It’s the most wonderful time of year! The NCAA March Madness Tournament began yesterday as 64 teams battle it out for the NCAA Division 1 national championship.
Every year, the tournament produces some of the sport’s biggest upsets, as mid-major universities get paired with perennial powerhouse schools. Just a few years ago, #1-seeded Virginia lost to #16-seed University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). It was the first time ever that a 16th-seeded team (the lowest seed you can get in the tournament) beat a #1-seed.
Millions of fans across the country fill out their own brackets, attempting to be the first person ever to fill out a perfect bracket. To put it in perspective, the odds are 1 in 120.2 billion according to cbssports.com. There are 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 or 9.2 quintillion possible outcomes. You are more likely to get killed by a falling coconut or get struck by lightning than you are to pick the perfect bracket. But hey, it’s march.
In the spirit of the tournament, let’s try to pick some upsets and highlight some under-the-radar teams to make a run. I have five teams that I believe can make a run, and they are currently not being talked about.
The first team is my Penn State Nittany Lions. After spending the back half of February as a bubble team, the Nittany Lions went on to win eight of their last 10 ballgames to clinch their first tournament berth since 2011 and only second since 2001. One of those losses came to Rutgers in which they held a 19-point lead at halftime on February 26. The other, a two-point loss in the Big Ten Championship to Purdue – the Big Ten Regular Season champs and one of four #1-seeds in the NCAA tournament. This team can score at will and has a lineup with tons of experience, as the team has eight seniors. If they were able to beat Texas A&M last night, I have them beating #2-seed Texas tomorrow and advancing all the way to the Elite 8.
Oral Roberts is a team that is capable of busting brackets and they have plenty of experience in doing so. Two years ago, they entered as a 15th seed and knocked off 2nd seed Ohio State en route to a shocking Sweet 16 berth. This year, they landed a 12th seed and have the tough task of facing a very hot Duke Blue Devil squad that many folks have going deep in the tournament. Duke recently won the ACC tournament and is arguably one of the hottest teams in the nation. However, it’s called March Madness for a reason: give me a senior-heavy Oral Roberts team to make another sweet 16 appearance.
The Indiana Hoosiers had a remarkable season, and yet only landed a #4-seed in the NCAA Tournament. After falling in the Big Ten Semifinals to Penn State, the Hoosiers enter the tournament hungry to make a run. Trayce Jackson-Davis is a national player of the year candidate, and he can take over on any given night. The Hoosiers drew a tough first-round game with Kent State. This game will be extremely close, but I have the Hoosiers eventually beating #1-seed Houston and getting revenge on Penn State to advance to the Final Four.
Two favorites that I would avoid picking to make a championship run would be UCLA and Kansas. UCLA earned a #2-seed after falling in the PAC-12 championship to 2nd-seeded Arizona (who I also advise against picking). The Bruins lost starting guard Jaylen Clark recently. Losing a key piece to the lineup this late in the season can be a struggle to bounce back from. I have them losing to 7th-seeded Northwestern in the Round of 32.
Kansas comes in as the reigning National Champs and earned another #1-seed after winning the Big 12 regular season title. However, with the absence of Head Coach Bill Self, they looked awful in the conference championship against Texas. Although Self is back, I see the hopes of the Jayhawks’ repeat dwindling away in the Sweet 16 to the University of Connecticut (UConn).
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