March Madness: 5 high seeds destined for an early NCAA Tournament exit

The chalk almost never holds in March Madness. These five high seeds could ruin your bracket by getting bounced before the Sweet 16.

Upsets are a March Madness tradition that can be the bane of your bracket. Ever since the field was announced on Sunday, people have been poring over the NCAA Tournament bracket looking for potential upsets that could shake up March Madness.

This year has the potential to be absolutely wild, as evidenced by the final Saturday in February when the top six teams in the AP poll all lost on the same day. Many of those same teams finished in the top four seed lines on the actual bracket, which could lead to some disappointing results for proud programs.

You still have time to tweak your bracket before the action tips off tomorrow so take a closer look at these five teams that could find themselves heading to the exits before the end of the first weekend.

5. Top March Madness seeds that could suffer an early exit – UCLA Bruins

The hype was real for UCLA entering the season after retaining their entire core from last year’s First Four to Final Four squad. Voters tabbed the Bruins as the No. 2 team in the preseason Top 25, a distinction they never really lived up to after some uncharacteristic losses throughout the season.

UCLA ended up landing a 4-seed in the East Region and is staring at a very tough matchup against 5-seed Saint Mary’s in the Round of 32. The Gaels boast the nation’s ninth-most efficient defense according to KenPom and yield just 60.5 points per game as they are content to grind their opponents to a halt with a slow pace of play.

That style is a bad matchup for the Bruins, who like to fly up and down the floor to overwhelm their opponents with sheer offensive firepower. Don’t be shocked if UCLA struggles to adapt to Saint Mary’s and gets bounced in the Round of 32.