Every April back at GK Central, as we vacuum crushed Doritos, recycle our empties and roll the abacus back into its cabinet, we engage in a raucous debate over the tourney's All-Giant Killer Team. What began as a fun way to honor the pivotal players in the tournament's upsets actually yields some interesting upsets in the composition of Giant Killer rosters.
Thus, on the eve of Selection Sunday, we're looking ahead. We've already written at length about teams with Giant Killer aspirations, and we'll have plenty more coming, including upset ratings for every game with GK implications. But the theories behind Giant Killing -- maximizing possessions, high-risk/high-reward styles -- can be expressed through players, too.
So while you've probably heard of guys like Creighton's Doug McDermott, Murray State's Isaiah Canaan, Memphis' Will Barton and Matthew Dellavedova of Saint Mary's, there are many, many more names you'll need to know over the next three weeks.
We'll offer a few of our favorites heading into the tournament, focusing on teams that have already qualified or seem like at-large locks, while ignoring those who are likely to be seeded too high to qualify as a Giant Killer (such as Wichita State). But we want to hear your suggestions as well. So post in the comments section or tweet at us, and we'll investigate for a future blog.
Just remember that being a terrific player isn't good enough -- we're looking for those along the lines of floor-stretching power forwards, guards who swipe the ball and dish it, undersized offensive rebounders and pure marksmen. Like some of these guys:
Jason Brickman, LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds
There's some correlation between assists and Giant Killing, and if that's the case, Brickman has an edge, with 7.3 dimes per game. That's a 35.6 assist rate, 24th in the country. As an added bonus, he hits just over 40 percent of his 3s. And a really cool stat? He leads the country in fewest fouls per 40 minutes (0.8).
To read the full list of players who could cause upsets of the elite teams, plus get access to all of Insider's March Madness tips, sign up today.
Jordan Brenner | email
ESPN The Magazine contributing writerABOUT THIS BLOG
Giant Killers Blog
Giant Killers is Insider's annual metrics-based forecast of NCAA tournament upsets. A Giant Killer is a team that beats a tourney opponent seeded at least five spots higher. For a full explanation of our model, click here.
Peter Keating
Peter Keating is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine, where he has covered investigative and financial stories since 1999. His work on concussions in football has earned awards from the Deadline Club, the New York Press Club and the Center for the Study of Sport in Society. He joined the Giant Killers team in 2008.
Follow Peter Keating on Twitter.
Jordan Brenner
Jordan Brenner is a contributing writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Insider. He has covered pro and college basketball for the last decade and launched the Giant Killers project in 2006.
Follow Jordan Brenner on Twitter.
