Bringing Madness into March: Early Upsets in This Years NCAA Tournament
The most exciting time of year is back folks. Not Easter or even St. Patrickโs Day, but March Madness. March Madness gets Americans crazy with bracket talks and early Final Four predictions.
This year is a lot different than most years though. With only two conference tournament champions among the top eight seeds, the NCAA bracket doesnโt have a clear cut favorite to win it all.
Sure, Kentucky is the favorite among most of the experts by their number one overall seed, but they still have shown glimpses of being beaten, as seen by three close games and a loss in the SEC tournament.
This yearโs bracket doesnโt favor too many upsets in the second round of the tournament as we have seen in recent years. Yet, as always there will be enough upsets early on to ruin peopleโs brackets and to cause havoc around March Madness pools around the country. Here are three potential upsets that we can see during the second round of the NCAA tournament.
South Region:
(3) Baylor vs. (14) South Dakota State
This is arguably the most ludicrous upset on here, because of the fact that South Dakota State has only been a Division I program since 2008 and they will be trying to upset a 27-7 Baylor program. Led by senior Quincy Acy and sophomore Perry Jones III, the Bears will be a team proving that they are deserving of a 3-seed despite finishing third in the Big 12.
But I have a little faith in the Jackrabbits who are led by Nate Wolters who is averaging 21 PPG-5 RPG-6 APG. The Jackrabbits will need to have an amazing performance from the three point line by their five leading scorers, four of which have a three point percentage higher than 40 percent.
West Region:
(4) Louisville vs. (13) Davidson
Rick Pitino will be a team ready to continue their momentum into the NCAA Tournament after winning a Big East Championship for the first time since 2009. The Cardinals are led by senior Kyle Kuric who will be hoping that the Cardinals do not suffer a loss in their first tournament game as they have done in the past two seasons.
Davidson seems like a surprise team to most as they have already proved they can play with the big boys, upsetting Kansas only a few months back. With a 25-7 record and a Southern Conference Championship under their belt, the Wildcats will be looking to repeat the success they had in 2008, when a young man named Stephen Curry helped Davidson advance to the Elite Eight.ย
Midwest Region:
(4) Michigan vs. (13) Ohio
Two years ago, a sophomore from Chicago led the Ohio Bobcats to a convincing 97-83 win over the then 3-seed Georgetown Hoyas. Now a senior, point guard D.J. Cooper will be looking to show the world that he can lead the Bobcats to a similar result over the 4-seed Michigan Wolverines.
The Wolverines are led by Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. and will be looking to carry on their most successful season in the past 10 years. Despite having a share of the Big 10 regular-season title, the Wolverines havenโt been playing their best basketball recently.
The Bobcats will be looking to capitalize on Michiganโs sluggish gameplay as of late and will be looking to upset the Michigan Wolverines, in an exciting game that features two of the top point guards in the nation.
