg Texas allows 57.4ppg
• Can Truong twins handle the Longhorns’ full court pressure?
• Who wins the forward battle between Yvonne Ejim and Madison Booker?
• Can the Zags use the 3 ball as the equalizer?
• Zags have 4 players shooting 40%+ from 3. Texas has 0
• 3 FG Made Per Game: Texas: 3.9 Gonzaga: 9.5

All questions will be answered by Friday night as four teams will claim the first four spots in the elite 8. We will have to wait for the answers but here are my predictions.

Oregon State – South Carolina – Stanford – Texas