March Madness 2023 upset picks: Predicting every First Round upset

March Madness Upsets – East Region

No. 12 Oral Roberts over No. 5 Duke

There is almost always a 5-12 upset in the NCAA Tournament since it involves the best mid-major teams taking on high-major squads that haven’t had the best seasons. Duke is hot right now, winning the ACC Tournament and playing its best basketball this season, but they got a rough draw in the first round with past Cinderella Oral Roberts in their 5-12 game.

The Golden Eagles still have Max Abmas, the hero of their Cinderella run in the Indianapolis bubble two years ago, and he paces their explosive offense with 22.2 points per game. Oral Roberts stampeded through the Summit League with a perfect regular season record and they average 84.2 points per game, the third-highest total in the country, so they can win a shootout with the Blue Devils and bust brackets nationwide.

No. 11 Providence over No. 6 Kentucky

It was a very weird year for Kentucky, which looked like it would follow North Carolina from a preseason Top 5 ranking to out of the field in mid-January. The Wildcats deserve a ton of credit for turning their season around but they didn’t exactly finish strong, losing twice to Vanderbilt in their final three games to kill their momentum at the worst time.

This game also has a significant revenge angle for Providence star Bryce Hopkins, who barely played for Kentucky a year ago before transferring to the Friars. Hopkins is now Providence’s leading scorer, averaging 16.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, and he is highly motivated to stick it to his old team and help the Friars spoil Kentucky’s season once again.