4 teams that could bust brackets early in NCAA Tournament
If you're reading this, you're probably serious about winning your bracket pool and don't want to follow everyone's lead with chalk picks across the board.
The key to a great start in bracket picks is to nail some double-digit seeds winning first-round games before the big names take over.
Here are four teams that could make some noise Thursday or Friday and maybe even stun with a Sweet 16 appearance.
No. 11 Drake
The central cast of characters is different, but Drake is back in the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year. Gone are head coach Darian DeVries and his son/star player Tucker, and in are former D-II national champion Ben McCollum and his star, Bennett Stirtz. The results were a 30-win season for the Bulldogs and plenty of conference accolades for the new pair.
Drake is a trendy upset pick thanks to a style that can be very annoying to play against. The Bulldogs narrow their focus to forcing turnovers and playing as slow as humanly possible. They succeed on both fronts, turning the opposition over a whopping 22% of possessions and registering the slowest tempo in the nation. Drake already scored a major-conference victory this season by taking down Vanderbilt - a team that beat first-round opponent Missouri earlier in the year.
No. 12 UC San Diego
To say UC San Diego is brimming with confidence would be an understatement. The Tritons enter the NCAA Tournament on a 15-game winning streak and fresh off the Big West tourney title. Any good underdog story needs a central figure, and Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones is UC San Diego's. The 6-foot-6 New Zealander is a walking bucket, sitting 28th in the country in scoring at just under 20 points per game. The Tritons also feature one of the biggest chuckers in the tournament in Tyler McGhie. The senior guard has taken at least 10 3-pointers in 15 games this year.
The fun for opponents doesn't end on defense, as the Tritons feature one of the most opportunistic defensive units in the country. Only five teams forced more turnovers than UC San Diego on the season, which will certainly have caught the attention of first-round opponent Michigan. The Wolverines are fresh off a Big Ten tourney title but are 340th in the country in protecting the ball.
No. 12 McNeese
This is likely Will Wade's last ride with McNeese, with the former LSU and VCU head coach garnering plenty of attention from major-conference schools with job openings. What better way to go out than to score a couple upsets? The Cowboys are definitely capable of doing just that led by conference player of the year, Javohn Garcia.
Wade's calling card is once again the defense, with McNeese among the country's best at turning a game into a slow, physical slog. That could make for quite the ugly opening-round matchup with Clemson, a team that plays at a very similar tempo. That also means it should be a close contest with possessions at a premium - a scenario that keeps the underdog close.
McNeese also gets bonus points for having the swaggiest manager in the tournament.
No. 13 Yale
Yale won't surprise anybody this year after it stunned Auburn in the opening round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Nevertheless, the Bulldogs have the talent to take down a couple higher seeds in the tourney's first week. John Poulakidas is back after starring in last year's tourney, leading the team with 19 points per contest on a sizzling 41% shooting from deep this season. Expect Texas A&M to heavily focus on limiting his touches after he torched Auburn last year for 28 points on 6-of-9 shooting from deep.
That should free things up for Ivy League player of the year Bez Mbeng and do-everything forward Nick Townsend to thrive. The Bulldogs make 38.5% of their 3-pointers to rank fourth in the tournament, and they have the depth from deep to shoot anybody out of the first weekend. That's bad news for the Aggies, who sit 154th nationally in stopping teams from beyond the arc.