March Madness: 8 bold predictions for 2019 NCAA Tournament

2) Both First Four at-large winners will also win in the first round

A team from the First Four has won a first-round matchup every year since the new format was instituted back in 2011. This year, I think both No. 11 seeds that win will pick up another victory in the first round.

Let’s start with the Belmont-Temple matchup on Tuesday. Both of these teams have terrific backcourts and highly respected coaches in Rick Byrd and Fran Dunphy, so you know it will be a quality contest.

I’m a firm believer that you have to pick every game in the tournament and I’m going with the Bruins because of their balance. Temple has a quality trio in Shizz Alston, Quinton Rose, and Nate Pierre-Louis, but don’t have much firepower outside of them. Belmont might have the best player on the court in Dylan Windler, who is expected to be a second-round NBA Draft pick.

That said, I would pick either team to upset Maryland on Thursday. The Terps have lost three of their last four games, are one of the youngest teams in the country and have a head coach that traditionally underachieves in the NCAA Tournament in Mark Turgeon. Belmont has the experience and skill to beat them rather convincingly, and Temple does, too.

Wednesday’s matchup is a bit trickier for me because St. John’s was the last team in the field, but they have the potential to beat top-end teams as we’ve seen in their victories over VCU, Villanova, and Marquette. If the Good Johnnies show up – and I think they will because it’s tournament time – they’ll roll past a very flawed Arizona State team.

That would set up a tremendous first-round showdown between St. John’s and Buffalo. And I know what you’re thinking – St. John’s has been awful lately and Buffalo is really good, right? Right!

However, Buffalo plays the same kind of perimeter-oriented up-tempo style as St. John’s. Villanova and Marquette play that way, too, and the Red Storm played it better than both of them when they faced off this year.

St. John’s doesn’t deviate much from their style, and that has cost them a few games this year. But very few teams play that style as well as they do. Given they also have the raw talent advantage, I think they pull the shocker over the Bulls.