Potential 2024 Bracket Busters in First Two Rounds of Men's NCAA Tournament

The beauty of March Madness is that every team in the 68-team field has a potential path to the national title. Without fail, a handful of teams take full advantage of that every year, busting brackets in the process.

The 2020-21 UCLA Bruins are a great example. They emerged from the First Four play-in game to reach the Final Four, upending No. 2 seed Alabama and No. 1 seed Michigan before losing in overtime to No. 1 seed Gonzaga in the national semifinals.

More than a few brackets caught fire last year when No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson upset No. 1 seed Purdue on the first Friday of the tournament, while No. 15 seed Princeton reaching the Sweet 16 and No. 9 Florida Atlantic making the Final Four further blew up the field.

With that in mind, we've highlighted seven teams with the potential to be bracket busters in this year's tournament. We're focusing solely on teams projected to be a No. 8 seed or higher, so reaching the Sweet 16 would take at least one major upset, if not two.

Who's ready for more March Madness chaos?

Projected Seed: No. 8

As of Friday morning, there were only 19 teams in the nation this year that have recorded at least six Quad 1 victories. The Boise State Broncos are part of that exclusive group.

Five of those wins have come against fellow Mountain West opponents, including winning both regular-season matchups against San Diego State. The other came against a very good Saint Mary's team back in December, and four of the six were either on the road or at neutral sites.

Tyson Degenhart (17.0 PPG, 6.2 RPG) leads four players who average double figures, and the Broncos go eight deep in the rotation while playing at a slow tempo that has helped make them one of the best defensive teams in the country.

The entire Mountain West is battle-tested this year thanks to the depth of the conference, with as many as six teams heading for the NCAA tournament. The Broncos are well-equipped to give a No. 1 seed a serious run for its money in the Round of 32 next weekend.

Projected Seed: No. 11

The Drake Bulldogs have one of the nation's best mid-major players in junior Tucker DeVries. He was just named the Missouri Valley Player of the Year for the second year in a row while averaging 21.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 35.5 minutes per game.

There's a good chance he won't come off the floor during March Madness unless DeVries gets into foul trouble. But the Bulldogs are more than just a one-man show.

Drake ranks among the nation's leaders in assists per game (15.9, 35th), field-goal percentage (47.9%, 29th) and three-point percentage (36.7%, 36th). DeVries is one of four Drake players with a double-digit scoring average.

The Bulldogs didn't face the toughest schedule in the Missouri Valley, but they went 2-1 against Indiana State, including an 84-80 victory in the MVC championship game to secure the automatic bid.

Drake also blew out a good Nevada team by 19 points at the Jack Jones Classic in December. Sitting on the 11-seed line in the latest Bracket Matrix, the Bulldogs are likely going to be a tough opening draw for a major-conference opponent.

Projected Seed: No. 8

The Florida Gators made a statement two weeks ago with a 105-87 victory over Alabama on March 5. Their conference resume also includes a road win over Kentucky and an 81-65 dismantling of Auburn.

The Gators have also gone 1-4 in their last five road games, including a Quad 3 loss to Vanderbilt that came just four days after that impressive victory over Alabama. General inconsistency is the reason why they are currently residing on the 8-seed line.

Still, at their best, the Gators can hang with anyone. The key to their success is on the board.

Florida ranks second in the nation with 15.2 offensive rebounds per game and rank in the top 20 in rebounding margin. That has helped the Gators get up 65.6 shots (second nationwide) and average 84.9 points per contest (sixth).

Point guard Zyon Pullin leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.23) while averaging 15.5 points and shooting 44.4 percent from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr. is averaging 19.9 points per game over his last 10 contests heading into Friday's rematch against Alabama.

If good Florida shows up for multiple games in a row, this could easily be a Sweet 16 team.

Projected Seed: No. 9

There is something to be said for having experience playing under the bright lights of March Madness. Florida Atlantic boasts as much of that as anyone following last year's surprise run to the Final Four.

The Owls' top six scorers were all part of last year's Cinderella squad, with the trio of Johnell Davis (18.2 PPG, 6.3 RPG), Vladislav Goldin (15.2 PPG, 6.8 RPG) and Alijah Martin (13.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG) leading the way.

All of that returning talent earned them the No. 10 spot in the preseason AP poll, and they remained ranked into February before road losses to South Florida and Memphis bumped them out of the Top 25.

Florida Atlantic's resume is highlighted by a 96-95 victory over presumptive top-two seed Arizona back in November. While there were also a few bad losses along the way, none of the nation's elite teams will want to run into the Owls in the Round of 32.

Projected Seed: No. 12

After an exciting football season that saw a run at an undefeated season and a surprise move into the AP Top 25, the James Madison men's basketball team quickly proved they deserve some attention as well, knocking off then-No. 4 Michigan State in their season opener.

A Quad 3 loss on the road against Southern Mississippi on Jan. 6 halted their 14-0 start and rapid climb up the AP poll, but they lost just two games the rest of the way. Both of those losses came against a good Appalachian State team by a combined 10 points.

The Dukes enter March Madness riding a 13-game winning streak, with their last loss coming on Jan. 27. There is something to be said for riding a wave of momentum into a tournament that is all about getting hot at the right time.

The Dukes would have been squarely on the tournament bubble if they didn't run the table in the Sun Belt tournament to secure the automatic bid, so this is not your average team from a one-bid league. They went 22-0 when they scored at least 80 points, and they rank No. 54 in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency.

Their offense will need to carry them during March Madness.

Projected Seed: No. 10

It's always strange to see a frequent title contender like Michigan State projected for a double-digit seed. The Spartans would make for a potentially unsettling matchup in the Round of 32 for a No. 2 seed.

The Spartans have fallen well short of expectations this season after opening the year at No. 4 in the AP poll. They lost to James Madison in the season opener en route to a 4-5 start, which caused them to tumble out of the rankings.

Upperclassmen Tyson Walker, Malik Hall, A.J. Hoggard and Jaden Akins all returning from last year's team was a big reason why the Spartans were so highly regarded when the season started. Their experience could still be a major factor in the NCAA tournament.

The Spartans have played Purdue tough twice since the calendar flipped to March, and they beat a good Illinois team back in February as part of a 5-1 stretch where they looked more like the team they were expected to be when the season started.

It's tough to know what to make of Michigan State's upside. But with Tom Izzo calling the shots and experience up and down the roster, a Sweet 16 run would be far from surprising.

Projected Seed: No. 10

Entire "Bubble Watch" articles could have been written on the Big East for much of the season, with a cluster of teams jockeying for position behind the top-tier trio of UConn, Marquette and Creighton.

Despite losing to St. John's in the conference tournament opener on Thursday, the Seton Hall Pirates still look like the most dangerous team of that bubble bunch. Their resume includes wins over UConn and Marquette.

They handed the defending champion Huskies a 75-60 loss on Dec. 20, which was one of only three losses that UConn suffered all season. Star guard Kadary Richmond filled up the box score in that game, tallying 23 points, six rebounds, five assists and eight steals.

The Huskies returned the favor with a 30-point shellacking when they hosted the Pirates on March 3. But that earlier victory is still proof that this group is capable of beating the nation's elite.

It also can't be overlooked that Shaheen Holloway is at the helm of this Seton Hall team. He's the same coach who led Saint Peter's on one of the most unlikely Cinderella runs in NCAA tournament history two years ago.