Elite 8 2018: Updated Bracket and Full Schedule for NCAA Tournament

Chaos continues to reign at the 2018 men's NCAA tournament, where half of the Elite Eight is set—and only features a single squad seeded higher than ninth.

With upsets in three of Thursday's four matchups, the left side of the bracket remains a minefield for favorites.

The South region is down to ninth-seeded Kansas State and 11th-seeded Loyola-Chicago. Out West, it will be third-seeded Michigan battling ninth-seeded Florida State for a Final Four berth.

Friday's four-game slate will fill out the rest of the Elite Eight, and come Sunday night, only four programs will be left standing.

Here's a look at the current bracket, the remaining tournament schedule and previews of the two matchups locked in for the Elite Eight.

NCAA Tournament Schedule

Friday, March 23

No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 5 Clemson, 7:07 p.m. ET on CBS

No. 1 Villanova vs. No. 5 West Virginia, 7:27 p.m. ET on TBS

No. 2 Duke vs. No. 11 Syracuse, 9:37 p.m. ET on CBS

No. 2 Purdue vs. No. 3 Texas Tech, 9:57 p.m. ET on TBS

Saturday, March 24

No. 9 Kansas State vs. No. 11 Loyola-Chicago, 6:09 p.m. ET on TBS

No. 3 Michigan vs. No. 9 Florida State, 8:49 p.m. ET on TBS

Sunday, March 25

East or Midwest Regional Final, 2:20 p.m. ET on CBS

East or Midwest Regional Final, 5:05 p.m. ET on CBS

Saturday, March 31

Final Four Game 1, 6:09 p.m. ET on TBS

Final Four Game 2, 8:49 p.m. ET on TBS

Monday, April 2

National Championship, 9:20 p.m. ET on TBS

Elite Eight Preview

No. 9 Kansas State vs. No. 11 Loyola-Chicago

John Amis/Associated Press

This isn't simply the matchup no one expected.

It's a seed pairing that's never been seen, per ESPN Stats & Info:

The Ramblers have tightrope-walked through three rounds with almost the slimmest margin for error possible. Their two-point upset of Miami is still their biggest win. The last two victories have been decided by one point apiece, with Loyola-Chicago hitting a triple within the final six seconds both times.

"This is unbelievable," guard Clayton Custer said, per Charles Odum of the Associated Press. "Feels like a dream."

The Wildcats can relate.

They were 10-8 in the Big 12, lost three of their last five games before the Big Dance and have only gotten eight minutes out of top scorer and rebounder Dean Wade due to a foot injury.

But here they are returning to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2010. They might not have had the toughest matchups to open the tournament—Creighton and UMBC—but Thursday night they dispatched a Kentucky team that might have three 2018 NBA draft picks on its roster.

"We've been picked eighth in the Big 12, finished fourth, and we saw [ESPN's Sweet 16 rankings] come out, 16th in the Sweet 16, so we felt disrespected all year," forward Xavier Sneed said, per David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune. "We just came out here and proved people wrong, and we're going to do that game by game."

The two teams have plenty in common, from their "let's shock the world" mentalities to their on-court similarities. KenPom.com has Loyola-Chicago 34th and Kansas State 36th. Both are better on defense (14th for the Wildcats, 24th for the Ramblers) than they are on offense (78th and 67th, respectively). Their adjusted tempo rankings are almost identical (307th for K State, 319th for Loyola-Chicago).

It looks like Loyola-Chicago is headed toward yet another nail-biter.

No. 3 Michigan vs. No. 9 Florida State

Harry How/Getty Images

The closest thing to championship behavior on this side of the bracket might have been Michigan's 99-72 dismantling of Texas A&M on Thursday.

The Wolverines, who averaged 62.5 points through the first two rounds, had their second-best scoring effort of the season—against the nation's 13th-ranked defense. Michigan had five players reach double-digits and three tally 18 or more. It turned offensive sets into target practice and rarely missed the mark, hitting 61.9 percent from the field and 58.3 percent outside.

"We knew that we were confident coming into the game that we could get our shots off," guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman said, per ESPN's Kyle Bonagura. "We just picked and chose our shots, and we took them."

Michigan has now won 12 games in a row and looks like a strong favorite to reach the championship round. The way KenPom sees it, this is the best team on offense (24th) and defense (third) among the confirmed Elite Eight clubs.

That said, has anyone had a more impressive run than Florida State?

The first round brought on a Missouri team that might have two 2018 NBA first-rounders on it. Up next was top-seeded Xavier, which entered with a 29-5 record. Then came Gonzaga, one of four teams with top-20 efficiency ratings on both ends of the floor.

The 'Noles knocked off all three by an average of 11 points per game.

Florida State looks as underwhelming as it gets on paper. This team lost six of its last 10 games before the tournament, doesn't have a player who averages 13-plus points and falls outside the top-30 efficiency ranks at both ends.

But the Seminoles have overwhelmed opponents with length and depth. Their 7'4" starting center Christ Koumadje has a 7-footer behind him in Ike Obiagu. They start one player who stands shorter than 6'6" and had 10 different players log double-digit minutes against Gonzaga, and all of them scored.

Michigan is the more talented team, but so were the last two teams Florida State faced. This game likely hinges on the Wolverines' ability to find clean looks against the Seminoles' length and bury a good percentage of them.

Statistics used courtesy of KenPom.com and ESPN.com.