Upsets

Upsets refer to the occurrence of an underdog team beating their opponent. This is much easier to understand within the context of March Madness because every team has an assigned ranking before the tournament starts. Anytime the lower-seeded team wins a game, it is an upset. This is incredibly common during March, and upsets are the very factor that makes the National Tournament true madness. Last year alone, 11 seed UCLA reached the Final Four, 15 seed knocked off 2 seed Ohio State, and 12 seed Oregon State reached the Elite Eight. Improbable runs happen each year, and that’s what makes the tournament so exciting. A team representing a college that you’ve never heard of might just take out the tournament favorite. 

The matchups in the first round are as follows:

1 vs.16

2 vs.15

3 vs. 14

4 vs. 13

5 vs. 12

6 vs. 11

7 vs. 10

8 vs. 9

Since there is no way to know which team will win each game before it happens, the matchup for the following round is unknown, although teams will know who they will face next based on the orientation of the bracket.