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Mike Marteny's 2023 NCAA Tournament sleepers for March Madness. His under-the-radar sleeper picks can help you build winning college basketball brackets.
The field of 68 is finally out and we are on the brink of the four greatest days in any sport in any country on any continent. The NCAA Tournament is an entirely different animal, and the first four days of this behemoth are the most fun days you'll have watching sports, even if it's by yourself!
There are always upsets in the NCAA Tournament. We're going to try to identify some of the teams that might be flying under the radar who can get those upset wins and make a run. Don't let these guys ruin your brackets! Either pick them or avoid picking the team playing them.
In this article, I will be providing you with my sleepers for the 2023 NCAA tournament. Be sure to also check out the rest of our NCAA Tournament articles and analysis including previews, predictions, sleepers, busts, and guides on how to fill out your brackets. Good luck RotoBallers!
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West Region Tournament Sleepers
(4) Connecticut
I already opined that the Huskies are a touch underseeded, but they get a rough draw in Iona. Gaels fans are going to make the trek up to Albany and I would expect the crowd to be around 50/50. If you've ever been to an NCAA Tournament game, you know that the crowd gets behind the little guy. That will be even more prevalent when the campus is only about three hours away.
However, if UConn makes it past Iona, they have a pretty good draw. I'm not sure St. Mary's makes it out of the first game and Kansas is going to have their hands full with Arkansas. Adama Sanogo gives them the size to hang with Jalen Wilson and Kansas if they make it past the first weekend. Looking at the bottom of the bracket, UCLA is going to miss Jaylen Clark, but they have the guards to run UConn.
(12) Virginia Commonwealth
We saw the Gaels go ice cold on national television against Gonzaga. The Gaels rely a lot on threes and having a freshman point guard can be a problem in the NCAA Tournament, especially against a sound defensive team like the Rams. VCU is a veteran team that is going to give St. Mary's all they can handle. However, don't pick them past UConn. Connecticut is similar to VCU with more size.
South Region Tournament Sleepers
(6) Creighton
The Jays get the weakest 11 seed in North Carolina State and the weakest three seed in Baylor to get out of the first weekend. Beyond that lurks Arizona (most likely), but they are going to have issues with whoever wins that 7-10 bear of a matchup. Can Creighton beat Arizona? Yeah, Creighton can beat anyone if their shots are falling. They live by the three and die by the three.
I won't take them to oust the Cats, but I will take Creighton to make the Sweet 16.
(9) West Virginia
Maryland is going to give the Mountaineers problems, but if they get out of that game, they have a legit shot at beating Alabama. Yeah, I know, the SEC Network (née ESPN) is telling anyone that will listen that Alabama is the best team in the tournament, but hear me out: The Mountaineers are very similar to the Oklahoma team that blew the doors off the Tide in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.
Oklahoma was very physical with Alabama and the Tide didn't handle the physical nature of that game well. West Virginia would just as soon mug you and take your lunch money as play basketball. They are tough and physical, and they can hit outside shots. Everything Oklahoma did against the Tide. I don't know that I have the stones to pick this one, but this is going to beat a really rough matchup for Alabama in the first weekend.
East Region Tournament Sleepers
(5) Duke
The Blue Devils are the hottest major conference team around, winning nine straight since an overtime loss in Charlottesville almost a month ago. They are finally healthy and the improvements of Jeremy Roach and Kyle Filipowski over the last six weeks or so is impressive.
Duke isn't an incredibly deep team (which 12-seed Oral Roberts is), but they are peaking at the right time. If they make it past the Golden Eagles, it gets much easier. Tennessee isn't the same without Zakai Zeigler and might not even make it out of the first round. A potential Sweet 16 matchup against Purdue is a good one for Duke and they could beat anyone in the bottom of that bracket as well. The East is the bracket most likely to be blown up, and Duke as a five-seed is a powder keg.
(8) Memphis
The Tigers are carried on the backs of Kendric Davis and DeAndre Williams. In fact, those two are the only teammates in Division 1 to both score 30 points in the same game against UCF in the AAC semifinals. They will go as far as those two carry them, which could be quite far. Zach Edey is a monster in the middle, but Purdue's young guards will struggle with Memphis...that is if the Tigers can escape a really tough FAU team.
Midwest Region Tournament Sleepers
(7) Texas A&M
The Aggies finished second in the SEC and in the SEC Tournament and still landed this low. Messed-up seedings can compromise an entire bracket, and we may see that here. Penn State is peaking at the right time, but I could argue that the Aggies are as well. They are 19-4 in their last 23 games.
If the Aggies beat Penn State, they get a matchup against hated Texas. They hate Texas so much that they left the Big 12 just to escape them. Oh, and back in the 1950s, the Aggies cadets were the only opposing team –before or since – to successfully kidnap Bevo. I'm not joking. Look it up...it's a great story!
On top of that, the Aggies and Longhorns are almost mirror images of each other. Texas is a little bigger in the middle and Timmy Allen is a more accomplished post presence, but they'll both throw down and knock your teeth out if you go hard in the lane. This is a game that actually might favor the Aggies and could land them in the regionals against what most consider the weakest three in Xavier or what I consider the weakest six in Iowa State.
(9) Auburn
I don't necessarily think that Auburn is underseeded or seeded wrongly, but the NCAA selection committee did Iowa and Houston dirty here. This pod plays in Birmingham, which automatically turns Auburn into the home team in both of those matchups. Add to that the fact that Houston might be operating with a 60% (or out completely) Marcus Sasser the first weekend, and Auburn could be poised to notch a couple of upsets.
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