Sports
March Madness upset picks: Bracket Breakers chooses its 10 most likely first-round stunners
Welcome back to Bracket Breakers! We know you’ve missed us, and we can’t wait to overwhelm you with our unique take on NCAA tournament upsets, powered by our proprietary statistical model, Slingshot. Hopefully, you’ve been following our work for years. But if you’re new to Bracket Breakers, here’s the most recent explanation of who we are, what we do and the state of Slingshot.
In the coming days, we will offer deep regional previews of every first-round matchup that qualifies as a Bracket Breaker game (meaning there must be a differential of at least five seeds). We’ll also provide upset probabilities for every potential second-round matchup on Wednesday. You won’t want to fill out a bracket or place a moneyline bet without checking out that piece!
But as you begin to digest the bracket, we wanted to provide a quick list of the 10 likeliest first-round upsets. We swear we don’t have anything against the Palmetto State — after all, Furman professors Liz Bouzarth, John Harris and Kevin Hutson provide the math behind Slingshot — but our model certainly isn’t bullish on the two power-conference teams from South Carolina.
GO DEEPER
March madness bracket prep: Capsule previews for all 68 teams, with strengths, weaknesses, outlooks and more
As always, Slingshot looks at teams separated by at least 5 seeds, estimates their basic strengths, adjusts those power ratings according to how closely each team fits the statistical profiles of past Davids or Goliaths, and then modifies them again to account for matchups. This year, we’ve upgraded our cluster analysis. And without further ado, the top results.
For more Underdogs, listen to Peter and Jordan’s podcast.
10 Most Likely First-Round Upsets
1. No. 6 Clemson Tigers vs. No. 11 New Mexico Lobos
Upset Chance: 57.8 percent
2. No. 6 South Carolina Gamecocks vs. No. 11 Oregon Ducks
Upset Chance: 43.2 percent
3. No. 6 Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. No. 11 NC State Wolfpack
Upset Chance: 38.2 percent
4. No. 5 Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. No. 12 McNeese Cowboys
Upset Chance: 30.8 percent
5. No. 5 Saint Mary’s Gaels vs. No. 12 Grand Canyon Lopes
Upset Chance: 30.4 percent
6. No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks vs. No. 13 Samford Bulldogs
Upset Chance: 30.1 percent
7. No.5 San Diego State Aztecs vs. No. 12 UAB Blazers
Upset Chance: 27.8 percent
8. No. 6 BYU Cougars vs. No. 11 Duquesne Dukes
Upset Chance: 24.8 percent
9. No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers vs. No. 12 James Madison Dukes
Upset Chance: 24.4 percent
10. No. 3 Creighton Bluejays vs. No. 14 Akron Zips
Upset Chance: 20.4 percent
Thanks to John Harris, Kevin Hutson and Liz Bouzarth of Furman University for research assistance.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photo of New Mexico’s Jaelen House: Ian Maule / Getty Images; Photo of Grand Canyon’s Gabe McGlothan: Ian Maule / AP)
Sports
City Section baseball: Top four seeds advance to Open Division semifinals
On the verge of another frustrating early exit from the City Section Open Division baseball playoffs, top-seeded Granada Hills rallied to score two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull out a 3-2 win over El Camino Real and advance to Tuesday’s semifinals at Pepperdine.
Devin Gonor took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning, but two errors gave Granada Hills an opening to win. A bunt by Jackson Lyons tied the score 2-2. After a single by Jack Donohoe, Easton Hawk hit a walk-off single for the victory. Hawk threw a complete game, striking out eight and walking one. Gonor struck out seven with no walks.
The Royals scored two runs in the fourth. Brendan McClure had a sacrifice fly and Ethan Granillo delivered an RBI single.
Bell 3, Sylmar 0: Sophomore Jayden Rojas struck out 11 in six innings to lead No. 4-seeded Bell into Tuesday’s Open Division semifinals at 2:30 p.m. at Pepperdine against Granada Hills. Freshman Gustavo Ramirez had two hits, including a three-run double in the fifth inning.
