SPORTS: Bracket Busters

BY: BODE BULLOCK

MARCH 13, 2023

As we close out of February and enter March, it becomes one of the greatest times of the year for college basketball fans as conference tournaments play out and then after comes March Madness. Every year you always hear about the teams that are contending for the one seed but not much about the Mid Major schools around the 11, 12, and 13 seeds. It seems like every year they are ruining a team’s chances by upsetting them. Some of those teams are Oral Roberts, Drake, and Toledo.

Oral Roberts who right now is a 12 seed in the NCAA tournament. Oral Roberts record is 29-4 overall and 18-0 in conference play. They are currently on a 16 game winning streak. Oral Roberts is led by Senior guard Max Abmas who is averaging 23 ppg. Oral Roberts had a Cinderella story in 2021, going to the Sweet 16 as a 15 seed after defeating Ohio State and Florida.  This year they are an even better team and all of their losses are to Quad 1 teams and those Quad 1 teams are Houston, Saint Mary’s, New Mexico, and Utah State. They clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament with a commanding win over North Dakota 92-58.

The next team is Drake coming off a big win to win the Missouri Valley tourney over Bradley. Playing against Bradley they won 77-51. They are led by the father-son duo of Tucker and Darian DeVries. Tucker is the leading scorer for the Bulldogs averaging 19 ppg and his father Darian is the head coach. They finished 27-7 overall and had a 15-5 record in their conference; they are projected to be a 12 seed in the upcoming tournament.

Finally Toledo ended their season on a 16 game winning streak. They finished first in the MAC conference with a 26-6 overall record and a 16-2 conference record. They average 85.7 PPG which is the 3rd most in the nation and they are led by Junior Guard RayJ Dennis, who is one of or not the best scorer in all of the MAC conference. They are projected to be a 12 seed in the NCAA tourney and with how easily they can score the ball it could be easy for them to get an upset.