March Madness 2022: Predicting every First Round upset in the NCAA Tournament

4. Potential March Madness Upsets – West Region: No. 13 Vermont vs. No. 4 Arkansas

The third and final 4-13 upset we have circled here is Vermont over Arkansas in the West Region. There is a lot to like with the Catamounts, who punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament on Saturday with an emphatic 82-43 rout over UMBC in the America East Tournament Final.

Vermont likes to push the pace offensively, averaging 74.9 points per game and playing at an extremely high tempo. The inside-out combo of forward Ryan Davis and guard Ben Shungu has been extremely effective as the pair combine to average 33.1 points per game while shooting 42.3 and 41.4 percent respectively from beyond the arc.

That pace could be problematic for Arkansas, which likes to play a slower and more physical brand of basketball. The Razorbacks played well down the stretch, winning 15 of their final 18 games to climb to the 4-line, but it is worth mentioning that they struggled in the NCAA Tournament last year against a Colgate team that played a very similar style to Vermont.

While it is true that Arkansas did win that game, Vermont is a more-improved version of Colgate while the Razorbacks aren’t quite as good as they were a year ago. Those facts make this game a very intriguing one to watch in terms of upset potential.