NCAA Tournament 2021: 10 lower-digit seeds capable of pulling an upset

Oregon State Beavers

Oregon State shocked everybody by winning three games in three days in the conference tourney. The Beavers have won 6 out of 7 and 7 out of 9. They are a team that might be able to beat Tennessee. The Beavers have done a ridiculous job of shooting behind the arc in their last couple of games.

As a team, they are 34.2 percent from the year behind the arc but have shot 44 percent in their last three games. At some point, there is going to be some regression, and Oregon State is gonna go back down to around their season average. Wayne Tinkle has done an awesome job this season, he took a team that was picked last in the preseason media poll and took them to the NCAA tourney.

The Beavers got off to a slow start and picked up losses to Portland and Wyoming but it took a while for Tinkle to figure out his team and distribute minutes correctly. Oregon State will play some zone and mix up their defenses against a Tennessee team that has struggled to shoot the ball this year.

Look for Oregon State to go to that on the defensive end or to try to keep Tennessee from getting into a rhythm. Ethan Thompson is Oregon State’s best player he was first-team all-league this year and averaged 15.3 points per game. Warith Alatishe a transfer from Nicholls State has been playing great as of late. Alatishe is averaging 9.9 points to go along with 8.5 rebounds and 52.9 percent from the field. But he’s been playing great basketball in March averaging 13.2 points 9.2 rebounds and shooting an impressive 66.7 percent from the field.

Jarod Lucas 12.9 points per game and is the best three-shooter on the team at 39.4 percent he is also one of the best free-throw shooters in the country at 89.7 percent is a key contributor as well. With these three players to go along with Wayne Tinkle, they have the ability to hang in there and possibly pull the upset.