Tonight Arkansas Pine Bluff will face off against Winthrop for the play in game to get things started in the 2010 Men’s NCAA Tournament. Tonight’s game is pretty much pointless because the winner will get to turn around and get slaughtered by Duke. That being said, this tournament is set up to have some good upsets. Here are five upsets that I think we will witness this year.
#13Murray State over #4Vanderbilt
How in the world can you key in on the player you need to when there is no clear cut person to key in on. That is what Vanderbilt is going to have to do if they are going to beat the Murray State Racers. Murray State’s top five scorers all average over 10 points a game…talk about balance! I think that the Racers balance will be too much to overcome for the Commodores.
#12 UTEP over #5 Butler
Don’t let UTEP’s #12 seeding in the West region fool you. They are seeded that way because they lost to a hot Houston team in the Conference USA tournament. Had they won that game, UTEP would be seeded 8th or 9th. That being said, UTEP matches up really good with a Butler team that struggle against teams that like to take the ball inside, like UTEP.
#12 Cornell over #5 Temple
There are a few stats that jump out at me when looking at this game. Temple is near the bottom in offensive rebounds and forced turnovers. Cornell is near the top in not turning the ball over and not allowing offensive rebounds. That means that Cornell will be able to maximize every possession. The main reason that Cornell will upset Temple is their 3-point shooting. Cornell connects on 43.8% of their 3-pointers which is best in the nation. Any decent college hoops team has a chance at upsetting really good teams if they can drain 3′s like Cornell can.
#11 Old Dominion over #6 Notre Dame
I am picking the Old Dominion Monarchs to beat the Fighting Irish because Notre Dame is over-seeded. They were in trouble of making the tournament when star player Luke Harangody got hurt, and since he came back they automatically get a 6 seed, bad job by the selection committee. Old Dominion on the other hand had a quality win over Georgetown.
#14 Oakland over # 3 Pittsburgh
This would be the biggest upset if it happened, and it could. Oakland has played on the big stage this season by going to Kansas, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Syracuse. Although they lost all 4 games, those games definitely gave them some experience in playing a power house team so they know exactly how to go into their game with the Pitt Panthers. Oakland also has bigger inside players than Pitt, which could prove to be vital.
Remember this as you read through my upsets, they are just that…UPSETS! These probably won’t happen but don’t be surprised if they do.
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