Arguably the best sporting event of the year is currently in its early stages as March Madness got started on Tuesday night with the First Four, and then the first round got started on Thursday. The First Four gave us an early taste of the tournament and there were some great matchups, but Thursday was March Madness at its finest. The first day is always one of the best as there are 16 games going from noon all the way until around midnight ET. There aren't as many games during week number two, but now that we are down to 16 teams, all of the games become more competitive. Everything is on the line in the Sweet 16, and the best of the best remain. It's going to be a lot of fun.
There is so much to love about March Madness, and the second weekend is going to provide a lot of excitement. This tournament has been different than most as we only have one double digit seed left standing. Most of the favorites have advanced so far, which makes for less exciting upsets obviously, but it does show that the best teams from the regular season are showing up in the postseason, and it should make for an exciting Sweet 16, and an exciting final two weeks in general.
Another great part of March Madness are the historic performances put on by individual players. Every so often we will see a player completely take over a game and put their team on their back, and they sometimes carry their squad all the way to a national title. It's always fun to watch. When it gets to the later stages of the tournament, everyone knows that player is getting the ball, and still, no one can stop him. We have seen some great performances already in this tournament, and we are hoping to see some more March Madness legends rise to the occasion this weekend.
The upsets are always special as well. It seems like every season there is at least one underdog team that captures America's heart and makes a surprise deep run in March Madness. For example, #16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson took down #1 seed Purdue last year and ended up putting up a good fight in the second round too. They lost to Florida Atlantic, however. Then, #9 said Florida Atlantic turned into the cinderella team as they marched all the way to the Final Four. Upsets are one of the best parts of college basketball, and something about March Madness brings them out. We don't have a ton of Cinderella teams this year, but 11 seed NC State basketball is still dancing, and they are taking on #2 seed Marquette this week in the Sweet 16. We'll see if they can pull off another upset to keep their run going.
Who will pull off an upset in the Sweet 16?
After 15/16 favorites won in the round of 32, college basketball fans are hungry to see some upsets in the Sweet 16. However, besides 11 seed NC State, the lowest seed remaining is a six seed. The Wolfpack can still pull off some big upsets, but other than that, this tournament is done seeing crazy high seeds win. Still, there can still be upsets outside of NC State as every game still has a favorite. It just isn't going to as exciting as seeing #14 seed Oakland knock off Kentucky.
The Sweet 16 is just one day away, and in just four days, there will only be four teams left standing in March Madness. Here are three teams that have the best chance to pull off an upset and make it to the Elite 8.
#11 NC State over #2 seed Marquette
This is the one that everyone is going to want to see. As the highest seed remaining by far, college basketball fans that don't have a dog in the fight are rooting for NC State basketball. The only people that want Marquette to win are fans of the Golden Eagles, or people still cheering for their bracket (just let it go and cheer for chaos).
The Wolfpack are on an absurd run right now as it looked like their season was going to come to an end in the ACC Tournament. They were the 10 seed and showed no signs of winning it, but they caught fire and went all the way to get the ACC automatic qualifier. Then, NC State took down six seed Texas Tech in the first round and 14 seed March Madness Darling Oakland to advance to the Sweet 16. Can the Wolfpack get past Marquette? They are currently 6.5-point underdogs.
#5 Gonzaga over #1 Purdue
Purdue basketball has rebounded well in this tournament after losing to a 16 seed last year, but the road gets a lot harder with Gonzaga basketball on deck for the Sweet 16. The Bulldogs looked scary good in their demolition of Kansas in the round of 32, and they should be able to give the Boilermakers a good fight. Purdue is favored by 5.5, but don't surprised if Gonzaga dances their way to the Elite 8.
#6 Clemson over #2 Arizona
Clemson basketball is the only team still alive that has won both of their games as underdogs. The Tigers took on 11 seed New Mexico in the first round, but they were actually 2.5-point underdogs in that game. Clemson won easily, and then they pulled off an upset win against #3 seed Baylor in the second round. The Tigers are looking good, and they are once again underdogs against two seed Arizona basketball. The Wildcats are favored by 7.5 points. Can Clemson win their third straight as the underdog?
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