Three Underdog Picks to Watch in the NCAA Tournament's First Round

The NCAA Tournament kicks off Thursday and that means some underdog squads could be joining the list of all-time upsets. The popularity of the tournament hinges on “Cinderalla” teams knocking some big-time schools off their thrones.

The memorable upsets roll off the tongue: 16 seed UMBC over 1 seed Virginia, 15 seed Saint Peter’s over Kentucky and notching two more wins to reach the Elite Eight, CJ McCollum and 15 seed Lehigh taking down Duke, Steve Nash and 15 seed Santa Clara stunning Arizona, 15 seed Florida Gulf Coast (aka Dunk City) beating Georgetown to start a Sweet 16 run and 14 seed Bucknell upsetting Kansas. There are many, many others to go with that list.

It’s hard to see any 16, 15 or 14 seed winning their first-round game this year but nobody saw the above underdogs winning either. But there are three good possibilities among the double-digit seeds to cover a bet and perhaps even becoming that next legendary March Madness team.

No. 13 TROY TROJANS VS. No. 4 NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS

The Cornhuskers are among that group of sad programs that have never won an NCAA Tournament game entering Thursday’s matchup at Oklahoma City. They are 0-8 and the one time they were a higher seed than this year – a 3 in 1991 – they lost to No. 14 Xavier.

Nebraska (26-6) isn’t used to heightened expectations and that could pose a problem if Troy puts up a huge fight. On the other hand, the Cornhuskers didn’t lose to any teams that aren’t part of the Big Ten. Pryce Sandfort (113 treys) and his teammates love to shoot 3-pointers.

The Trojans (21-11) beat bubble team San Diego State in double-overtime and lost to USC in three OTs so they appear to raise their level of play against tougher teams. Troy has three players with 65 or more 3-pointers and the Trojans are capable of putting a big scare into Nebraska.

Troy +13.5 points to cover spread, -115 (DraftKings)

No. 12 AKRON ZIPS VS. No. 5 TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS

Miami (Ohio) has become the Cinderella story of the season but it was Akron which earned the Mid-American Conference’s automatic bid. The Zips (29-5) have won 10 straight games entering Friday’s contest in Tampa and have three players with 75 or more 3-pointers, including leading scorer Tavari Johnson (20.1).

Texas Tech (22-10) reached the Elite Eight last season and was expecting similar results but the loss of star big man JT Toppin (ACL) all but sealed that a repeat won’t happen. Factor in Christian Anderson’s groin injury – he’s slated to play -- and the Red Raiders are one aggravated injury away of being without their two best players.

Texas Tech limps into the tournament on a three-game skid and two of those setbacks were against unranked teams. The Red Raiders are there for the taken and the Zips have enough to deliver the traditional 12 vs. 5 win. Akron is 0-7 all-time in NCAA games but the breakthrough could be about to happen.

Akron +7.5 points to cover spread, -105 (DraftKings)

No. 13 CAL BAPTIST LANCERS VS. No. 4 KANSAS JAYHAWKS

Cal Baptist (25-8) is in the field for the first time and gets to play 100 miles away in San Diego on Friday. Pretty good fortune. The Lancers played at three other Big 12 teams in the first week of December and lost to Colorado and Utah by single digits and were steamrolled (31 points) by BYU. So the question is, can Cal Baptist hang?

Everyone is interested in seeing if Darryn Peterson is suddenly highly motivated for March Madness after being an enigma and frustrating Kansas coach Bill Self for most of the season. Peterson will be a matchup problem for Cal Baptist but if he’s on, then the Jayhawks could roll.

Dominique Daniels drilled the game-winning 3-point shot with 14.6 seconds left against Utah Valley in the Western Athletic Conference tournament title game and he’s the key to the Lancers playing close against the Jayhawks. He’s averaging 23.2 points and has outputs of 47 and 41 this season. He always has the green light and has put up 20-plus shots 13 times this season..

Cal Baptist +14.5 points to cover spread, -118 (DraftKings)