The 2026 men’s NCAA Tournament rolls on with 16 more games on Friday, March 20. The first official day of the tournament saw a handful of upsets – the biggest being No. 12 High Point’s impressive 83-82 comeback victory over No. 5 Wisconsin.
Elsewhere, No. 9 Saint Louis defeated No. 8 Georgia, No. 9 TCU took down No. 8 Ohio State, No. 10 Texas A&M defeated No. 7 St. Mary’s, No. 11 Texas beat No. 6 BYU and No. 11 VCU thwarted No. 6 North Carolina. Those won’t be the only upsets of the first two days of the tournament if ESPN’s Jay Bilas is correct.
He’s calling for four more big upsets on Friday, March 20.
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Bilas likes two No. 10 seeds to take down their No. 7-seeded opponents as UCF defeats UCLA and Missouri takes down
“The Bruins have Donovan Dent, one of the five best point guards in the nation, but UCF has Themus Fulks, Jordan Burks and the Big 12’s version of Draymond Green in Jamichael Stillwell. With UCLA banged up, the Knights are worth a flier,” Bilas said while predicting UCF’s victory.
Predicting Missouri’s win he said, “Miami has had a great season — no team improved more year-over-year than the Hurricanes, who picked up 18 more wins — but I like Missouri in this one, led by Mark Mitchell’s 18.3 points per game. This is a coin flip, so take the upset pick.”
Bilas is also predicting No. 9 seeds Iowa and Utah State take down their No. 8 seed rivals Clemson and Villanova respectively.
“There is no such thing as an upset in the 8-9 game, but Utah State winning would feel like one. Mason Falslev is the Mountain West Player of the Year and MJ Collins Jr. is a good 3-point shooter. This is a coin flip, but take Utah State. Either team is likely to lose to Arizona in the next round,” he said of Utah State’s upset.
While the longtime ESPN college basketball analyst likes Iowa to take down Clemson, he made it clear the Hawkeyes won’t advance further.
“The Tigers are big and well-coached, but the Hawkeyes have Bennett Stirtz, one of the best shotmakers in college basketball, who is averaging 20.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Take Iowa. Neither beats Florida, anyway,” he said.
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