NCAA Tournament 2018: Early Upset Picks for March Madness Bracket

It's possible nothing excites risk-takers, adventurous gamblers and all others who embrace living on the edge more than March Madness.

With Selection Sunday now behind us, the bracket is set for the 2018 men's college basketball tournament. There's no better time to start fitting lower seeds for glass slippers and identifying which under-the-radar sides are most capable of engineering an upset.

While chalk prevails more often than not, the field is always rich with giant-killers. This iteration of the Big Dance is no different.

There's a chance for an upset—defined for our purposes as a round-of-64 victory by a team seeded 11th or lower—in almost every matchup (keep dreaming, 16 seeds), but the following three teams are the likeliest to overcome their underdog status.

View Bleacher Report's Printable Bracket Here

Loyola-Chicago (South Region, No. 11 Seed)

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Don't be distracted by the wide gulf the seedings put between the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers and the sixth-seeded Miami Hurricanes. The stat sheet sees this more like a toss-up.

The Hurricanes completed their campaign ranked 36th on KenPom.com. The Ramblers sat just five spots behind at 41st. RPI puts them even closer together with Miami at 21st and Loyola-Chicago at 22nd.

The Ramblers (27-5) knocked off the sixth-seeded (then fifth-ranked) Florida Gators on the road in early December. Loyola-Chicago is riding a 10-game winning streak and has 17 victories to show for its last 18 contests.

Five different players made at least 27 triples and shot at a 39-plus-percent clip from distance. Junior Clayton Custer, the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, paced them in points (13.4 per game) and three-point percentage (44.0). Collectively, the team converted 39.8 percent of its long-range looks, tying it for 20th-best in the nation.

"Loyola-Chicago is a serious threat to reach the Sweet 16," Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller wrote. "Five Ramblers average at least 10 points per game, and five of the six primary scorers are upperclassmen. They start not one but two veteran point guards: Custer and senior Ben Richardson, both of whom hail from Overland Park, Kansas."

One more reason to like Loyola-Chicago's chances—Miami's Bruce Brown Jr. is expected to miss the rest of the season with a left foot injury, per the Associated Press.

The sophomore guard, a potential first-round pick in this summer's NBA draft, led the Hurricanes in rebounds (7.1) and tied for second in scoring (11.4). Miami (22-9) has gone just 7-4 in the 11 games he has already missed.

New Mexico State (Midwest Region, No. 12 Seed)

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

If your upset picks must be of the unpopular variety, then the New Mexico State Aggies aren't the sleeper for you.

NCAA.com's Andy Katz christened them his "Cinderella for a weekend," and CBS Sports' Seth Davis supplied his own praise on Twitter:

Why so much hype for a 12 seed?

Well, the Aggies have gone a blistering 28-5, and they won the Western Athletic Conference championship game by double-digits (72-58 over Grand Canyon). They also handled the sixth-seeded Hurricanes 63-54 during nonconference play.

New Mexico State is relentless on defense (14th in efficiency, per KenPom) and averages the fourth-most rebounds in the country (41.5). Of course, it needs to excel on that end since offense can be a struggle (116th in efficiency). Outside of senior Zach Lofton (19.8 points per game, 38.2 percent from three), there aren't many scoring threats or competent shooters.

That said, the fifth-seeded Clemson Tigers (23-9) carry a similar statistical profile. Their defense is even better (eighth), but their offense has been reeling without second-leading scorer Donte Grantham (season-ending knee injury). Clemson lost five of its last eight games and failed to reach 60 points in four of them.

Marshall (East Region, No. 13 Seed)

Michael Ainsworth/Associated Press

Only six teams in the country launched more perimeter shots than the Marshall Thundering Herd (24-10). That analytical approach to offense should surprise no one when considering whom they're coached by—Dan D'Antoni, brother of Houston Rockets' head coach Mike D'Antoni.

Marshall's fast-paced, perimeter-based offense can force opponents into track meets. The fourth-seeded Wichita State Shockers (25-7) are comfortable running, but their perimeter coverage is spotty. They ranked just 260th in opponents' three-point percentage (36.3), per NCAA.com.

Few, if any, clubs can exploit that weakness better than the Thundering Herd. Their top-four scorers all hit 31 threes or better, including 6'9" junior Ajdin Penava, whose stat line includes 15.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and an NCAA-best 4.1 blocks. And he's only third on the scoring pecking order behind juniors Jon Elmore (22.8 points, 6.9 assists and 6.0 rebounds) and C.J. Burks (20.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists).

This might be the highest scoring game in the round of 64. Both Marshall (tied for 11th) and Wichita State (tied for 19th) ranked among the nation's leaders in points per game.

The Thundering Herd have issues on defense and the glass, but their five-out offense can overcome them when their shots are falling. And they might be catching the Shockers at the right time. Wichita State lost two of its last three games (granted, both losses were to tourney teams) and preceded the stretch by needing overtime against the 13-loss UCF Knights.

Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of KenPom.com and ESPN.com.