The lack of mid-majors in this tournament makes the upsets less dramatic, but, nevertheless, here are some upsets I like. (I wanted to post this before the tournament tipped off, but hey, I got backed up, and these games haven't tipped off yet.)
No. 10 USC vs. No. 7 Boston College
USC is very athletic, plays good defense and has balanced scoring. BC is basically Tyrese Rice; stop him and you'll stop BC.
No. 13 Portland State vs. No. 4 Xavier
Portland State kills the three-pointer and is good defensively (it led the Big Sky in steals). Xavier is weak in the backcourt and doesn't take care of the ball. On top of that, Portland State pretty much gets a home game playing in Boise, while Xavier likely enters looking beyond the first round.
No. 10 Minnesota vs. No. 7 Texas
Minnesota will use Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson III to takeaway Texas' Dexter Pittman in the frontcourt. Texas can't shoot the three.
No. 12 Western Kentucky vs. No. 5 Illinois
Western Kentucky has more tournament experience. Illinois' Chester Frazier is banged up. Illinois has good perimeter defense, but Western Kentucky shoots 21 three-pointers a game. I'll roll the dice on the scoring potential.
And here are some upsets I do NOT like:
No. 11 Dayton vs. No. 6 West Virginia
Take the under as both play stout defense. Dayton, though, is not a good jump-shooting team, so if West Virginia stops their penetration, how will the Flyers score?
No. 10 Maryland vs. No. 7 Cal
According to Yahoo, 64.8 percent of the nation is picking Maryland. Cal, though, leads the nation in three-point shooting, hitting 43.4 percent, and the Bears rank nearly 25 spots higher than Marlyand on KenPom.com's efficency ratings. Maryland is a one-man team in Greivis Vasquez. Cal's offense is just way better.
No. 11 VCU vs. No. 6 UCLA
VCU is a pretty trendy pick, but UCLA is just flat-out better, more experienced and played a higher caliber of competition. When VCU upset Duke two years, the Blue Devils were vastly overrated and VCU was underrated. That's not the situation this time.