March Madness has arrived, and the Midwest Region should provide plenty of classic March excitement. There are vulnerable high seeds and underrated low seeds, and the upset potential here is off the charts. We take a look at which team can emerge from the chaos to head to the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona.
2024 March Madness prediction: Midwest Region
The Midwest is arguably the weakest region out of the four heading into this tournament. Purdue and Tennessee, the top two seeds, failed to win their respective conference tournaments. Gonzaga is almost certainly over-seeded at No. 5. With Oregon, McNeese, and Samford all in one region, the upset potential here is massive, and I see No. 3 Creighton emerging above the chaos to head to the Final Four.
While the Bluejays were bounced earlier than expected from the Big East, they proved themselves in the regular season with a 19-point win over UConn and a 14-point win over Marquette in the last month. Tennessee’s vulnerabilities came into clear view in their loss to Mississippi State, and they suffer from largely the same issue that will send Purdue tumbling out of contention ahead of the Final Four — a heavy reliance on one player putting up 20 points per game with occasional help from others.
Even when Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht put up 40 points in the Vols’ final regular-season game, they lost against Kentucky. Purdue’s weaknesses were exposed with their reliance on Zach Edey in last year’s tournament, and not enough has changed to place them in the Final Four. Creighton, on the other hand, has three players that average 17 or more points per game.