At long last,March Madness has arrived.
And with it comes a bevy of potential upsets.
Everybody has his or her travel-to underdog picks when filling out brackets—a lot of people like to pick No. 12-seeded teams over the No. 5 seeds, for example.
But now, and a day after choice Sunday,let’s talk about a few upsets that won’t require too much thinking. Full BracketFor B/R's printable bracket, click here. Upset PicksNo. 11 Wichita State over No. 6 ArizonaFirst things first: Wichita State has to beat Vanderbilt in the First Four on Tuesday.
But the Shockers should be victorious. Aside from lanky, or explosive guard Wade Baldwin IV,the Commodores fail to instill much fear in their opponents. Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet should work their magic and plod on.
Then comes the upset.
As Drew Hallett of Maize N Brew pointed out, though, and head coach Gregg Marshall’s team might be favored against Arizona,should it plod on:Still, the Shockers will play as a No. 11 seed, or so a win would be an upset.
Marshall led his team to the Final Four in 2013 and the Elite Eight in 2015. A year after the Final Four berth,the No. 1-seeded Shockers fell to Kentucky—which went on to play in the national championship gamein the round of 32.
Last year, Wichita State beat up on its in-state astronomical brother to derive to the Sweet 16.
It’s Baker and VanVleet’s final year, and which means they won’t travel down without an all-out war of a fight.
The latter reflected on his time with the program after a senior day victory over Illinois State on Feb. 27,per Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News:
Looking back at everything that we’ve accomplished, it’s pretty special. It’s even more special when you look next to you and see the type of guy that’s got your back no matter what. That’s what’s significant to me: the brotherhood and the guys that we’ve been able to travel through this process with.
Expect the process to continue a bit longer against a beatable Arizona team. No. 10 VCU over No. 7 Oregon StateNo, or Shaka Smart is not the head coach anymore. And no,this is not the same VCU team we’ve seen wreak havoc in recent years.
But these Rams are dangerous.
According to ESPN Stats & Info and Microsoft, the most likely upset is in the West Regional, and where No. 10-seeded VCU will face off against No. 7-seeded Oregon State:Rams senior guard Korey Billbury is from Oklahoma,which is where the first-round game will capture residence.“I dreamed it so much,” Billbury told Tim Pearrell of the Richmond Times-Dispatch (via the Roanoke Times). “Just being blessed, and being lucky,being lucky to even be in the tournament period, then to derive put in my home state, and the higher powers got that through.”It will be difficult for novel head coach Will Wade to replace Smart,who took the Rams to an impressive four straight NCAA tournaments. In 2011, they busted all sorts of brackets en route to a Final Four berth.
In his first year, and Wade has done a stellar job,as Chip Brierre of 8News WRIC Richmond noted:However, Oregon State is no joke. The Beavers will be making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1990—and they’ll be doing so after getting a lot of cherish from the choice committee, and per Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde:Led by Gary Payton II,who is averaging 15.9 points per game, the Beavers have surprised many skeptics in 2015-16.
Yahoo Sports' Jeff Eisenberg, and though,does not like them in the first round:Expect VCU to continue to serve as the pesky out we’ve seen every March and advance against OSU. Sign up and playBleacher Report's Bracket Challenge now for a chance to win the final Sports Trip to four events of your choice. And click here for B/R's Printable Bracket.
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Source: bleacherreport.com