2019 March Madness bracket: Model identifies first-round upset picks

SportsLine's computer model called 12 of the 18 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds in the last three years

Now that the selection committee has announced the 68-team 2019 NCAA Tournament field, millions of fans across the country are filling out their brackets. The action kicks off with the First Four games in Dayton beginning on Tuesday. Of course, this is the most unpredictable event in sports and upsets are sure to define the action, which is why it's called March Madness. Last year, Loyola-Chicago advanced all the way to the Final Four as an 11-seed, busting brackets along the way. But if you can correctly predict key upsets in your 2019 NCAA Tournament brackets, it could set you up to win your March Madness pools. So before you make your 2019 March Madness upset picks, be sure to see the bracket predictions from the proven computer model at SportsLine.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every game of the tournament 10,000 times and its 2019 March Madness brackets are designed to guide you to the teams most likely to score upsets. Last season, it nailed Loyola stunning No. 6 seed Miami and it has called 12 of the 18 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds the last three seasons.

This season, one of the model's projected upsets we're giving away: No. 14 seed Yale shocks the world by knocking off No. 3 seed LSU in the East Region.

The Bulldogs can score in bunches, and they proved that on Sunday in an Ivy League Tournament championship win over rival Harvard. That was a revenge game after Harvard beat them twice during the regular season, and Yale nearly hit triple-digits in a 97-85 win.

For the season, Yale was 26th in the nation with an average of 80.6 points, and its 77.1 during league play were the best in the nation. The Bulldogs do their damage by shooting it effectively enough from distance to stretch the floor (37 percent from three-point range) and then using the space to attack the rim.

On Sunday, that led to them making 30 trips to the free-throw line, and they knocked down 28 of those attempts to salt the game away. Against an LSU squad that allowed three of its past four opponents to get to the free-throw line 23 times or more, that's a huge potential advantage for Yale.

Outside of a win over Vanderbilt where they hit 12-of-24 from long distance, LSU has also been abysmal from the 3-point line. In the second half of the season, the Tigers shot just 28.9 percent from beyond the arc. Yale only allows opponents to hit 31.2 percent from three for the season, so LSU could struggle if it has to make up ground.

Add in all the distractions surrounding the LSU program right now with head coach Will Wade suspended indefinitely for his role in the ongoing college recruiting scandal, and Yale has a strong chance to beat the SEC regular season champions.

You think that one is a stunner? You should see the rest of the March Madness upsets from the SportsLine Projection Model. It will have you seriously rethinking your bracket and could give you a huge edge over everybody else in your 2019 NCAA Tournament pools.

So which underdogs are best positioned to shock college basketball? Visit SportsLine now to see which No. 3 seed makes the Final Four, and see which region you need to pick the 11, 12, and 13 seeds, all from the model that's nailed 12 of the 18 double-digit seed upsets the past three years.