March Madness 2023: 5 upsets brewing for the Second Round

We had a lot of drama in the first round of March Madness thanks to a few dramatic upsets. These 5 teams could go down in Round 2.

The first round of March Madness is in the books and we saw some huge upsets, including Furman’s dramatic victory over Virginia, Princeton’s bracket-busting effort to top Arizona and Fairleigh Dickinson becoming the second 16-seed to ever knock out a No. 1 when they shocked Purdue on Friday night. All of the drama makes sense in a year where we haven’t had a dominant team emerge.

Could we be in line for even more chaos in the Round of 32? Let’s take a look at five upsets that are already cooking for this weekend, beginning with a team who scored a Round 1 upset adding another to their belt.

March Madness Second Round upset picks

Furman over San Diego State

The Paladins were the talk of college basketball early Thursday after their huge upset of Virginia, which cemented their status as a potential Cinderella. Having a win under their belt should loosen any nerves for Furman, which is playing with house money in this tournament.

The second round kicks off with the Paladins taking on No. 5 seed San Diego State in the South Region, a matchup that is eminently winnable after the Aztecs struggled to get by Charleston. San Diego State plays at a slow tempo just like Virginia, which means they should be getting into the exact type of game that Furman just won over the Cavaliers.

The Mountain West has also historically underperformed in March Madness with the Aztecs’ win marking the conference’s only NCAA Tournament victory in its last 13 games. San Diego State is vulnerable and Furman will end the conference’s March hopes before the second weekend.