3 potential bracket busters to watch this weekend

Anything can happen in March, right? That’s why we love it — there’s never been a perfect bracket and there’s never any telling who the glass slipper might fit.

As always, there are plenty of blue bloods at the top of the list of tournament odds. Most of them will be playing in their conference semifinals or finals this weekend. But there are a handful of surprise teams with games still to play Saturday and Sunday, then more to play next week.

There are three long shots in particular that are worth keeping an eye on. In spite of their long odds, don’t be surprised if they’re still playing after next weekend or the one after.

One team had six wins over tournament teams this season and is led by a coach with over 650 wins and 43 NCAA tournament appearances. He was named the conference’s coach of the year. Oh, and it also had the Conference Players of the Year and the Conference Sixth Man of the year. It’s 20-1 to win it all.

Another is a bubble team that won less than 20 games. It lost five straight to close out the regular season. But it has the best point guard in college basketball and when it’s on, it can beat any team in the country. And in March, it’s been on. Vegas has it at 40 to 1.

The third has had an up and down year in the Big East. It didn’t have a single player named first or second team all-conference. But it’s one of the most balanced teams in the country. It has three wins against top-five opponents and as impressive as any stat or record in any conference, it’s 11-1 in games decided by five points or less. At 200-1, there are 53 teams with better odds of winning it all than this team.