Georgia State
Seed: 14
Matchup: No. 3 Houston
Last year we watched Ron Hunter’s team, for what felt like the 15th year in a row, go up against a team from a more prestigious conference with legitimate tournament hopes and play like they belonged.
While the Panthers didn’t pull off the upset against No. 2 seed Cincinnati in 2018 like they did against Baylor in 2015, they were more than competitive until the end, and the majority of it was because of one player: D’Marcus Simonds.
It seemed last year that Simonds could make his way to the NBA Draft just off of this performance. One of the best defensive teams in the country was getting torched by a kid from Georgia State, almost singlehandedly.
Once again, the Panthers are back in the tournament (with Simonds back for his junior season), and once again they will look to do the unthinkable — knock off a top-three seed, this time Houston. What’s different this year is that Simonds won’t have to do it alone.
The reigning Sun Belt champions will head into the NCAA Tournament with five double-digit scorers, led by Simonds’ 18.4 points per game, compared to just three last season. While Houston is one of the best non-power five schools of the last few years, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see an extremely talented offensive team like GSU pull off the upset.