March Madness Bracket 2016: Upset Predictions and Updated Odds for NCAA Tourney

As challenging as it is to find winners in the NCAA tournament, it's even more difficult to find teams that are capable of pulling off upsets and advancing to the second round.

We are looking for underdogs who will get the win over an opponent who may be bigger, stronger, more experienced, more athletic or more talented.

That opponent may have many of those qualities, which makes it even harder to come up with upset winners.

In this piece, we are not looking for upsets between No. 8 and No. 9 seeds. Those teams are so close in ability and stature that it's not a true upset if the No. 9 team comes out on top.

So, while eighth-seeded USC is seemingly perceived as a better team than ninth-seeded Providence in the East Region game that will be played in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Friars are 1.5-point favorites, according to Odds Shark.

When the seeding makes one team a favorite, but the Las Vegas odds pick the other team to win, choosing an "upset" is a convoluted task.

The Seahawks of North Carolina-Wilmington seemingly have a brutal assignment on their hands when they take on the Duke Blue Devils in the first round. The Blue Devils are the defending national champions and are seeded fourth in the West Region. They are 10.5-point favorites over the Seahawks in a game that will be played in Providence, Rhode Island.

Duke is not the team it was a year ago, and while the Blue Devils are loaded with talent, they will have a hard time matching the motivation of UNC-Wilmington.

The Seahawks are a tough, physical team that will try to turn the game into a grind-it-out affair, and if the referees start calling a lot of fouls in the first half, the Blue Devils could find themselves in trouble.

That's just how the Seahawks want to play it. They will depend on Chris Flemmings to get the job done in scoring and rebounding, because he is their best player. If Flemmings has a superior game and Duke gets itself in foul trouble, UNC-Wilmington has an excellent chance to come away with the upset.

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

The wrong team is favored in the South Region when seventh-seeded Iowa meets 10th-seeded Temple in Brooklyn, New York, at the Barclays Center.

The Hawkeyes got off to an excellent start when Big Ten play got underway in late December and early January. However, after beating Michigan State twice and holding down first place for weeks, Iowa lost its edge and struggled badly down the stretch. The team lost five of its last six games, including a galling defeat at the hands of lowly Illinois in the Big Ten tournament.

The Hawkeyes are listed as 10-point favorites in this game.

Temple comes into the tournament having won four of its last five games and looks to be on a solid roll. Look for Quenton DeCosey to give the Owls a lift. He leads Temple in scoring with 15.6 points and six rebounds per night.

DeCosey is going to get quite a bit of help from Obi Enechionyia, who is averaging 11.2 points per game. The Owls made it to the NCAA tournament because they are a savvy and aggressive defensive team. They hold opponents to a 41.7 percent from the field and force 11.2 turnovers per game.

Temple will use that defensive talent to get the best of Iowa and send the Big Ten representative home.

Wisconsin may have reached the championship game in the 2015 NCAA tournament before succumbing to Duke, but it is a long way from advancing that far this time around.

The Badgers are the seventh seed in the East Region and take on 10th-seeded Pittsburgh in St. Louis.

While the seeding committee expects Wisconsin to emerge victorious, and the oddsmakers list the Badgers as two-point favorites, the Panthers are going to survive and advance.

Pittsburgh is going to depend on Michael Young (16.0 points per game) and Jamel Artis (14.4 points) for the bulk of the scoring. The Panthers expect those two to come through in the clutch.

While Wisconsin has been improving recently, Pitt plays a tough physical game that will wear down Wisconsin at the end.

The Badgers like to play a tough game, but Pittsburgh will give Wisconsin more than it can handle.

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