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If you’re betting on the NCAA Tournament this year, BookMaker is only online sportsbook that can meet your wagering needs. BookMaker is where the line originates so cash in on the best live NCAA Tournament odds! The Elite Eight will be played on March 24 and March 25, 2012 at TD Garden, the US Airways Center, Philips Arena and the Edward Jones Dome.

NCAA Betting Online: For a college basketball team to reach the final game in its respective region during the NCAA Tournament is a major accomplishment. Advancing that far, places those teams in the game’s upper echelon. You might even call them the Elite Eight.

The national quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament are often referred to as the “Elite Eight,” or less commonly the "Great Eight.” Elite Eight games are played on Saturday and Sunday of the second weekend of the tournament, and conclude the Sweet Sixteen round played on Thursday and Friday.

One of the most recognizable tournament rituals over the last decade is the cutting of the nets. This happens just once after the National Championship game but it occurs four times following the Elite Eight round.

Winners from each region get to cut down the nets before heading to the Final Four. Beginning with the upperclassmen, players each snip a single thread of the net. With just one strand left holding the net to the rim, the head coach takes the scissors and separates it for good, claiming the net for himself.

This tradition originated in 1947 when Everett Case, the head coach of NC State, stood on his players' shoulders and dismantled the net after the Wolfpack won the Southern Conference.

Since the NCAA Tournament began in 1939, Kentucky has accrued the most Elite Eight appearances with 32. UCLA is next at 24, followed by North Carolina (22) and Kansas (20).

Notable Elite Eight “Cinderella” teams in tournament history include 11-seed Loyola Marymount in 1990, 12-seed Missouri and 10-seed Kent State in 2002, 11-seed George Mason in 2006, 10-seed Davidson in 2008 and 11-seed Virginia Commonwealth in 2011.

Mizzou remains the lowest seed to ever reach the Elite Eight round. A total of five No. 11 seeds have advanced to the national quarterfinals.

A few of college basketball’s shining moments have come from the Elite Eight.

In 1990, Duke and Connecticut went into overtime after 16 ties and 17 lead changes. Christian Laettner hit the game-winner at the buzzer to give the Blue Devils a 79-78 victory as underdogs.

But that wasn’t Laettner’s most famous shot of his collegiate career. Two years later in the Elite Eight, Duke found itself in another overtime game, this time against Kentucky and as the favorite.

With 2.1 seconds left on the clock and trailing by one, Grant Hill threw a baseline pass to Laettner at the opposite free throw line. Laettner faked to his right, dribbled once and then went left with the game-winning shot. The game is regarded as the greatest in the history of college basketball.

The phrase “Elite Eight” was coined in 1956 when the Illinois High School Association boys’ basketball tournament was reduced from sixteen teams to eight teams.

The IHSA trademarked the term in 1995 but the NCAA was given joint usage rights in 1997. Elite Eight is also used to describe the eight winners of the eight Division II basketball regions and the final eight teams in the College World Series.

BookMaker has live NCAA Tournament odds for every game of the Elite Eight round of March Madness. You can make a futures bet and predict the national champion, wager on individual college basketball contests or use BookMaker’s live betting feature to wager on matchups while they’re happening.

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