7 March Madness Teams on Upset Watch

The 2023 NCAA Tournament is upon us and we know you're taking a break from agonizing over your bracket to read this. We appreciate it. So much so that we're going to provide a bit of a boost to your office pool entry. We all know March Madness isn't as much about the first-round upsets as it is the championship game. College basketball's Cinderella runs are among the most magical events in all of sports.

As we head towards the full tournament tipping-off on Thursday, we figured we'd help you out by giving you a list of seven teams that are currently on upset watch. Here are the squads you should keep an eye on as you look for an upset pick.

Virginia

Virginia has been fighting a years-long battle against its own offensive explosivity, which is a dangerous game when 40 bad minutes can end a season. The Cavaliers mustered just 49 points against Duke in the ACC Tournament. And yes, they answered the stunning loss to UMBC in 2018 by winning a national championship the next year but those scars are still visible in the right light, especially with bracket predictors with long memories.

As the South Region's four-seed, they'll face the 13th-seeded Furman Paladins, who won their first conference title since 1980 and have not been held under 65 points in any contest this year. They clock in at 82.1 points per game, which ranks 11th in the country. If for some reason they can control the pace of play, force the Cavaliers to take some bad shots and speed themselves up, this could be a sweat.