Thursday’s March Madness Upset Specials

It’s the eve of the greatest day of the year. Al Dannity has emerged from his secure bunker, ever so briefly, to deliver his picks on four upsets on the first day of March Madness.

Ah the Big Dance, brackets, buzzer-beaters, and betting. Good times for everyone. Now I’m going to go out on a limb and guess some of you will be keeping one eye on the games while at work tomorrow. Just so you can pay more attention to your TPS reports, here are the best games for fans looking for upsets. Remember Ali Farokmanesh (pictured), he’s going to have some company tomorrow evening.

We’re going to start with a classic 12-5 turn-up for the books. Oklahoma State looks like a good team and they sure are fun to watch but they have clearly angered the bracket gods. What else could explain them being paired with Oregon, this being the same Oregon that just won the Pac-12 tournament and came within a game of winning the regular season title. There is no logic to this seeding for me. At worst I’d have tagged them with an 8 seed and they probably deserved a 7. Give me the Ducks all the way.

Staying in the Midwest, St Mary’s got the job done last night and I like them to build on that momentum against Memphis. It’s not that the Tigers are a bad team; they just haven’t beaten anybody good. The Gaels, for their flaws, have and that makes them a clear pick to pull an 11-6 upset on Thursday.

My next pick comes from the East region. The Marquette Golden Eagles are good but don’t write off a hot team. That’s why 14 seed Davidson leaps out as the team capable of pulling off the biggest shock on Thursday. The Wildcats have an impressive recent history in March Madness thanks to Stephen Curry. This year’s batch is capable of showing the program is capable of surviving after a superstar leaves. Davidson to win.

Finally the least upset natured upset of the lot. It would be criminal of me not to bring up at least one 9-8 upset, largely because 9 seeds have better records than 8 seeds. Thursday sees Wichita State take on the Pittsburgh Panthers. This Pitt team was just about good enough to deserve a single digit seed in the dance. Congratulations Pitt but I’ve got bad news for you; you’re in for a Shock. Wichita State to win and keep dancing.