Five Thoughts: Road to Cary heats up

There will be a new champion

The first two rounds of the NCAA tournament felt relatively predetermined. Seeded teams went 12-4, which was a small surprise considering how open the field appeared at the start of the tournament. Turns out we just had to wait another round. While this tournament is still hardly a free-for-all - there are only two unseeded teams in the final eight - Virginia delivered the first major blow by felling defending champion Notre Dame in the third round.

Virginia is the No. 16 seed, the lowest in the bracket, and it was far less of a shock when the Cavs women’s team bumped off No. 1 UCLA in the same weekend. That said, the upset cracked closed the door on the Irish defending their title. Virginia is an outsider, but one win against favored Georgetown this weekend and the Cavs are in the College Cup. A small dose of unpredictability.