NCAA Bracket 2015: Schedule and Updated Predictions Before Saturday's Elite 8

One win separates each of the NCAA tournament's Elite Eight participants from a Final Four bid. By the end of the weekend, four squads will punch their tickets to Indianapolis.

The weekend action kicks off with two heavy-hitting showdowns Saturday. The Kentucky Wildcats will look to continue their pursuit of perfection against a dangerous Notre Dame Fighting Irish club pegged to give the Wildcats trouble. In the West Region, the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers and No. 2 Arizona Wildcats will collide.

The other side features some lower seeds, but neither of these two matchups busted many brackets. While following the expected script often lacks drama, it will provide two epic clashes to begin the Elite Eight.

Date	Matchup	Time (ET)	TV	Pick
Sat., 3/28	No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 2 Arizona	6:09 p.m.	TBS	Arizona
Sat., 3/28	No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 3 Notre Dame	8:49 p.m.	TBS	Kentucky
Sun., 3/29	No. 4 Louisville vs. No. 7 Michigan State	2:20 p.m.	CBS	Michigan State
Sun., 3/29	No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Gonzaga	5:05 p.m.	CBS	Gonzaga

Saturday Preview

Kentucky vs. Notre Dame

This Kentucky team is pretty good.

Unleashing their deadliest tournament annihilation yet, the Wildcats trounced No. 5 West Virginia during a 78-39 mugging. Kentucky could have gone scoreless throughout the second half and still won.

SportsCenter's Twitter page examined the rarity of such a thorough blowout this far down the bracket:

The nation's best defense, in terms of adjusted defensive rating, stifled West Virginia to 24.1 percent shooting (13-of-54), and the Mountaineers went an even worse 2-of-15 from beyond the arc. It would take a special offense to find leaks in a defense that The New York Times' David Leonhardt positioned as one of the best in college basketball history:

While still a heavy underdog, the Fighting Irish are at least viable threats. They score 78.8 points per game with a 51.0 field-goal percentage, which rates second in the nation. Only Wisconsin and Duke possess more efficient offenses than Mike Brey's crew.

To pull off the upset, Notre Dame must shoot Kentucky into oblivion. Challenging Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein rarely ends well, so it will take impeccable perimeter shooting from an unselfish, guard-heavy attack.

Essentially, it needs to carry over Thursday's second-half surge against Wichita State for a full 40 minutes. ESPN Stats & Info provides the shot chart devoid of much red:

There's a parallel universe where Notre Dame emerges victorious, but the smart money is on Kentucky once again prevailing. It will take a special offensive performance to take down the world-class defense, and even that doesn't guarantee victory if the Wildcats utilize their distinctive size advantage down low.

Prediction: Kentucky 76, Notre Dame 68 

Arizona vs. Wisconsin

After Kentucky, Arizona and Wisconsin rank No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in KenPom.com's team ratings. The winner of this bout poses the biggest threat to Kentucky's undefeated run as the next-best school standing.

Both Arizona and Wisconsin clawed their ways out of the Sweet 16 after breezing through the previous two rounds. Entering halftime tied with Xavier, Arizona pulled ahead for a 68-60 win behind T.J. McConnell's 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Facing a second-half deficit, the Badgers stormed back to upend North Carolina thanks to 23 points and 10 boards from Sam Dekker.

Frank Kaminsky gets all the attention in Wisconsin, but Dekker rose with the star big man laboring early in the contest. The junior forward, who is averaging 20 points per game during the tournament, spoke to Yahoo Sports' Jeff Eisenberg about his performance:

"

I thought I played a pretty good game. It wasn't a complete 40 minutes, but early in the first half I thought we needed a spark, and I saw some opportunities in the open court to give us a spark. ... I just tried to stay on attack mode. My shot wasn't falling like I'd like it to be, so I just tried to take it to the lane more and get some easy buckets.

"

While this rematch will produce another riveting Elite Eight bout, it's also a shame that one of these teams won't make the Final Four. No offense functions more efficiently than the Badgers offense does, and Arizona is the only school besides Kentucky with a top-10 adjusted rating on both offense and defense.

Either of these squads would be the favorite to beat any of Sunday's competitors. Against each other, it may take another overtime to settle this score.

This time around, a more balanced Arizona gets the upper hand, spawning a battle of Wildcats in the Final Four.

Prediction: Arizona 67, Wisconsin 66 

All advanced stats are courtesy of KenPom.com.