Mar 17, 2021
From starts to stops to pauses, the pandemic season has been the most unpredictable in recent memory. Couple that with the most unpredictable month of the season, in any year, and it’s the perfect storm for history-making runs as 68 teams prepare to duke it out in Indianapolis for the men s NCAA title.
Since 1997, only two teams below a No. 3 seed (No. 4 Arizona and No. 7 UConn) have won the tournament, but in a year when practices are scarce and fans are limited (25% capacity), the stage is set for a lower-seeded veteran-laden squad to make it to April.
Yes, we know all about Gonzaga being undefeated, Baylor’s toughness and Illinois’s inside-outside dominance, but which lesser-known teams have the personnel and pedigree to dole out multiple upsets en route to a Final Four berth?
Mar 16, 2021
Editor s Note: Welcome to Morning Madness, SI s daily newsletter during the NCAA tournament. We ll provide you with insight, analysis, picks and more from our college hoops experts.
Upsets are always a major theme across the first weekend of March Madness, when after days of people debating which lower-seeded programs can pull them off, it s finally time for those teams to prove it on the court. But we re not here to talk about the Cinderellas in this edition of Morning Madness; instead, we re here to talk about the men s teams you
should trust in the first round.
While we do live in a post-UMBC-beating-Virginia world, we re not going to take the easy way out and include No. 1 seeds here. However, here s eight others that we feel confident telling you to pencil in.
Mar 5, 2021
It’s time to officially punch some tickets to March Madness! Automatic bids begin getting awarded Saturday with the men s OVC championship, and several more will be officially booked by Monday night. With autobids come bid-stealers, a critical story line to watch for bubble teams. Could someone swoop in and steal a bid in the Missouri Valley, potentially making it a three-bid league? If you’re a fan of a bubble team, you certainly hope not. How does the field look heading into this critical weekend?
On the Bubble
The bubble continues to not do itself any favors. Xavier could have essentially clinched its spot in the NCAA tournament if it had just won at Georgetown, but that was apparently too tough a task for the Musketeers. Meanwhile, Seton Hall stares down a near must-win game Saturday at St. John’s after losing Wednesday to UConn. A loss there would drop the Pirates to 13–12 and likely out of the field entering the Big East tournament. One more team still