Yahoo Finance March Madness: Georgetown is Yahoo users' most popular first-round upset pick
Yahoo users really like Georgetown's chances against Colorado.
The Hoyas got into the NCAA tournament after a surprise run to win the Big East tournament last week. That run has made Georgetown the most popular pick among Yahoo Tourney Pick'Em users to pull off an upset.
The No. 12 seed Hoyas are being picked by nearly 47 percent of entrants to beat No. 5 Colorado in the East Region, far more than any other 12 seed in the tournament. The second-most popular No. 12 to beat a No. 5 is Winthrop. Just over 27 percent of Yahoo users have picked the Eagles to beat No. 5 Villanova in the South Region.
Another popular upset pick is Syracuse. The No. 11 Orange are being picked by nearly 43 percent of entrants to beat No. 6 San Diego State in the Midwest Region. That pick makes sense; Syracuse has performed well as a low seed in the NCAA tournament before and comes from a Power Five conference. The Orange is a three-point underdog to the Aztecs, according to BetMGM.
Florida and Virginia Tech have people split
Yahoo users are most divided over Florida and Virginia Tech. The No. 7 Gators are picked by 50.83 percent of users to beat the No. 10 Hokies in the first round of the South Region. That's closer than another 7-10 game in the East Region. No. 7 UConn is picked by 51.65 percent of people to beat No. 10 Maryland.
The split between Florida and Virginia Tech lines up with BetMGM's odds on the game. Florida is favored by a single point. UConn is a 2.5-point favorite to beat Maryland.
On the whole, the games between Nos. 7 and 10 seeds are just as close among Yahoo users as the games between Nos. 8 and 9 seeds. The most popular No. 7 seed to win is Oregon (69 percent) over No. 10 VCU in the West Region while East Region No. 8 LSU (66.43 percent) is the most popular No. 8 seed.
If you want to see who our Yahoo experts have picked for the NCAA tournament, you can click here.
Not many are going for big upsets
Entrants into Tourney Pick'Em aren't picking a lot of big upsets. Eleven of the 12 teams seeded Nos. 1-3 across the four regions have been picked to win their first-round matchups by 95 percent or more of Yahoo users. The only team who doesn't hit that 95 percent number is Arkansas in the South Region. The No. 3 Razorbacks are picked to beat No. 14 Colgate by just over 89 percent of Yahoo users.
Yahoo users really like Virginia too. The No. 4 Cavaliers are being picked by nearly 82 percent of Yahoo users to win their first-round West Region game against No. 13 Ohio. That overwhelming majority comes despite Virginia's likely inability to practice ahead of the NCAA tournament due to COVID-19 quarantines.
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