Three First Round Upsets That Will Break Your Bracket
Three first round games that I believe will end in upsets.
IT’S TIME FOR MARCH MADNESS! Every year we see a handful of big time upsets so, here are three upsets that I believe will occur in the first round.
#2 Ohio State vs #15 Oral Roberts: The Buckeyes could fall early on to the Golden Eagles and here is why. Oral Roberts shoots a lot of threes and they are super efficient from downtown. They play fast paced small ball and will score quickly on the offensive end and make you turn the ball over on defense.
The Golden Eagles are led by guard Max Abmas who is the leading scorer in all of division one. For the Buckeyes, they weren’t great down the stretch in the regular season but were HOT in the Big Ten tournament. If Ohio State can get to the free throw line against Oral Roberts then they will win this game because they are super successful from the line.
My prediction, Oral Roberts pulls off the upset over Ohio State, 64-59 Oral Roberts.
#5 Villanova vs #12 Winthrop
Villanova is extremely cold right now. They were knocked out of the Big East tournament by the Georgetown Hoyas and that ultimately hurt them when it came time for seeding. The Wildcats are weak right now. Their starting guard and one of the team leaders, Collin Gillespie, will miss the rest of the season due to a knee injury.
As for Winthrop, they have only one loss. They enter the tournament at 23-1 and usually run with eleven different players. Much like Oral Roberts, they will push the pace on teams and suffocate you on the defensive end. The Eagles are led by 6’7 point guard, Chandler Vaudrin who has racked up three triple doubles this year.
My prediction, Winthrop jumps on Villanova early and doesn’t let off the gas in an upset win, 68-55 Winthrop.
#5 Colorado vs #12 Georgetown: I mentioned it already in this article but, the Hoyas are HOT right now. They’ve knocked off Villanova and Creighton in the Bg East tournament and the PAC 12 for basketball is no where near the Big East talent wise. Georgetown is led by center Qudus Wahab, who is the main reason for the Hoyas recent success.
Patrick Ewing has his squad ready, and like the two other underdogs I have mentioned in this article, they like to control the pace of play and they will force turnovers on defense. Georgetown is the last team I would want to face at this point of the season.
Colorado is a solid team all around. They have veteran leadership and are efficient from the free throw line. I am excited to watch the Hoyas defense against the Buffaloes offense to see if Colorado can limit their turnovers or if the Hoyas will take control.
My prediction, Colorado will lead early but Ewings squad will claw back and win off of a game winning shot or a game winning defensive stand, 61-58 Georgetown.
Two other games I would look out for when making your bracket is when #2 Alabama plays #15 Iona who is led by Rick Pitino. Pitino is a great coach and should have the Gaels ready for war against the very talented Crimson Tide.
The other one to watch is #5 Creighton against #12 UCSB. Santa Barbara is on an 18-1 run and are the best hustle team in the whole tournament. When Creighton played Georgetown, they were out hustled and got shellacked. I think that the Gauchos could pull off a win over the Blue Jays.