No. 13 seeds beating No. 4 seeds in the NCAA tournament is a rarity. It’s not Halley’s Comet or Sasquatch-sighting rare, but it doesn’t happen often.
Since 1985, in 136 games played in which a 4 faced a 13, only 28 No. 13 seeds have sprung for an upset. Northeastern has a legit chance to be the Cinderella in the 2019 NCAA tournament, mostly due to the old narrative that elite guards excel this time of year. The Huskies have four terrific guards in their starting lineup in Vasa Pusica (17.8 points per game), Jordan Roland (14.7 ppg, Donnell Gresham (9.8 ppg) and Bolden Brace (10.0).
This guard-heavy scheme is exactly the type of deal that traditional powerhouse Kansas has issues with. The Jayhawks’ most recent loss came to Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship and the Cyclones’ also featured four guards in their starting 5. Iowa State spread the ball around exceptionally well in that one as four different players scored in double figures.
Another note that the Huskies could take away from the Kansas – Iowa State tilt is that Iowa State punched first against the Jayhawks, racing out to a 32-22 lead in the first half. That’s the way most of these March Madness upsets go, of course, with the underdog throwing haymakers right out of the gate and hoping a few land.
You can expect Roland to be heaving up plenty of 3-pointers early on as the junior guard attempted a whopping 238 shots from beyond the deep stripe this season.
Kansas is currently a -8.5 favorite over the Huskies. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. Eastern and the game will be broadcast live on TNT. You can live stream March Madness here or check out these links which will be updated throughout the NCAA tournament.
Free March Madness live stream link 1
Free March Madness live stream link 2
Free March Madness live stream link 3
Free March Madness live stream link 4
Seeding records (since 1985)
1 vs. 16: 135-1
2 vs. 15: 128-8
3 vs. 14: 115-21
4 vs. 13: 108-28
5 vs. 12: 89-47
6 vs. 11: 85-51
7 vs. 10: 84-52
8 vs. 9: 69-67
Seeds to win championship
1 seed: 21
2 seed: 5
3 seed: 4
4 seed: 1
5 seed: 0
6 seed: 1
7 seed: 1
8 seed: 1
