Filling out a bracket has never been more fun than it is this
year. Not only can Bruin fans pick UCLA to go to the Final Four and
actually have some reason behind it, but the way the bracket has
been drawn up, the upset potential has never been better.
And I’m not just talking about your boring 12 v. 5 upset.
I’m talking 14s beating 3s, 15s beating 2s, and a 16 v. 1
game that may not be the walk in the park that all of those
matchups have been since the 64-team format was started.
Do I have your attention now?
With that in mind, here are some potential upsets that could
bust brackets all over the world in a way they have never been
broken before.
“¢bull; (13) Pacific v. (4) Boston College ““ As someone
who has Boston College going to the Final Four, this first round
matchup scares me more than any other potential upset.
This is one of those games where you can throw any positional
logic out the window. A weary Boston College team has to travel
across the country to Salt Lake City following an exhausting
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament where the Eagles fell just
short against Duke. After putting in so much effort only to lose to
Duke in the ACC final, it has to be more difficult for the Eagles
to get up for a first-round game against Pacific.
After a year in which Pacific earned an 8-seed and knocked off
Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA Tournament,
Pacific’s 24-7 record landed them a 13-seed this year. Why
the sudden drop? It’s only because of Pacific’s
early-season troubles. The Tigers lost games to Oregon, Texas El
Paso, Santa Clara and Nevada early in the season, but have been
winning nearly all of their games lately.
This may not be the same Pacific team as last year, but they
have proven that they are a legitimate program year after year.
They also have two talented senior players in Christian Maraker and
Johnny Gray.
“¢bull; (14) Xavier v. (3) Gonzaga ““ This is an upset that
I am actually picking in my bracket. Gonzaga has been playing very
ugly basketball of late and is facing an under-seeded team in
Xavier ““ a team that is much better than San Francisco
(11-16), San Diego (18-12), Loyola Marymount (12-18), Pepperdine
(7-20) or any other team that came extremely close to upsetting
Gonzaga down the stretch.
While the Xavier Musketeers aren’t the Atlantic-10
powerhouse that they have been in the past, their conference had a
much better year than the West Coast Conference did, even in a down
year. Beating teams like Charlotte, St. Joseph’s, and
Massachusetts in a conference tournament, as Xavier did, is not an
easy task. Xavier is the toughest team that the “˜Zags have
faced since they barely beat St. Joseph’s at home on New
Year’s Eve. That’s the same St. Joe’s team that
Xavier just beat in the Atlantic-10 Championship game.
“¢bull; (15) Winthrop v. (2) Tennessee ““ This is another
upset that I have in my bracket. Yes, I know that a 15-seed
hasn’t won a game since 2001, but this is not your average 15
v. 2 match-up.
Winthrop is balanced, athletic, fun to watch, and was on the
losing side of a near upset against Gonzaga last year. They
won’t let another opportunity slip away from them.
Tennessee, on the other hand, is one of the most overrated
2-seeds in my memory. The Volunteers haven’t played very well
down the stretch, losing three out of their last four games to the
likes of South Carolina, Kentucky and Arkansas. They have holes
inside and lack depth. Bruce Pearl has done a great job with the
Vols this year, but players win tournament games, not coaches. When
everyone is shocked after Winthrop wins the game, you ““ the
reader of this column ““ won’t be.
“¢bull; (16) Oral Roberts v. (1) Memphis ““ First, let me
say that this is unlikely to happen and I, like most others, think
that Memphis’ athletes will probably smoke Oral Roberts.
Before you totally laugh this bottom seed off, consider this: Oral
Roberts beat USC by 20 this year, lost to Marquette by just three,
Utah State by one, and Oklahoma by eight. They have proven they can
hang around some of the better teams in the nation.
Memphis is the weakest of the top seeds, but could easily win
without their “A-game.” It would be a mistake, though,
for Memphis to totally overlook Oral Roberts. John Calipari’s
teams have never been known for their consistency. If a 16 could
ever beat a 1, this is the one to do it.
If the last-second changes you made to your bracket because
of Azar’s column all come back to haunt you, send him hate
mail at bazar@media.ucla.edu.