Birmingham 8, San Pedro 0: The No. 2-seeded Patriots received a two-hit shutout from Michael Figueroa. Ernesto Martinez had two hits and three RBIs. Figueroa had a no-hitter broken up with two outs in the seventh.
Carson 4, Cleveland 3: Sergio Padilla delivered a walk-off single in the eighth inning as the No. 3-seeded Colts advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals against Birmingham at 11:30 a.m. at Pepperdine.
Sports
Scottie Scheffler praises police for being 'our protectors,’ describes interactions with them while in custody
Scottie Scheffler was in unfamiliar territory early Friday morning, as he was arrested en route to the PGA Championship at Valhalla.
The ordeal had Scheffler feeling “pretty rattled, to say the least,” and he admitted it took him a “few holes” to feel somewhat normal again.
But in a somewhat ironic twist (he is facing a felony charge of second-degree assault on a police officer), the officers who were involved in placing Scheffler in custody wound up playing a role in calming him down.
“The officer that took me to the jail was very kind, he was great. We had a nice chat in the car, that kind of helped calm me down. I was sitting there waiting to go in, and I asked him, I was like ‘Can you just come hang out with me for a few minutes so I can calm down?…’” Scheffler said after his round. (He even joked that he had been stretching in a jail cell.)
“The officers inside the jail were tremendous.”
Scheffler even said he was the butt of some jokes made inside the jail “when they figured out who I was and what happened and how I ended up there.”
“This one older officer looked at me when I was doing my fingerprints and looks at me and goes ‘Do you want full experience today?’ I looked at him and go, ‘I don’t know how to answer that.’ He was like ‘Come on man, do you want a sandwich?’ I was like ‘sure, I’ll take a sandwich. I didn’t eat breakfast yet.’ They were really kind.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER DAZZLES IN SECOND ROUND OF PGA CHAMPIONSHIP HOURS AFTER ARREST
“I’m thankful that we have such strong police. They’re our protectors out there. We just got into a chaotic situation this morning. That’s really all it was.”
Scheffler was detained at 6:01 a.m. ET and released just over two-and-a-half hours later, and arrived at Valhalla another half hour after that, 56 minutes before his tee time.
Starting on the back nine, the reigning Masters champion naturally birdied 10 to start the day. He followed with a bogey on 11 but responded with a birdie on 12.
After five-straight pars, he then ripped off four birdies in his next eight holes.
He finished the round two shots back of the lead, as Collin Morikawa rattled off five straight birdies at a point to head into the clubhouse at -11; Scheffler was -4 after the first round.
Scheffler was booked into the Louisville Department of Corrections later Friday. He was also charged with criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Sports
Lakers announce dates and sites for three preseason games
The Lakers announced dates and sites for three preseason games on Friday, including a game against the Golden State Warriors in Las Vegas on Oct. 15 at T-Mobile Arena.
The Lakers open preseason play Oct. 4 and 6 at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns, respectively. The complete preseason schedule will be released this summer.
Tickets go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. Tickets for the Warriors game will be sold at axs.com and the T-Mobile Arena box office. Tickets for Acrisure Arena will be sold at Ticketmaster and the Acrisure Arena box office.
Spectrum SportsNet will broadcast all preseason games. The preseason games can be heard on the team’s flagship radio station, 710 AM ESPNLA, as well as in Spanish on KWKW 1330 AM.
-
Politics1 week ago
RFK Jr said a worm ate part of his brain and died in his head
-
World1 week ago
Pentagon chief confirms US pause on weapons shipment to Israel
-
World1 week ago
Convicted MEP's expense claims must be published: EU court
-
News1 week ago
Students and civil rights groups blast police response to campus protests
-
Politics1 week ago
California Gov Gavin Newsom roasted over video promoting state's ‘record’ tourism: ‘Smoke and mirrors’
-
Politics1 week ago
Ohio AG defends letter warning 'woke' masked anti-Israel protesters they face prison time: 'We have a society'
-
News1 week ago
Nine Things We Learned From TikTok’s Lawsuit Against The US Government
-
Politics1 week ago
Biden’s decision to pull Israel weapons shipment kept quiet until after Holocaust remembrance address: report