It's Great to Be No. 3 in the NCAA: Wisconsin, Xavier, Louisville, and Stanford

Gotta love those No. 3 seeds, right?

Rick Pitino's Cardinals find themselves in the Elite Eight after a victory over Tennessee last night. A great defense effort by the Cards held Chris Lofton to 3-15 in the field, although he managed to end up with 15 points.

Five different Louisville players appeared in double figures. Their ability to move the ball on the floor and spread the court will make them a really tough out for North Carolina.

Xavier pulled through in overtime last night as the Musketeers advanced to the Elite Eight after beating West Virginia. Drew Lavender struggled from the field, shooting 3-11 and ending up with nine points.

The Musketeers' senior forward added a season high 26 points to lead his team to victory.

I had Xavier going to the Elite Eight in my bracket—I don't really see them having a chance playing with UCLA, way too tough defensively.

Stanford will play as a three seed today, taking on the two seeded Texas Longhorns, the only three seeds that will fail to make the Elite Eight.

With Texas's dynamic duo and the best guard combo in the nation, this squad will definitely have the edge. Augustine and Abrams, playing in their home state, are too strong for Stanford to stand a chance.

I understand that the Lopez twins are a dynamic duo themselves, but if Stanford wants a chance to win this match they are going to need a big game from star guard Anthony Goods.

The final three seed advancing to the round of eight is the Wisconsin Badgers. Starting the season unranked and finishing the season 31-4 with a Big Ten conference and regular season title, the Badgers don't look to be stopping now.

Michael Flowers will manhandle Stephen Curry and the Badgers will walk to a matchup against either Villanova or Kansas. Badgers fans could use just a little help from Nova Nation to get their team to the Final.

Since 2001, two teams started the season unranked and went on to win the National title: Syracuse and Florida. Both were three seeds.

Look for the Badgers and Musketeers to add their name to that list.

2002-Maryland (Pre-Season No. 2)

2003-Syracuse (unranked)

2004-UConn (Pre-season No. 1)

2005-North Carolina (Pre-Season No. 4)

2006-Florida

2007-Florida (Pre-Season No. 1)