March Madness Round of 64 Preview

by Zak Drapeau

Sportz Nation - 3/19/26

We're FINALLY here! Before the first round starts today at 12:15 between Ohio State and TCU lets dive into the bracket as a whole and even some of the more exciting matchups!

The tightest matchups are of course between the closest seeds, with 8Utah State - 9Villanova and 7Miami - 10Missouri having the closest spreads with Utah State -1.5.

In total, 3 of the 8-9 matchups, 3 of the 7-10 matchups and 2 of the 6-11 matchups have a spread of under 4 points between them. While none of these matchups would end in what I would call an upset, there very well could be some higher seeds, (i.e. 9s, 10s and 11s) making it into the Round of 32.

Photo by Ben McKeown/ Associated Press

Favorites Playing Thursday

Duke plays Siena at -27.5

Michigan plays Howard at -30.5

Houston plays Idaho at -23.5

Michigan State plays North Dakota State at -16.5

Illinois plays Penn at -25.5

Gonzaga plays Kennesaw State at -21.5

Arkansas plays Hawaii at -15.5

Favorites Playing Friday

Arizona plays LIU at -30.5

Florida plays Prairie View at -35.5

UConn plays Furman at -20.5

Iowa State plays at Tennessee State -24.5

Purdue plays Queens at -25.5

Upset Watch

The 5-12 and 6-11 matchups have the most historical "upsets" in the first round of the tourney and this year shouldn't be any different.

For the 5-12 matchups, I like 12High Point to Upset 5Wisconsin and 12Akron to Upset 5Texas Tech

For the 6-11 Matchups, I like 11USF to upset Louisville and 11Texas to Upset 6BYU. The other two matchups have a really good shot at uosets too funny enough, with Miami(OH) unpredictable this postseason and 6UNC only being favored by 2.5 points over 11VCU

Other matchups around the first round that I would watch for upsets have to be 15Furman and 2UConn, 14Kennesaw State and 3Gonzaga and 13Troy over 4Nebraska

Make sure to stay tuned as we continue coverage on Friday with game coverage and Round of 32 Previews Friday and Saturday

You can also check out our coverage of the Woman's March Madness Tournament here by Matt Hylen

-Z.D. (@DrapeauZak)