If the spreads for the Elite Eight looked a little high, it's because they are for this round.
We usually see good matchups and low spreads at this point in the men's tournament. Over the last six tournaments, only five of the 24 Elite Eight games had a spread higher than seven points, according to Matt Eisenberg's tournament guide. No tournament in that stretch had more than two games with spreads that high. This year, in a tournament filled with upsets and underdogs covering, all four Elite Eight games have a spread of at least 7.