NCAA Upset Predictions 2023: Cinderella Picks for Men's March Madness Bracket
March Madness is here.
Have you fitted anyone for a glass slipper yet?
Year after year, Cinderella schools knock off on-paper juggernauts. The 2023 men's NCAA Tournament will be no exception.
So, let's break out our crystal ball and spotlight three double-digit seeds capable of going on a bracket-busting run.
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Make your picks: Play the NCAA March Madness Men's Bracket Challenge and Tournament Run.
Charleston (No. 12/South)
1 of 3
The Cougars live to launch.
Coach Pat Kelsey plays a ton of players, and nearly all of them have the green light to let it fly from three-point land. This isn't exactly a great shooting team (33.4 percent from range), but it takes enough triples to make the math work anyway.
They average 30.2 three-point attempts per game, which ranks second in the country. Their top seven leading scorers—led by senior guard Dalton Bolon (12.3 points per game) and sophomore forward Ante Brzovic (11.6)—all attempted more than 60 threes this season, and three of them cleared 175 attempts.
They don't wow on paper, but they play fast and hit the offensive glass, so if nothing else, they will get a ton of cracks at the offensive end. If their tourney tilts happen to fall on hot shooting nights, they'll be trouble.
Oral Roberts (No. 12/East)
2 of 3
Two years ago, the then-15th-seeded Golden Eagles made a jaw-dropping run to the Sweet 16.
That team's leading scorer (Max Abmas) and head coach (Paul Mills) are still around, but this club has improved dramatically around them.
Abmas remains the proverbial straw stirring the drink (22.2 points, 4.0 assists), but he has more help now. Arkansas transfer Connor Vanover uses his 7'5" frame to control the interior (7.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocks in 25.8 minutes). Issac McBride can fill it up from three (62 triples, 41.1 percent shooting).
Teams will still try throwing the kitchen sink at Abmas, but he and his teammates are good enough to overcome.
Penn State (No. 10/Midwest)
3 of 3
There aren't many double-digit seeds who can confidently feel they have the best player on the floor any given night, but the Nittany Lions are absolutely one of them.
Senior guard Jalen Pickett is one of the best players in the country. His nightly contributions included 17.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists. Oh, and he hit those marks while shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 38.3 percent outside.
What makes Penn State really intriguing, though, is that Pickett didn't have a great Big Ten Tournament—he was awesome against Indiana, but otherwise kind of meh by his standards—and this team still reached the title round and gave top seed Purdue all it could handle. This offense has other layers to it. Senior guards Seth Lundy and Andrew Funk are both double-digit scorers and 40-plus-percent three-point shooters.
This defense can leak, but when Penn State's perimeter players are hitting their shots—which happens a lot—this team can hang with anyone.
