Elite Eight

In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" are the final eight teams and, thus represent the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Division III, the Elite Eight consists of the two teams in each of the four regional championship games. The winners advance to the Final Four. Since 1997, when the NCAA trademarked the phrase,[1] in Division II the Elite Eight consists of the eight winners of the eight Division II regions. Like the Division I Final Four, the Division II Elite Eight games are all held in one predetermined location.

In the men's Division I, the lowest-seeded team ever to reach this round in the modern 64 team tournament era was #12 Missouri in 2002, who upset #5-seed Miami (Florida), #4-seed Ohio State, and #8-seed UCLA before losing to #2-seed Oklahoma in the West regional that year. Eight #11 seeds have advanced to the Elite Eight: LSU in 1986, Loyola Marymount in 1990, Temple in 2001, George Mason in 2006, Virginia Commonwealth in 2011, Dayton in 2014, Xavier in 2017, and Loyola Chicago in 2018.

On average, three of the four #1 seeds make it to the Elite Eight each year. In men's play, the Elite Eight exists intact for less than 24 hours between the second Friday evening and the following Saturday afternoon of the tournament. The Elite Eight also represents the halfway mark of the men's tournament since each qualifying team must win three rounds (games) to reach the national quarterfinals, with three rounds remaining to reach and win the national championship game.

Like "March Madness," the phrase "Elite Eight" originally referred to the Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship, the single-elimination high school basketball tournament run by the Illinois High School Association. When the IHSA finals were reduced from sixteen to eight teams in 1956, a replacement nickname for Sweet Sixteen was needed, and Elite Eight won popular favor. The IHSA trademarked the term in 1995; the trademark rights are now held by the March Madness Athletic Association, a joint venture between the NCAA and IHSA formed after a 1996 court case allowed both organizations to use "March Madness" for their own tournaments.

Elite Eight can also refer to the eight NCAA Division I baseball teams that reach the College World Series.

Notable Elite Eight teams in the men's Division I NCAA tournament

During the first 12 years of the tournament (1939-50, inclusive) only eight teams competed, meaning every team that qualified in those years was an automatic "Elite Eight" team.
Idaho State in 1977, which defeated UCLA in the previous round to end the Bruins' streak of consecutive Final Four appearances at 10 to end the John Wooden-era dynasty[2]
11-seed Loyola Marymount in 1990. One of the team's stars, Hank Gathers, collapsed and died on the court during the WCC Tournament, and teammates (including Bo Kimble, who shot his first free throw of each tournament game left-handed) honored Gathers during the tournament.
12-seed Missouri and 10-seed Kent State in 2002
10-seed Providence College in 1997
10-seed Gonzaga in 1999
11-seed Temple finished the 2001 regular season on a remarkable run, won Atlantic-10 tournament behind play of Lynn Greer before succumbing to Michigan State.
11-seed George Mason in 2006, which became the first 11-seed to advance to the Final Four since 1986, after defeating 1-seed Connecticut in overtime in the Elite Eight
10-seed Davidson College in 2008
11-seed Virginia Commonwealth in 2011 (the first "First Four" team to advance to the Elite Eight)
11-seed Dayton in 2014
10-seed Syracuse in 2016
11-seed Xavier in 2017
11-seed Loyola–Chicago in 2018

References

"Trademark record for serial no. 74687330 (Elite Eight)". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
Bruins were finally floored

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[1] "Trademark record for serial no. 74687330 (Elite Eight)". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved 2011-03-27.

[2] Bruins were finally floored

NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Tournaments	1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Structure	Selection process Venues No. 1 seeds Opening Round Elite Eight Final Four National Championship Game
Champions & awards	Champions Most Outstanding Player
Media & culture	Bracketology Broadcasting Tournament Final Four March Madness pools "One Shining Moment"
Records & statistics	All-time team records Bids by school Bids by school and conference Consecutive appearances Final Four appearances by school Final Four participants Final Four appearances by coach Upsets