Big 12 rules the bracket with 3 teams in Elite Eight

With three of the eight teams remaining in the NCAA tournament, the Big 12 sits atop the college basketball world heading into the Elite Eight this weekend.

While most people labeled Kansas as a potential Elite Eight program, Texas Tech qualified for the first time in program history and Kansas State pulled off one of the most improbable runs in the bracket to get there.

It's possible three teams from the Big 12 will reach the Final Four, as Kansas State faces Loyola Chicago in its regional final, while the other side of the bracket has Texas Tech against Villanova and Kansas versus Duke. That hasn't happened since 1985, when three teams from the Big East made the Final Four before Villanova captured the national title.

Here's how the remaining teams break down by conference:

Big 12: No. 1 Kansas, No. 3 Texas Tech, No. 9 Kansas State
ACC: No. 2 Duke, No. 9 Florida State
Big Ten: No. 3 Michigan
Big East: No. 1 Villanova
Missouri Valley: No. 11 Loyola Chicago

Should Kansas State make the final from one side and either Kansas or Texas Tech qualify from the other, it will mark the first time since 1988 that two teams from the same conference faced each other for the title. That year saw Kansas and Oklahoma square off from the Big Eight conference, which is now the Big 12.