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March Madness upset picks: These teams can bust your NCAA Tournament bracket
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- March Madness upset picks: These teams can bust your NCAA Tournament bracket
The 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket s are set.
That means college basketball fans all around the country are ready to set their brackets. Part of the fun of March Madness is correctly guessing the brackets for bragging rights over friends in bracket challenges.
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To achieve the highest possible score, picking the Final Four and the national champion is usually a must. However, brackets are busted in the very first round of the tournament when an unknown team pulls off a major upset in rounds one or two.
March Madness first round full schedule: NCAA Tournament dates, TV info
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These bracket busters live on in infamy with major wins, as everyone remembers "dunk city" and Florida Gulf Coast, or No. 16 seeds UMBC and Fairleigh Dickinson pulling off upsets of No. 1 seeds Virginia and Purdue, respectively.
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Who can pull off some major upsets in the 2026 NCAA Tournament to bust a bunch of brackets? Here's a look at some potential bracket busters:
Saint Louis (28-5)
Another team that can light up the scoreboard, Saint Louis averages 87.2 points per game, good for seventh in the nation. The Billikens are also tied for ninth in the nation in 3-pointers per game made.
The analytics back up the Billikens, too. They ranked just outside the top 50 in offensive rating (119.5) and 41st in defensive rating (101.2). Saint Louis will need to return to its roots for its 24-1 start; however, after finishing the season with four losses in its final eight games.
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Saint Louis is a real threat, but will need to beat No. 8 Georgia in the first round and then No. 1 Michigan in the second round to make a lot of noise.
South Florida (24-8)
With its 70-55 win over Wichita State in the American Conference tournament championship game, the Bulls enter the NCAA Tournament on an 11-game winning streak. Going back further, they went 17-3 in the final 20 games after starting at 8-6 on Jan. 4.
The Bulls' last loss was a 79-78 loss to Temple. In fact, all three of its recent losses have been by one possession, with two going to overtime. On Dec. 17, they even hung around with Alabama, losing 104-93 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
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As an 11-seed, the matchup against No. 6 Louisville, followed by No. 3 Michigan State, will not be easy by any means. But the Bulls certainly have a shot to make noise with the draws.
High Point (30-4)
High Point has a NET ranking of 92, which would quickly dispel them as a potential bracket buster in the eyes of many who trust analytics. And while the analytics don't lie, in a one-game tournament, they can also be disregarded if a team catches fire.
The Panthers offense is explosive enough to get on a bender and threaten any higher seed it faces. They are fourth in the country with 90 points per game. The 49.1 shooting percentage from the field is tied for 20th.
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Senior Terry Anderson leads the team with 16 points per game, but the Panthers have eight guys who average at least five points per game and six who average eight or more.
The Panthers will open the tournament against Wisconsin, which could be a high-scoring game, but a chance for High Point. A second-round matchup against No. 4 Arkansas gets a little tougher.
Miami Ohio (31-1)
Rated one spot below High Point, Miami (Ohio) could enter the NCAA Tournament with a lot to prove. Yes, the RedHawks' strength of schedule is nothing to write home about . But they beat the teams that were put in front of them. There is nothing more you can ask of the players.
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With 90.7 points per game, Miami was second in the nation in points per game, trailing only Alabama, while 52.4% shooting from the field leads the nation. KenPom's 116.8 offensive rating ranks 70th in the country.
Obviously, Miami will need to beat SMU first in the play-in game, but a matchup against a Tennessee team that lost four of its last six games gives the RedHawks a real shot at a potential upset. A matchup against Virginia in round two could also be winnable.
VCU (27-7)
How about the original bracket buster as a potential 2026 bracket buster? In the final USA TODAY Coaches Poll, the Rams received five votes from coaches. Yet, they earned an 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
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Do the coaches know something the NCAA did not? Well, VCU has a net rating of 45 with a top-50 offensive net rating. Like USF, the Rams are playing their best basketball now. They started the season at 6-4 following a loss to New Mexico.
However, VCU closed the season with a 21-3 record over the final 24 games and won 16 of its last 17 games. A matchup against No. 6 North Carolina in the first round, before a potential matchup against No. 3 Illinois, sets up the Rams as well as an 11-seed can be set up.
Troy (22-11)
Of the six teams on this list, Troy feels like it would be the biggest Cinderella this year if it were able to pull off a deep run.
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The Trojans are the first team to win back-to-back Sun Belt tournament titles since Georgia State did so in 2018 and 2019.
The way the bracket shakes up is the biggest reason to believe in the Trojan. Nebraska is officially on upset alert with a matchup against Troy. With McNeese, a potentially tough matchup for No. 5 Vanderbilt, a double-digit second-round matchup is completely on the table.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA Tournament upset picks, March Madness bracket busters, Cinderellas
