After a year’s absence from March Madness, the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament officially starts Thursday with four games as First Four action starts. Eight teams battle for four spots in the play-in round of March Madness. As many people finish up their March Madness brackets, let’s take a look at the favorites and upset matchups coming out of each division.
Only one #1 seed has ever lost it’s opener to a #16 seed, as we saw with Virginia-UMBC in 2018. As well, all in all the two seeds have lost only eight games in the opening round, most recently in 2016 with Michigan State losing to Middle Tennessee, so look for these seeds to move forward into the second round and onward. The three seeds normally have one knocked out in the opening round every three years on average. However this looks unlikely this year due to the three seeds being strong teams.
Looking more closely at the four seeds, the matchups get closer. 13 seed Ohio comes into the tournament hot off a win versus Buffalo by 25 in the MAC Tournament Championship. Many believe they have a good chance of beating Virginia whose offense has been shaky all season long.
Another key matchup is the North Carolina Tarheels (8) versus the Wisconsin Badgers (9). Both with coaching staffs who have the program always going far into the tournament as they battle it out to move onto the second round. This one can go either way so this will be an exciting one in the opening round.
A team to watch in the first round, even though they are a 15 seed, Max Abmas who leads the country in scoring at 24.2 points per game attempts to lead Oral Roberts over Ohio State in the opening round so lookout for this upset.
Many star players have the chance to shine on their teams to get their draft stock up as well as lead their programs high up in the tournament. Here are some players to watch who are going to have to lead their team to victory during March Madness.
Players to watch:
Cade Cunningham, G, Oklahoma State
Evan Mobley, F, USC
Scottie Barnes, G, Florida State
Corey Kispert, G, Gonzaga
Franz Wagner, G, Michigan
Mac McClung G, Texas Tech
Max Abmas, G, Oral Roberts
Predictions to make it to the Sweet 16:
West Division:
1 Gonzaga vs. 13 Ohio
2 Iowa vs. 3 Kansas
East Division:
1 Michigan vs. 4 FSU
2 Alabama vs. 3 Texas
South Division:
1 Baylor vs. 4 Purdue
2 Ohio State vs. 6 Texas Tech
Midwest Division:
1 Illinois vs. 4 Oklahoma State
2 Houston vs. 3 West Virginia
To fill out a bracket of your own, visit this link.
