NCAA Tournament Bracket 2012: Top Seeds That Will Shockingly Be Upset

Upset city, baby!!

It happens every year: You fill out your bracket and find yourself with nothing but top seeds in the Final Four before the eraser comes out to adjust.

This year the No. 1 seeds look unbeatable on paper, yet once you dig a bit deeper there are some serious red flags for certain teams in the top three seeds. Here are three teams that will be making a quick exit in the next week.

No. 1 Syracuse (31-2)

The Orangemen have been dominate in transition and have outstanding depth to keep everybody fresh. They have a coach in Jim Boeheim who has a ring and are fresh off running through the best conference in America.

The dirty little secret about ‘Cuse is their inability to create much offense out of the halfcourt set. If you can limit their opportunities in transition and keep the possessions down, you can beat Syracuse. This is not a team built for the slow-down, every-possession-counts sort of style the tournament usually ends up producing.

While I’m going to predict a win against No. 16 UNC-Asheville (shocker), their potential second-round matchup against No. 8 Kansas State is very dangerous. The Wildcats crash the offensive glass hard and play a very physical, in-your-face type of defense that can cause the Orangemen some serious problems.

With No. 4 Wisconsin or No. 5 Vanderbilt awaiting them in the Sweet Sixteen if they survive K-State, it’s going to be a disappointing ending for Syracuse.

No. 2 Duke (27-6)

Duke lucks out with their first-round pod being located in Greensboro. It’s becoming an annual thing for the Blue Devils.

Then again, why can’t they lose to No. 10 Xavier in the second round?

They are extremely reliant on the three-point shot, and that can be a very slippery slope. With 6’11’’ junior Ryan Kelly (11.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg) potentially out for the tournament, Duke doesn’t have much depth upfront. If the Plumlee brothers get in foul trouble, there will be big problems in the paint.

Xavier, who I love over No. 7 Notre Dame, has a star point guard in Tu Holloway who can impose his will over freshman Austin Rivers.

If the three-pointer isn’t there and Rivers’ impact is minimal, the Dukies aren’t getting past the first weekend.

No. 3 Georgetown (23-8)

The Hoyas should not be a No. 3 seed.

They don’t have many veterans to lean on in crunch time and turn the ball over way too often. They average 13 turnovers per game, and that’s going to increase in the pressure-packed environment of the tournament.

No. 14 Belmont is a sharp-shooting team that can handle the pressure defense of the Hoyas and create plenty of turnovers on defense as a senior-laden Bruins team takes advantage of Georgetown’s lack of experience.

This is upset city in the making. Expect Belmont to shock Georgetown and put the Ohio Valley Conference on the map. 

For your printable NCAA Bracket, click here

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