We are one day deep into the NCAA Tournament, and some brackets have already been broken.
The biggest upsets of Thursday’s action was No. 11 Xavier knocking off No. 6 Maryland and No. 12 Middle Tennessee State beating No. 5 Minnesota.
Outside of those games, it was mostly chalk or higher seeded winners for most of the day.
Today presents an opportunity for more upsets, as some of the top teams in the tournament get into action.
No. 1 ranked Kansas will face off against the 16 seed UC Davis later this evening. The Jayhawks are coming off a Big 12 Tournament Quaterfinals loss, but they were missing one of their best players, Josh Jackson. Kansas is always dangerous come tournament time and coach Bill Self knows how to get his players ready for the big games. However, UC Davis has momentum, having already won a play-in game, and won’t be fazed by facing a top seed.
The South bracket features two huge match ups today, with both No. 1 seed UNC and No. 2 seed Kentucky starting their tournament slates.
North Carolina will be playing 16 seeded Texas Southern, the winner of the Southwestern Conference Tournament. UNC is coming off an ACC Tournament loss to the rival Duke Blue Devils, and is 2-2 in its last four games. However, the team was the tournament runner-up last season, and has the potential to make another deep run.
Finally, Kentucky will be challenged by an interstate team, the Northern Kentucky Norse. Northern Kentucky won the the Horizon League tournament in its first year of eligibility to qualify for the NCAA tournament, meaning the team is riding a huge wave of momentum and is looking to make a splash on the big stage for the first time. On the other hand, Kentucky is no stranger to the big stage, and enters today’s contest on an 11-game winning streak.
Despite being heavily favored, each team needs to be on its A-game for the NCAA Tourney.
Our question is, which team needs to be on “Upset Alert” today?
