This is one of the best weeks of the year, and I think this has the potential to be one of the craziest tournaments in recent memory. Regardless, it’s great to have March Madness back after a very disappointing March in 2020. Someone is bound to make some noise and bust everyone’s bracket, perhaps it’ll be a team on this list.
West:
12 UCSB over 5 Creighton
9 Missouri over 8 Oklahoma
Creighton has had some off the court issues, but UCSB is a very talented team that could pull off an upset regardless. In my opinion, it’s more likely that three 12 seeds win than none of them do. This will be a convincing win for the Gauchos.
Missoru is a hit or miss team. If they’re at their best, they can easily topple an Oklahoma bunch that has struggled since a COVID break. If they play like they did against Georgia, this one will come down to the wire.
East:
11 UCLA/Michigan State over 6 BYU
It is kind of crazy to pick a team that hasn’t advanced yet, but I’m not counting out Mick Cronin or Tom Izzo in March. Mark Pope is a great coach as well, but this will be one of the toughest “first four” opponents that BYU could possibly face.
Midwest:
10 Rutgers over 7 Clemson
I really don’t like many of the lower seeds in the first round, but I am sure some chaos will happen. Rutgers and Clemson are two of the slowest paced teams in all of college basketball, so don’t be shocked if this one is a close grinder that comes down to the wire.
South:
12 Winthrop over 5 Villanova
14 Colgate over 3 Arkansas
Villanova is missing Collin Gillespie for the rest of the season, which is a massive blow to their offense. In addition, this is a 5-12 matchup, which means Nova could be in trouble against a Winthrop team that formerly owned the longest win-streak in D1 college basketball. They can score, and Nova may have trouble keeping up. I don’t think Colgate will edge out Arkansas, but both of these teams can fill it up and play very fast.
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Photo: Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire
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