2024 March Madness East Region: Cinderella Predictions
March Madness is finally here which means it’s bracket time. The round of 64 tips off on Thursday, March 21. There will be a lot of great basketball played in the coming weeks before there is a season champion crowned. However, there will also be some insane upsets and tournament runs made by the rest of the field. Now, it is time to try and identify these Cinderella stories. I will attempt to find two possible underdogs that can go on a deep 2024 March Madness tournament run starting with the East Region.
The East Region will be a little tough in my opinion as I see it being mostly chalk. There are four conference tournament winners UConn, Auburn, Illinois, and Iowa State. It will be tough to confidently pick some deep underdog runs in this region.
Drake Bulldogs 10-seed
The Drake Bulldogs have a solid chance to be one of the Cinderella teams in this region. They are playing great basketball right now as they are fresh off a Missouri Valley Conference championship. The Bulldogs are a ten-seed and they have a matchup against the seven-seed Washington State Cougars. They are 10-1 in their last 11 games heading into the tournament. On the other hand, the Cougars have dropped recent games against Arizona State, Washington, and Colorado.
Drake has the offensive advantage over Washington State statistically in multiple categories. They have a lower turnover percentage, a higher effective field goal percentage, and average more points per possession where they rank 21st in college basketball. Also, the Bulldogs are an outstanding defensive rebounding team as they rank seventh in the country. I think they match up well with Washington State and they could very well pull off the first-round upset.
This upset would likely give Drake a second-round matchup with the two-seed Iowa State Cyclones. This is a tough draw with Iowa State’s suffocating defense but if Drake can control the boards there is a chance that the Cyclones hit or miss offense does not show up. Drake will need a big 2024 March Madness tournament from their two-time MVC Player of the Year Tucker DeVries. He averages 21.8 points per game, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.6 assists. He the main part of this high-powered offense that will need to stay hot if they want to make it to the Sweet Sixteen.
Florida Atlantic Owls 8-seed
An FAU Cinderella run would be magical for multiple reasons. They have an extremely tough draw in the 2024 March Madness tournament as they play a tough Northwestern team in the round of 64 and then face the behemoth that is UConn. The reason I picked FAU as a Cinderella team is because if they get past UConn they can beat anyone. Also, FAU is not new to incredible tournament runs as they did last year making the final four as the nine seed.
The Owls have a lot of factors that can help them make another deep run. FAU returned most of their players from last year and they have a lot of upperclassmen. This means they are an experienced team both in games played and in what it takes to make a historic tournament run. Also, they played a tougher schedule this year, where they went 2-1 against the top 25 teams, so they should not be intimidated by any team. Finally, if FAU were to play UConn in the second round an 8-seed has upset a 1-seed in the tournament in each of the last three tournaments. Maybe the Owls can make it four years in a row.
FAU is a high-powered offense that averages 82.5 points per game. They are led by guard Johnell Davis who averages 18.2 points per game on 48 percent shooting from the field and 42 percent shooting from behind the arc. Center Vladislav Goldin is another important piece of the offense as he averages 15.6 points per game and 6.8 rebounds. I believe another FAU run is unlikely but if they defeat UConn one has to like their chances on another magical run against the rest of the field.
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