Highlights

2026 NCAA Tournament: Dark Horse Teams Poised to Shock Every Region and Rewrite the Bracket History

2026 NCAA Tournament: Dark Horse Teams Poised to Shock Every Region and Rewrite the Bracket History

Santa Clara’s first-round opponent, 7-seed Kentucky, has been living off its brand name. College basketball analyst Erik Haslam has a metric called the “Paper Tiger Factor” that essentially gauges how teams play against good teams. The Wildcats rank 362nd out of 365 D1 schools in that stat. I.e., they suck vs. quality competition. 

Barring a crazy upset, the Broncos will play 2-seed Iowa State in the second round. ISU is 317th in “Paper Tiger Factor” and 261st in “Away-from-Home” efficiency. Then, Santa Clara will most likely face 6-seed Tennessee or 3-seed Virginia in the Sweet 16. Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes is known for early NCAA tourney exits and Virginia is the worst 3-seed in the bracket. 

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Post Comment

WIN $500 OF SHOPPING!

    This will close in 0 seconds

      This will close in 0 seconds

      RSS
      Follow by Email