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Here are some Tournament Challenge takeaways as we head into Sunday's pair of Elite Eight games. (Unless noted otherwise, all seed-vs.-seed facts are since 1985.): No. 3 Texas Tech vs. No. 1 Villanova
Just 13.9 percent of entries correctly predicted that No. 1 Villanova and No. 3 Texas Tech would face each other in the Elite Eight. Of those brackets, 83.4 percent picked Villanova to beat Texas Tech to advance to the Final Four.No. 3 Texas Tech is picked to make it to the Final Four in 4.6 percent of entries. Further, 1.4 percent have them in the title game, and 0.6 percent (105,350) picked them to win it all. As for No. 1 Villanova, 58.4 percent of entries put the Wildcats into the Final Four, 31.7 have them in the title game, and 16.3 (2,815,973) believe they'll win the championship. Entering the tournament, Villanova was picked to make the Elite Eight (74.2 percent) and Final Four (58.4) in more brackets than any other team. Since 2007, No. 1 seeds have won nine of 11 meetings against No. 3 seeds. Last year, No. 3 Oregon defeated No. 1 Kansas in the Elite Eight. No. 2 Duke vs. No. 1 Kansas
No. 1 Kansas and No. 2 Duke were correctly predicted to square off in the Elite Eight in 37 percent of entries. Of those brackets, 57.7 percent picked No. 2 Duke to upend No. 1 Kansas to advance to the Final Four. Duke is picked to make it to the Final Four in 30.2 percent of entries. The Blue Devils are penciled in for the title game in 17.5 percent of the brackets, and 9.8 percent (1,701,003) picked them to win it all. Meanwhile, 29.8 percent of entries put No. 1 Kansas into the Final Four. The Jayhawks advance to the title game in 14.7 percent of them, and 7.9 percent (1,359,664) believe they'll win the championship. More brackets picked No. 2 Duke to be in the Final Four, final and to win the title than did their Elite Eight opponent, No. 1 Kansas. No. 1 seeds are 34-29 against No. 2 seeds (54 percent), but just 12-15 (44.4) since 2003.
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