Welcome back to this year’s men’s NCAA tournament Danger Rankings! In a season defined by parity throughout the national landscape, few things would truly count as a surprise during March Madness. That said, trying to pick out which highly seeded teams are most vulnerable to an early exit may be the hardest part of winning your bracket challenge, so we compiled a list of the top seeds who may just be headed home after opening weekend. After analyzing all the matchups, here’s who you might want to pick against this March.
Purdue (No. 1 seed, East Region)
On paper, Purdue looks like the most vulnerable of the No. 1 seeds. While the Boilermakers did build some momentum by winning the Big Ten tournament, they were aided by a favorable draw that saw them face off against a struggling Rutgers, an under-.500 Ohio State on its fourth game in as many days and a tired Penn State that doesn’t have the size to match up with Zach Edey. So while the performance was encouraging, it doesn’t outweigh some of the Boilermakers’ February struggles, most clearly highlighted by a stretch of four losses in six games.
