Spring is just around the corner, which for basketball fans can mean only one thing — March Madness. The exhilarating tournament has people around the country glued to their phones and brackets, hoping they picked the coveted ‘perfect bracket’. While the chances of a perfect bracket aren’t great at one in 128 billion, it doesn’t keep basketball enthusiasts from submitting multiple brackets for contests worth millions of dollars. Today’s your lucky day, however, as I will lead you to success by listing possible upset matchups, and which teams have the easiest path to the Final Four.
Possible Upsets
Murray State upsets West Virginia: West Virginia(WVU), a five seed comes into the tournament after a rollercoaster of a year. With impressive wins against top ranked teams such as Virginia, Texas Tech. and Oklahoma, there’s no question about WVU’s ability to play basketball against top opponents. However, with their defense lacking consistency in high scoring games, the number 12 seed, Murray State, can take advantage with star senior Jonathan Stark who averaged almost 22 points a game and versatile senior Terrell Miller Jr. who tallied nearly 15 points and eight assists a game. Murray State also brings in the nation’s longest winning streak at 13 games in a row.
New Mexico State upsets Clemson: With two of the best defensive squads facing off against each other, this game is bound to be close. While Clemson who earned a five seed has had impressive wins against teams with the likes of North Carolina, Miami and Ohio State, the 12 seed New Mexico State(Aggies) brings in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) player of the year in Jemerrio Jones, who averaged a double-double throughout the course of the year. The Aggies also hold impressive wins over Miami 63-54 and Davidson 69-68, who are each in the tournament. Expect a low scoring, close game come Friday.
San Diego State upsets Houston: Riding a nine game-winning streak, the number 11 seed San Diego State Aztecs bring in huge momentum to the big dance. With wins against number four seed Gonzaga and number seven seed Nevada, the Houston Cougars, a six seed, should definitely be nervous. The Aztecs boast a well balanced team while bringing in some height with 6’10” Malik Pope, and 6’9” Jalen McDaniels both starting for San Diego. In order to pull off the upset, the Aztecs will have to limit the damage done by Cougars’ star point guard Robert Gray who averaged nearly 24 points per game.
Easiest Paths to the Final Four
Villanova: The easiest path to the Final Four goes to the Villanova Wildcats. In fact, they boast the best odds to win the tournament because of their strength of schedule. While it won’t be easy, the wildcats have a much softer schedule than top ranked Virginia will have. Villanova’s path includes games against the number two seed Purdue, number three seed Texas Tech and the number four seed Wichita State. They also boast one of the tournament’s best offensive teams coming in leading the league with 87.1 points per game.
Purdue: While the Purdue Boilermakers don’t have the luxury of a number one seed teams schedule, they are still lucky to face the bottom half of the east region, which is wide open. Outside of Villanova, the best team Purdue would have to face would be Texas Tech, who come crawling into the tournament with a record of 2-5 in their last seven games. The Boilermakers however, bring wins against the number three seed Michigan and the four seed Arizona who were both ranked in the top 25 during the regular season.