El Labandero's March Madness Upset Picks

     What's up, guys. I know you are used to seeing me write about my life, but today, I will try my forte, sports. So today, I'm a sports analyst, who also does his laundry, my name is El Labandero. I'm here to share my upset picks for the most-awaited and most-anticipated basketball tournament of the year, the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness. So without further ado, let the faucet open. 

    I have watched March Madness for a long time now, and every year, there is some kind of thing that is too unexpected, only a few people predicted it. This is called upsets. An upset happens when the lower-seeded team (as low as #16) beats a higher-seeded team (as high as #1) in their region (64 teams overall {68 if you will include teams from the First Four, a seeding game} divided into 4 divisions {West, East, Midwest, and South} and the winner of these regions will face at the Final Four and the last two teams standing will face at the National Championship Game. The Final Four and the Natty game were held in big stadiums that could attract big crowds. Easy, right?). Based on the NCAA website, the average upsets in every tourney is only 12.7%, but even if this is a small percentage, people are waiting for this to happen and follow "Cinderella" teams. "Cinderella" is a term that is used for a team that is a lower seed and defied the odds to have a deep run in the tournament, like the 2013 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles who was #15 and also dubbed as "Dunk City" because of their high flying offense and making until the Sweet Sixteen, 2018 Loyola Chicago Ramblers who was #11 at their division and still make it until the Final Four, and the 1985 Villanova Wildcats who was #8 and won the whole damn championship beating the heavily favored Georgetown Hoyas in the final. I will end my story about upsets and will proceed with my upset picks. (cue in NCAA March Madness Theme)

    When I'm selecting upsets this year, I consider watching some Youtube videos about these teams and their performances this past season. So in this year, I've selected 16 upsets (5 in West, 4 in East, 4 in South, and 3 in Midwest) out of 32 matchups (8 in every region) and I got 7 correct guesses (1 in West, 2 in East, 2 in South, and 2 in Midwest). In the West Region, I only 1/5 and this is #4 Virginia Cavaliers Vs. #13 Ohio Bobcats. I picked Ohio in this matchup because I think that they better on paper. They have a junior guard named Jason Preston who averaged  16.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 7.3 assists. What's impressive about him is him is he was a bench warmer in high school. And in this game, he performed well. He has 11 points (4/7 FG, 1/3 3PFG, 2/2 FT), 13 rebounds, and 8 assists en route to a 62-58 win over the Cavaliers of UVA. On the other hand, I don't select Virginia because they came from a weak ACC (or Atlantic Coast Conference {which is super underwhelming in ACC standards}) and they also have some COVID issues. The 4 that I got wrong are #9 Missouri over #8 Oklahoma (OU won 72-68), #12 California-Santa Barbara over #5 Creighton (Creighton is inconsistent and they only won by 1 point {63-62} against UCSB), #11 Drake over #6 USC (USC won 72-56), and #14 Eastern Washington over #3 Kansas (Kansas has some COVID issues) (KU won 93-84). In the East, I got 2/4 and these are #3 Texas Vs. #14 Abilene Christian and #6 BYU and #11 UCLA. In the first matchup, I've picked ACU to win against Texas because ACU can keep up against great teams (they only lost by 7 to Texas Tech and 13 to Arkansas. Both of these teams are in the tourney and won their respective games) and Texas has been inconsistent all season long. And ACU won 53-52 on a clutch free throw by Joe Plesant (That is also their first tournament win). The only thing that ACU needs to address is its defense. Their defense is too aggressive and they left a free guy to shoot a jumper. The last one, I never picked UCLA to win in the First Four because of Michigan St. and their head coach Tom Izzo. They are great in March, even to win against a solid BYU team (but I think the 2020 team is better), but they erased some doubts on me and #11 UCLA won against #6 BYU 73-62. The 2 that I got wrong are #9 St. Bonaventure over #8 LSU (LSU won 76-61) and #12 Georgetown over #5 Colorado (CU won 96-73). Meanwhile, on the South, I also got 2/4 and these are #2 Ohio St. Vs. #15 Oral Roberts and #8 North Carolina Vs. #9 Wisconsin. Let's first talk about the big upset. Ohio St. (I will never put "The". They suck) is the runner-up of the Big 10 tournament that happened in Indiana (the state where all of the NCAA tourney games are played) and they have been great this season, including a win against Michigan in the said tournament. Oral Roberts, in the meantime, has the #1 scorer not just in their conference (Summit League), but also the entire country, Max Abmas. He is averaging 24.2 ppg and drew comparisons from Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard because he can shoot from everywhere. I only pick Oral Roberts because I really hate Ohio St. and they don't disappoint. #15 Oral Roberts won against #2 Ohio St. 75-72 in overtime because of the big games from not just Abmas, who tallied 29 points, but from Kevin Obanor who tallied 30 points and 11 rebounds (man, this team has two lethal scorers). I wish they could address their team scoring. Abmas and Obanor combined for 59 points, but the other guys only scored 16 points. I'm sure Abmas and Obanor will be the focal point of the defense of #7 Florida. And then, #8 North Carolina Vs. #9 Wisconsin. UNC is from the weak ACC and they also stumbled this season, while Wisconsin is from one of the best conferences (Big 10) and that is my reason why I chose Wisconsin (UW won 85-62). My mistakes are #12 Winthrop over #5 Villanova (Nova won 73-63) and #11 Utah St. over #6 Texas Tech (TTU won 65-53). I also missed an upset, it is #13 North Texas over #4 Purdue (UNT won 78-69, Their first tournament win). Lastly, in the Midwest Region, just like the others, I get 2/3. These are #5 Tennessee Vs. #12 Oregon St. and #7 Clemson Vs. #10 Rutgers. In the first one, I picked Oregon St. because they have a "Cinderella" of a season. People projected them to finish 12th at Pac12 (I'm disappointed about Arizona St. and Remy Martin), and they won the whole Pac12 tournament and they are now #12 at Midwest Region, and this resilient team never disappoints, winning 70-56 over an inconsistent Tennessee team. On the other game, I picked Rutgers simply because they are better on paper than Clemson (ACC stinks) and they show it with a 60-56 win. My only mistake is #14 Morehead St. over #3 West Virginia (WVU won 84-67) and also missed an upset, that is #11 Syracuse over #6 San Diego St. (SU won 78-62). My assessment about my picks is that is fair, given that this is the first time I have done my bracket and I only put the lessons that I've learned in watching March Madness. I wish my luck will continue in the next rounds to come.

    Sorry for the long blog. I am really excited to share with you my thoughts and my observations about one of the best sports spectacles ever. Even if this is long, I hope you will enjoy and appreciate this blog. Just like teams involved in March Madness I put some effort into this one. God bless you and your family. Peace. Love. See ya. Goodbye.

Your Friendly Analyst,

Ramueeeeeeeel