The Elite Eight is only halfway set and it’s already preposterous

The second weekend of the NCAA tournament has picked up where the opening weekend left off. The first day of the Sweet 16 was defined by more chaos, with No. 9 Kansas State stunning heavy favorite No. 5 Kentucky, No. 9 Florida State upsetting No. 4 Gonzaga, and No. 11 Loyola-Chicago pulling out a surprising win over No. 7 Nevada.

No. 3 Michigan was the only favorite to win Thursday, and they looked amazing doing it. Everything else that happened felt totally jarring.

There’s already history being made in the Elite Eight with only half the field set. Consider:

This tournament is out of control right now. Here’s what happened Thursday.

K-State was the second-worst team remaining in the field, according to KenPom. It only finished fourth in the Big 12 during the regular season. It was easy to believe Kansas State was only at the second weekend because of a special amount of luck, getting to play a No. 16 seed in the round of 32 after UMBC pulled the biggest upset in college sports history against Virginia.

Kentucky was playing great ball lately. It seemed like John Calipari had figured out his lineups. He had a new star in point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Kentucky was the clear favorite in this game, and Kansas State stifled them from start to finish.

Kansas State plays slow, ranking No. 307 in pace out of 351 teams. It plays great defense, currently sitting at No. 14 in KenPom’s efficiency rankings. There’s nothing pretty about the style played by Bruce Weber’s team, but they just keep winning.

This game was incredibly ugly. Kansas State won by shooting 35.2 percent from the field. Kentucky went just 3-of-12 from three-point range and only made 62 percent of its free throws. Somehow, K-State persevered, setting up the most unlikely Elite Eight matchup ever with Loyola-Chicago on Saturday.

Let’s watch Marques Townes’ shot one more time:

What’s amazing about Loyola is it’s a different hero every night. It was Donte Ingram with the buzzer-beater against Miami in the opening round. It was Clayton Custer with the miracle bounce to beat Tennessee in round two. Now Townes is the star on a night he scored 18 points and keep this Ramblers’ fever dream alive.

Loyola has won three games by a total of four points. This is surviving and advancing at its highest level, a combination of being lucky and good at the same time.

Nevada had made a habit of wiping out big leads in the tournament. The Wolf Pack came back from 14 down against Texas and 22 down against Cincinnati. They battled back against Loyola, too, but the Ramblers’ magic was too much to handle.

Loyola is one win away from the Final Four, facing a highly beatable Kansas State team. What a world.

From an eighth place finish in the ACC to the Elite Eight. Florida State’s run in this tournament is every bit as surprising at Kansas State’s and Loyola’s.

In a way, FSU’s win over Gonzaga was even more impressive than its victory over top-seeded Xavier a round earlier. The Seminoles dominated this game, suffocating the ‘Zags offense and consistently scoring in the paint to come away with a 15-point victory. The ‘Noles just held a top-15 Gonzaga offense to 0.86 points per possession in a Sweet 16 game.

This Florida State team is just bizarre. It’s the second biggest team in the tournament next to Duke. It’s the deepest team in the tournament, too, with Leonard Hamilton giving minutes to 11 players in the Sweet 16.

Forget about short rotations and going small in March. FSU just grinds you down with size and depth.

The Wolverines are in some kind of zone right now. It helps when your center is nimble enough to do something like this:

Texas A&M was coming off a 20-point victory over a very good North Carolina team. Michigan just demolished them by 27 to move one win away from the Final Four.

John Beilein’s offense is just humming right now. Michigan put up a ridiculous 1.38 points per possession by hitting 64 percent of its twos, 58 percent of its threes, and 87 percent of its free throws.

Oh yeah, this is also the best defensive team Beilein has ever coached. The Wolverines are up to No. 3 in defensive efficiency in KenPom’s season-long rankings.

Michigan has great balance and arguably the tournament’s best coach. It has won 12 games in a row on the brink of a matchup with Florida State. There’s no doubt this is the single most impressive team on this side of the bracket so far.