Tag: NCAA Tournament upsets

Texas Basketball: Looking at the challenge Penn State presents

Penn State is an entirely new challenge than the Longhorns have faced.

Texas cruised past its first opponent in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. Winning likely won’t come as easily in the team’s second game.

The Longhorns will face the No. 10 seeded Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday night. The two teams gave perhaps the most impressive performances of the tournament so far. Albeit, Texas’ performance paled in comparison to what Penn State accomplished against Texas A&M.

The matchup problem the Aggies had against the Nittany Lions is the same issue many Penn State opponents have ran up against of late. Penn State facilitator Jalen Pickett’s old fashioned style of play creates mismatches teams aren’t accustomed to facing.

The staple plays for Pickett revolve around backing down opponents and scoring or dishing to the open man. Three-point threat Andrew Funk was one of the beneficiaries of Pickett’s offense against Texas A&M, but even Nittany Lion post players got involved.

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Texas might need to make difficult decisions in what it allows on the defensive side of the floor. The Longhorns can provide help to stop Pickett or defend his role playing scorers, but they cannot do both.

The two teams will face off Saturday at 6:45 p.m. CT on CBS.

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Madness: Recapping Thursday, including Texas’ 81-61 win over Colgate

We recap the first full day of NCAA Tournament action.

The Texas Longhorns are moving on the the Round of 32 after winning in dominant fashion on Thursday. The Longhorns made short work of the Colgate Raiders to stay alive in the NCAA Tournament. They did so behind an all-time performance by Sir’Jabari Rice.

Rice shot a scorching 7-for-10 on three-point attempts burying any aspirations the Raiders had of pulling off an upset. For perspective, the Texas guard outshot the entire Colgate arsenal of long range shooters who put up a pedestrian 3-for-15 night from downtown.

Marcus Carr added four three-point baskets of his own to the Longhorns’ 13-for-23 performance from behind the arc.

The team will face another proficient shooting team in its next matchup. The Penn State Nittany Lions rode an impressive three-point performance of their own to roll past the Texas A&M Aggies in the first round.

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Here’s a look at the first full day of NCAA Tournament action.

Could Texas and these teams be on upset alert?

We look at some of the most dangerous potential Round of 64 upsets.

March Madness is underway in Dayton, Ohio with two Tuesday play-in games. They call it madness for the upsets that are about to ensue.

A handful of schools have put themselves on the map in recent seasons. Miami head coach Jim Laranaga made the George Mason Patriots famous in a Final Four run as a No. 11 seed in 2006. Shaka Smart took his No. 12 seeded VCU Rams as far a few years later.

The more shocking upsets come from higher seeds. Last season, St. Peter’s made history as the first No. 15 seed to reach the Elite 8. Before they could start the run, the Peacocks had to get past No. 2 seeded Kentucky.

While the Longhorns could fall prey to No. 15 seed Colgate, I wouldn’t anticipate Texas to lose. The most likely upsets usually occur with teams ranked between No. 9 and No. 13 seeds. Let’s look at some of the teams who can pull off potential upsets.

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3 upsets to pick in the first round of the 2021 NCAA tournament

Filling out your NCAA tournament bracket? These are the upsets to watch out for while making your predictions.

It’s the NCAA tournament, so bracket busting upsets are inevitable. We are here to make sure your bracket remains intact after what should be a wild first round of the 2021 tourney after a season that was played during a worldwide pandemic.

After poring over the Round of 64 matchups and breaking down the advanced metrics, we’ve picked out three upsets to pick in your bracket. Now, we can’t guarantee you these teams will win, but we can tell you that these games should be competitive … and you might want to avoid picking the favorites to go far when filling out your bracket.

All the stats cited here are via KenPom.com. Let’s pick some upsets…