From The Sports Desk: Bracket-busting teams to watch

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Now that we’ve had a full day to digest the March Madness brackets, let’s dive in further. Today, we’ll walk you through some potential upsets because everyone loves a Cinderella story. Our Andrew Greif also caught up with Georgetown legend Patrick Ewing, who shared his favorite March Madness memories.

Plus, tonight Team USA takes on Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic final. We’ll be live-blogging the game, so come back for our real-time analysis at NBC News.

Men's Bracket Busters

In the men’s bracket, chaos typically reigns supreme in the first weekend. Here are three double-digit-seeded teams that could pull off an upset or two this week:

No. 11 seed Virginia Commonwealth: The Rams are one of the hottest teams in the country, having won 16 of their last 17 games en route to winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament. They’re prolific from 3-point range, and they’re coached by Phil Martelli Jr., the son of St. Joe’s coaching legend Phil Martelli. On Thursday, VCU plays No. 6 seed North Carolina, which is without injured star Caleb Wilson.

No. 10 seed Santa Clara: The Broncos are on a hot streak, too, having won 17 of their last 21. They make 3-pointers (29th in the country on a per-game basis) and force turnovers (31st), and that’s typically a good recipe for March. Santa Clara hasn’t made the Big Dance in about 30 years, not since Steve Nash played there. But if the Broncos can get past No. 7 seed Kentucky on Friday, they might be able to make a run.

No. 12 seed High Point: Without Googling, do you know where High Point University is? In High Point, North Carolina. The Panthers went 30-4 this season and led the country in scoring margin, winning by an average of 19.7 points per game. They also force lots of turnovers, the third-most per game in the country. Get to know High Point now; it might upset No. 5-seeded Wisconsin on Thursday.

Go to NBC Sports for more in-depth breakdowns of the East, Midwest, South and West regions.

In the women’s bracket, history tells us, double-digit seeds are far less likely to upset top seeds. And so we decided to examine which non-No. 1 seeds could make the Final Four. Yesterday, we highlighted No. 2 seed Vanderbilt and star guard Mikayla Blakes as a potential roadblock on top-seeded UConn’s path. Here are three other teams to watch:

No. 4 seed Oklahoma: Two months ago, the Sooners downed South Carolina 94-82 in overtime. Aaliyah Chavez, Oklahoma’s star freshman, had 26 points and 8 assists. If the two teams meet in the Sweet Sixteen, the Sooners won’t back down from the No. 1-seeded Gamecocks.

No. 2 seed Michigan: The Wolverines have three high-scoring guards — Olivia Olson (19.2 points per game), Syla Swords (14.5) and Mila Holloway (12.4). Michigan might have the firepower to hang with No. 1 seed Texas and star forward Madison Booker. Lots of names live on in March Madness lore. Few are better than Syla Swords.

No. 2 seed LSU: The Tigers still have coach Kim Mulkey, still have guard Flau’jae Johnson. They went 27-5 this season thanks to a high-octane offense and might be the only team keeping No. 1 seed UCLA from steamrolling its way to the Final Four. The Bruins’ Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice are as good as any duo in the tourney.

Go to NBC Sports for more in-depth breakdowns of Region 1 (Fort Worth), Region 2 (Sacramento), Region 3 (Fort Worth) and Region 4 (Sacramento).

March Madness Memories

As Georgetown’s superstar center, Patrick Ewing won one NCAA championship game, in 1984, and lost two other finals — on Michael Jordan’s game-winning shot in 1982 and in an all-time upset to Villanova in 1985. Four decades later, Ewing is still so closely associated with March Madness that AT&T put him in an ad that will run throughout the tournament.

“Losing by one point to North Carolina, that was rough,” Ewing told NBC News. And the Villanova loss, “that’s still hard to even talk about.”

Ewing’s lone win came over Houston and star Hakeem Olajuwon. That season, Georgetown dealt with the death of Ewing’s mother, coach John Thompson’s mother and the mothers of two of Ewing’s teammates. “We had so [much] adversity that it was so great to achieve it, even with all those things going on,” he said.

FILE - In this April 2, 1984, file photo, Georgetown head coach John Thompson, left, gives a happy pat to the most valuable player Patrick Ewing, after Georgetown defeated Houston 84-75 in Seattle. Some have likened coach Deion Sanders’ early Colorado tenure to that of the pioneering college basketball coach John Thompson, whose Georgetown Hoyas were an anomaly on a predominantly white campus but garnered the unwavering support of the hip hop and Black community.
(AP Photo/File)

A decade later, Olajuwon got revenge when he and the Houston Rockets beat Ewing and the New York Knicks for the NBA championship. After the game, did Olajuwon tell Ewing they were even now?

“Yes, he did,” Ewing said, laughing.

What We're Watching

Tonight, the NCAA Tournament tips off in Dayton, Ohio, with the “First Four” games, and Team USA plays in the World Baseball Classic final. Be sure to check out our NBC News live blog of the game. All times are in Eastern:

6:40 p.m.: No. 16 seed UMBC vs. No. 16 Howard, on TruTV
8 p.m.: Team USA vs. Venezuela, on Fox
9:15 p.m.: No. 11 seed Texas vs. No. 11 N.C. State, on TruTV

That’s it for now! We’ll be back tomorrow.

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