NCAA Tournament 2023 bracket: Computer simulation shares surprising upsets, March Madness picks, sleepers

In his second year at Marquette, coach Shaka Smart led the Golden Eagles to a Big East regular season title and followed that up with a resounding win over Xavier last Saturday to win the conference tournament title. At 28-6 and winners of 14 of their last 15 games, the Golden Eagles are a worthy No. 2 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket. Led by guard Kam Jones (15.0 points per game) and Tyler Kolek (13.3), Marquette will be a tough out in the East Region of the 2023 March Madness bracket. With a potential road of Michigan State/USC, and Kentucky/Kansas State, there should be plenty of March Madness 2023 optimism among Marquette fans that a berth in the Elite Eight seems possible.

Can the Golden Eagles continue their magical season and advance to Houston for the Final Four of the 2023 NCAA bracket? Before you make your 2023 NCAA Tournament predictions, see the March Madness bracket picks from the proven computer model at SportsLine.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulated the entire 2023 NCAA Tournament 10,000 times. It has absolutely crushed its March Madness picks, beating over 92% of all CBS Sports brackets two of the last four tournaments. The model also nailed three teams in the West and South Region Sweet 16 last year, including No. 5 seed Houston.

It knows how to spot an upset as well. The same model has produced brackets that have nailed 18 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds. It also nailed some massive upsets two years ago, including predicting the championship game between Gonzaga and Baylor and hitting Houston’s Midwest Region win even though the Cougars weren’t the No. 1 seed.

Now, SportsLine’s advanced computer model has simulated the entire NCAA Tournament 10,000 times to come up with the perfect 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket and find out which teams will pull off the biggest upsets. You shouldn’t even think about making a pick without seeing what their model has to say.

Top 2023 March Madness bracket upset picks

One East Region surprise the model has identified: No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic defeats No. 8 Memphis. The Owls dominated Conference USA play, going 18-2 en route to a 31-3 record heading into the NCAA Tournament 2023. A blowout win over UAB, 78-56, in the conference tournament championship game led some pundits to believe that FAU was significantly under-seeded. Though Memphis won the AAC Conference Tournament Championship over No. 1 seed Houston, they might struggle against FAU, who doesn’t have a major weakness and plays disciplined basketball offensively and defensively.

Another surprise: No. 4 Tennessee makes a Sweet 16 run despite missing point guard Zakai Zeigler (knee) for the remainder of the season. The Volunteers rank third nationally in points allowed per game (58.0) and can stifle teams’ offenses. Though Rick Barnes’ team is 5-7 since the beginning of February, the model is projecting Tennessee to defeat No. 13 Louisiana and No. 5 Duke en route to the Sweet 16 and a matchup against No. 1 seed Purdue. See which other 2023 March Madness matchups to target here.

How to make 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket predictions

Who wins every tournament-defining matchup? And which teams will make surprising runs through the 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket? With the model’s track record of calling bracket-busting upsets, you’ll want to see which stunners it’s calling this year before locking in any 2023 NCAA bracket picks.

So what’s the optimal NCAA Tournament 2023 bracket? And which NCAA Tournament Cinderella teams will shock college basketball? Visit SportsLine now to see which double-digit seeds you can back with confidence, all from the model that’s called 18 upsets by double-digit seeds.