March Madness Bracket 2015: Updated Predictions and Round 2 Analysis

No matter what a team has done up to this point of the season, it can still lose once March Madness gets started.

The thrill of the NCAA tournament is the fact that it's a single-elimination format, meaning a great year can end in an instant. With 16 games set to take place Thursday, there will be a lot of unhappy teams, and a bunch of them will be favorites going into the day.

Here is a look at full predictions for the opening day of round-of-64 play as well as a breakdown of the biggest upsets.

Time (ET)	Matchup	TV	Pick
12:15 p.m.	No. 3 Notre Dame vs. No. 14 Northeastern	CBS	Notre Dame
12:40 p.m.	No. 3 Iowa State vs. No. 14 UAB	truTV	Iowa State
1:40 p.m.	No. 3 Baylor vs. No. 14 Georgia State	TBS	Baylor
2:10 p.m.	No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 15 Texas Southern	TNT	Arizona
2:45 p.m.	No. 6 Butler vs. No. 11 Texas	CBS	Texas
3:10 p.m.	No. 6 SMU vs. No. 11 UCLA	truTV	SMU
4:10 p.m.	No. 6 Xavier vs. No. 11 Ole Miss	TBS	Ole Miss
4:40 p.m.	No. 7 VCU vs. No. 10 Ohio State	TNT	Ohio State
6:50 p.m.	No. 1 Villanova vs. No. 16 Lafayette	TBS	Villanova
7:10 p.m.	No. 8 Cincinnati vs. No. 9 Purdue	CBS	Purdue
7:20 p.m.	No. 4 North Carolina vs. No. 13 Harvard	TNT	North Carolina
7:27 p.m.	No. 5 Utah vs. No. 12 Stephen F. Austin	truTV	Utah
9:20 p.m.	No. 8 North Carolina State vs. No. 9 LSU	TBS	NC State
9:40 p.m.	No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 16 Hampton	CBS	Kentucky
9:50 p.m.	No. 5 Arkansas vs. No. 12 Wofford	TNT	Arkansas
9:57 p.m.	No. 4 Georgetown vs. No. 13 Eastern Washington	truTV	E. Washington

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Upset Picks

No. 11 Texas vs. No. 6 Butler

USA TODAY Sports

Butler might be the favorite when it comes to seeding but will feel like the underdog when it plays Texas.

Via Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman, Butler head coach Chris Holtmann described how little respect his squad is getting:

This doesn't necessarily mean that much, considering the general public is wrong all the time when it comes to March Madness. However, there is a reason everyone seems to be penciling in the Longhorns in their brackets.

Texas has struggled at times this year but is still one of the more talented teams in the nation, with an elite frontcourt bullying teams inside. After making it through the gauntlet that is the Big 12, this squad will have a chance to show it's better than its recent record would indicate.

In what should be a physical game, the Longhorns will have the advantage.

Prediction: Texas 64, Butler 62

No. 13 Eastern Washington vs. No. 4 Georgetown

Michael Albans/Associated Press

Georgetown will have to go across the country to play Eastern Washington in Portland, Oregon. Of course, that will be just the start of the trouble for the No. 4 Hoyas.

Eastern Washington head coach Jim Hayford is as confident a coach in a No. 13 seed as you will see, telling Jim Rome of CBS Sports Radio that his team is going to win. According to CBS Sports' Matt Norlander, the coach added:

"

We're not just happy to be here. We want to go do something special. My team in November won at Indiana and snapped the nation's longest non-conference home winning streak at Assembly Hall. We're capable. If you're still in a pool you can fill it in, you want to put the Eagles in. We play fast. We're the third-leading scoring team in the country. We have the country's leading scorer in Tyler Harvey. 

"

Adding all of this up makes for a difficult challenge for Georgetown, especially considering the squad's struggles at defending the perimeter this season. Tyler Harvey and the rest of the Eagles will be able to light it up from three-point range as they control the pace of the game.

Georgetown has an excellent scorer in D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera and a quality frontcourt, but this is a terrible matchup for a program that has lost in the round of 64 in three of its last four tournament appearances. 

Prediction: Eastern Washington 78, Georgetown 73

No. 11 Ole Miss vs. No. 6 Xavier

After scoring just 32 points in the first half against BYU on Tuesday, Ole Miss came back with a 62-point effort in the second half to win in what is already an early favorite for the best game in the tournament. 

The Rebels earned a 94-90 victory which featured some of the most efficient offense you will ever see down the stretch:

Stefan Moody played like a man possessed to lead the team with 26 points, while Jarvis Summers struggled with his shot but still contributed 10 assists and just one turnover. The squad will now try to keep this great offense going against an opponent that has been incredibly inconsistent this season.

Xavier has some great wins, including three over Georgetown and two over Butler. On the other hand, losses to DePaul, Creighton and Long Beach State show this team is far from perfect.

Against a defense that has struggled for much of the year, Ole Miss should be able to continue to put up points to win this one.

Prediction: Ole Miss 76, Xavier 74

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter. If it's March, I'm pretty much talking about nothing but college basketball.