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NCAA Tournament: Upsets to watch out for on lower seed lines

By Bryan Mauro

MURRAY, KY - FEBRUARY 09: Ja Morant #12 of the Murray State Racers reacts in the second half of the game against the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars at CFSB Center on February 9, 2019 in Murray, Kentucky. Murray State won 86-55. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
MURRAY, KY - FEBRUARY 09: Ja Morant #12 of the Murray State Racers reacts in the second half of the game against the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars at CFSB Center on February 9, 2019 in Murray, Kentucky. Murray State won 86-55. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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HOUSTON, TEXAS – MARCH 02: Tacko Fall #24 of the UCF Knights celebrates after defeating the Houston Cougars 69-64 at Fertitta Center on March 02, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TEXAS – MARCH 02: Tacko Fall #24 of the UCF Knights celebrates after defeating the Houston Cougars 69-64 at Fertitta Center on March 02, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

No. 9 seed: UCF Knights

UCF is making their first NCAA tournament appearance since the 2004 season. This season marks the first time they have been higher than a 15 seed in their school’s history and their play on the court reflected that this year. The Knights finally make the tournament after struggling through an injury-filled season a year ago.

Central Florida is led on the offensive end by senior guard BJ Taylor. Taylor was one of the players who was injured a season ago and Central Florida had a hard time putting the ball in the basket. Central Florida is led by two outstanding players on the offensive end; one is Taylor and his 16 points per game and the other is Aubrey Dawkins at 15 points per game. Even though the Knights have two good offensive players, their bread and butter comes on the opposite end of the floor.

They are one of the elite defensive teams in the country and that all stems around 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall roaming the middle. Fall blocks 2.5 shots per game, but it is the shots altered that make him so dangerous. Fall changes every shot and makes getting to the rim at points impossible. The unfortunate part of Central Florida is that, because of his sheer size, Fall doesn’t play a tremendous number of minutes.

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VCU enters the tournament hopeful that their best player and team leader Marcus Evans can play. Evans was injured in the Atlantic 10 tournament. The Rams announced that their star avoided serious injury but it remains to be seen if he is available for the first round matchup. Outside of Evans, the Rams have a very balanced scoring attack with De’Riante Jenkins leading the way. This game will probably be very low scoring as each of these teams are very effective on the defensive end of the floor. VCU is going to have to get the score up and into the high seventies to be comfortable. If the game remains low and they are playing into the low 60’s advantage Central Florida.

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