St. Mary's vs. VCU is one of the biggest mismatches as far as point spread vs. computers in the first round. KenPom's model has St. Mary's as a >10 point favorite while Vegas only has St. Mary's as a 4.5 point favorite.
Some of my biggest upsets are # 13 ETSU over UF, #13 Vermont over Purdue and potentially #11 WF over Cincinnati. Of course, you have the 12/5 Nevada over Iowa St and Middle Tenn over UM.
As far as a Cinderella run to the elite 8, perhaps a Rhode Island or a Miami but appears the usual suspects of high seeds.
I'm just not that confident in them. I think VCU's athleticism takes away the outside 3 point shooting threats. In order for St. Mary's to win, Landale has to dominate Alie-Cox, which is possible. I also see that VCU doesn't have very much size, so maybe he can go crazy.
Maybe my opinion is just skewed by how much they struggled against the Zags. VCU is a different type of team, but I'm surprised by how much St. Mary's struggled to shoot/score against the Zags.
saw them crush the Heels down here (and beat Duke too), but just 5-10 away from Watsco Center on the season. Their chance was last year - had a really good team, just got unlucky seeding being paired with Villanova in the sweet 16.
I think Michigan & Creighton have great shots to get to elite 8. Not so much because of their teams, but because I think Louisville was mis-seeded (more of a 3) and Oregon will have a tough time with the injury situation.
I think Butler gives UNC a really hard time in sweet 16.
Finally, the Dayton - Wichita State game will be a lot of fun since Indiana probably has their eye on both coaches.
that particular 8 team bracket in the midwest is tough because I dont find any of those teams all that good. Hard to see any team but Kansas coming out of that region, especially since they were basically awarded 4 home games to get to the final 4 (yet again)
Some of my biggest upsets are # 13 ETSU over UF, #13 Vermont over Purdue and potentially #11 WF over Cincinnati. Of course, you have the 12/5 Nevada over Iowa St and Middle Tenn over UM.
As far as a Cinderella run to the elite 8, perhaps a Rhode Island or a Miami but appears the usual suspects of high seeds.
Maybe my opinion is just skewed by how much they struggled against the Zags. VCU is a different type of team, but I'm surprised by how much St. Mary's struggled to shoot/score against the Zags.
I think Michigan & Creighton have great shots to get to elite 8. Not so much because of their teams, but because I think Louisville was mis-seeded (more of a 3) and Oregon will have a tough time with the injury situation.
I think Butler gives UNC a really hard time in sweet 16.
Finally, the Dayton - Wichita State game will be a lot of fun since Indiana probably has their eye on both coaches.