March Madness upset picks 2024: Predicting every Second Round upset

The first round of the NCAA Tournament saw plenty of dramatic upsets, with the headliner being Kentucky's stunning defeat at the hands of 14-seed Oakland on Thursday night. With 16 more games coming over the next two days, the madness is far from over.

Which upsets will shake up the bracket even further ahead of the Sweet 16? This round could very well see the first No. 1 seed going down.

West Region - No. 9 Michigan State Over No. 1 North Carolina

Many pundits questioned Michigan State's inclusion in the bracket after a subpar regular season but they proved they belonged with an 18-point beatdown of Mississippi State in the Round of 64. Tom Izzo does some of his best work in March when his team is the lower seed, which they will be again on Saturday against North Carolina.

The Tar Heels are coming off a nice win themselves but are favored by just 3.5 points, which is a sign the oddsmakers feel like this game will be tight. The Spartans also have a big coaching edge with Izzo against Hubert Davis as he is one of the best coaches in NCAA Tournament history. Davis is still fresh into his post.

South Region - No. 14 Oakland Over No. 11 NC State

Seeing a 14 vs 11 matchup with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line is certainly odd, especially when one of the teams involved is an NC State program that needed to steal the ACC's auto bid with five wins in five days. The Wolf Pack picked up their sixth win in 10 days with a victory over 6-seed Texas Tech on Thursday, but playing that much basketball in such a short period of time will catch up to them here.

The Golden Grizzlies are battle-tested and prepared for this moment as a shot of their locker room after their upset of Kentucky showcased a team focused on the task at hand. With March Madness cult hero Jack Gohlke draining threes, Oakland marches on past a battle-weary NC State to head to the Sweet 16.

South Region - No. 10 Colorado Over No. 2 Marquette

The craziest game of the first round came on Friday as Colorado won a wild 102-100 barn burner over Florida to upset the Gators and advance to the Round of 32. The Buffaloes have been on fire of late, ripping off nine wins in their past 10 games to become the latest First Four entrant to win a game in the main draw.

The reward for Colorado is a date with 2-seed Marquette, which struggled in the first half against Western Kentucky before turning the afterburners on following the halftime break. There are lingering concerns with Tyler Kolek's oblique and Shaka Smart has a monkey on his back as his teams have failed to advance to the second weekend since VCU reached the Final Four in 2011, adding pressure for the Buffaloes here.

Midwest Region - No. 12 James Madison Over No. 4 Duke

There were fewer more stunning performances in the Round of 64 than seeing James Madison manhandle Wisconsin from the opening tip on Friday night. The Barclays Center was electric with its support for the Dukes, whose pressure was too much for the Badgers to handle and set up the game of the day on Sunday against Duke.

The Blue Devils relied on their defense to get past Vermont but their offense didn't really get much going as Kyle Filipowski was largely invisible. The pressure James Madison brings will be a big challenge for a Duke team whose ballhandlers are very young outside of Jeremy Roach, which could be a big problem in an arena that will be in heavy favor of the underdogs.

West Region - No. 12 Grand Canyon Over No. 4 Alabama

The total on this game will be high as both Alabama and Grand Canyon like to fly up and down the floor to put the ball in the basket. What the Lopes did to Saint Mary's on Friday night was extremely impressive since they were able to speed up one of the slowest teams in Division I, setting them up nicely to hang with an explosive Crimson Tide offense.

Almost everything was falling for Alabama on Friday, which hit 60 percent of its field goal attempts and knocked down 13-of-23 three-point attempts. Teams that rely as much on the 3-pointer as Alabama does are tough to bet on since they are extremely beatable if the shots aren't falling, which is more likely to be an issue with tired legs that come on the second game in three days. A Grand Canyon upset is very much in the cards here.