Will No. 12 McNeese be the March Madness Cinderella story coming out of the 2024 NCAA Tournament? The Cowboys topped the Southland Conference thanks to an 11-game winning streak and enter March Madness 2024 following a 30-3 season and conference tournament victory. McNeese got those wins by outscoring its opponents, averaging 80.5 points per game. They are still the underdogs against No. 8 Gonzaga in the Round of 64 in the 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket, but their recent form sets McNeese up to be one of the potential 2024 March Madness bracket busters.
There are several exciting underdogs to consider when putting together your 2024 March Madness bracket strategy, including No. 16 Stetson against reigning tournament champion No. 1 UConn in the East Region. Before making any 2024 NCAA Tournament predictions, see the March Madness bracket picks from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
This model, which simulates every game 10,000 times, has nailed 20 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds since its inception in 2016 and nailed UConn’s dramatic Final Four run as a 4-seed last year. It went an amazing 22-10 in the first round, including an astounding 12-4 in the Midwest and West regions.
Last year, SportsLine’s computer simulation nailed massive upsets, including huge wins by No. 13 Furman over No. 4 Virginia and No. 10 Penn State over No. 7 Texas A&M. The model has beaten over 92% of all CBS Sports bracket players in three of the past five tournaments.
Now, SportsLine’s advanced computer model has simulated the entire 2024 NCAA Tournament 10,000 times to come up with the perfect 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket and find out which teams will pull off the biggest upsets. You shouldn’t even think about making a pick without seeing what their model has to say.
Top 2024 March Madness bracket upset picks
One Midwest Region surprise the model has identified: No. 11 Oregon knocks off No. 6 South Carolina. You can throw the season statistics out of the window for Oregon since it played almost half of the year without its best player, N’Faly Dante. The Ducks are a different squad with him anchoring both ends of the court, as he leads the team in points (16.2), rebounds (8.8), steals (1.7) and blocks (1.9). He led Oregon to the Pac-12 tournament championship, while South Carolina is coming off a 31-point drubbing at the hands of Auburn in the SEC Tournament.
That was the latest example of South Carolina simply not showing up, and that’s happened far too often for Lamont Paris’ liking. South Carolina has losses of 27 points, 31 points and 40 points since the start of the new year. That’s a poor omen against an improved Oregon defense that has kept four straight opponents under 69 points, each failing to shoot 45% from the field.
Another surprise from the Midwest Region: No. 3 Creighton advances all the way to the Final Four, surpassing No. 2 seed Tennessee and top-seeded Purdue. A No. 3 seed hasn’t made it to the Final Four since Texas Tech in 2019, but Greg McDermott’s Bluejays are entering the NCAA Tournament 2024 strong. They ended the regular season 23-9 and notched key wins along the way, including a 89-75 victory against Marquette and a 85-66 rout against reigning March Madness champion UConn.
The last time the Vols made it to the Elite Eight was 2010, and they haven’t made it out of the first round in two of their last seven trips to The Big Dance. Meanwhile, the Boilermakers have been booted in the first round twice in recent history, including in 2023 when they were a No. 1 seed. See which other 2024 March Madness upsets to target here.
How to make 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket predictions
SportsLine’s model is also predicting a stunning No. 12 seed that will reach the Sweet Sixteen and has one region where three double-digit underdogs pull off first-round shockers, busting brackets everywhere. With the model’s track record of calling bracket-busting upsets, you’ll want to see which stunners it’s calling this year before locking in any 2024 NCAA bracket picks.