NCAA Basketball Tournament Elite 8 2022: Dates, Times, Bracket for Saturday’s action

The 2022 NCAA Tournament is down to the regional final stage. The Elite 8 begins Saturday, with 2 games scheduled.

First up, the South Region will be decided. No. 5-seed Houston takes on No. 2-seed Villanova. Houston defeated No. 12-seed UAB and No. 4-seed Illinois to get to the Sweet 16. Villanova’s first 2 wins were over No. 15-seed Delaware and No. 7-seed Ohio State. In San Antonio, Houston took down No. 1-seed Arizona 72-60, while Villanova held off No. 11-seed Michigan 63-55.

In the second Elite 8 game of the day, the West Regional final features No. 4-seed Arkansas vs. No. 2-seed Duke. Arkansas punched its ticket to San Francisco with wins over No. 13-seed Vermont and No. 12-seed New Mexico State. In the Sweet 16, the Razorbacks knocked off No. 1-overall seed Gonzaga 74-68. Duke has managed to avoid ending coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career by defeating No. 15-seed Cal State Fullerton, No. 7-seed Michigan State and No. 3-seed Texas Tech.

For this Arkansas team, Duke is an unfamiliar foe. Many Razorback fans, however, are thinking back to the 1994 championship game when the Hogs faced the Blue Devils.

“Yeah, I was nowhere near born then,” Jaylin Williams said, laughing, when asked about the 1994 game, “but you hear growing up in Arkansas, everybody knows about that team and what they did for the state and just being able to get close to the same position they’re in is great.”

Here’s a look at the schedule for Saturday:
All times ET

• No. 5-seed Houston (32-5) vs. No. 2-seed Villanova (29-7), 6:09 p.m., TBS
• No. 4-seed Arkansas (28-8) vs. No. 2-seed Duke (31-6), 8:49 p.m., TBS

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.