Mid-Majors - Brian

Two mid-major conference winners should scare the living heck out of some big time teams. These are two teams that will probably end up with a double digit seed during the tournament, and whatever single digit seed is playing them might not want to even show up.

I'm talking about Northern Iowa and Old Dominion.

These two teams (depending on matchups) have a very good chance of making a Sweet 16 run. Northern Iowa won a very good conference, both in the regular season and in the conference tournament. They are deep, and have the ability to send wave after wave of defenders at you. If they meet a team with little to no depth, watch for the upset. They may not be the best scoring team in the tournament, but their defense more than makes up for it.

Old Dominion won one of the most competitive mid-major conferences, and the CAA has produced some good teams in the past and they have done so again. ODU also has depth (seems to be a common theme among schools with upset potential) and are more than willing to use it against their opponents. Not to mention they beat Big East power Georgetown earlier in the season, and played Missouri close before losing by 5 on the road, proving they can play with the big boys.

I'm not saying that these two teams will pull a George Mason, but don't bet against them in round one, and be careful when picking against them in the second round.

More upset watch teams to come...