March Madness is nearly upon us. What makes March Madness the spectacle that it is comes down to the upsets and the teams that go on miraculous runs, knocking out the favored heavyweights in the process.
The proper term for them this time of year is "Cinderella." We’ve seen it time and time again; the school that tugs on our heart strings because they were the little engine that could. The school that went on a tournament run into the second weekend or, on rarer occasion, the Final Four.
It makes you wonder when it comes to seeding, when there are Cinderella runs, does it come down to the selection committee mis-seeding teams? Well here’s a look at some potential Cinderella teams that are destined to be underseeded in the NCAA Tournament.
3 potential Cinderellas guaranteed to be underseeded come March
3) St. Mary’s Gaels
St. Mary’s is always a dangerous team when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. They’re a higher-rated seeds nightmare after Selection Sunday concludes. They’ve been the very definition of a Cinderella team.
This year, as the resident Cinderella team in the tournament, Joe Lunardi has the Gaels as a No. 6 seed. Though that might seem reasonable, any other year, they could end up possibly as high as a No. 4 seed.
The one thing holding them back would be the SEC and the SEC bias this year — though it’s probably fair considering the SEC has been the most dominant conference in college basketball this season.
I know it seems a bit irrational to say the Gaels should be higher than the already predicted sixth seed, but you could argue they’re a better team than Oregon and possibly even Michigan. While the Wolverines went on a tear over the last couple of weeks, their fire has been extinguished.
It’s a hard sell, but that also implies Lunardi’s prediction is off and they get something even lower. I think a sixth-seed would be fair, but you could argue for a higher seed.
It wouldn’t be a shock for the committee to bump them down though either. Mississippi State and Ole Miss are two SEC teams ranked as No. 7 seeds that could very well move up after the SEC conference tournament concludes. When it comes to blue blood bias, Kansas is sure to get the benefit of the doubt over the Gaels, though the Jayhawks have severely underperformed this year.
2) VCU Rams
VCU is set up to be screwed over by the selection committee, if Lunardi’s Bracketology is any indication. At one point, SEC bias was so strong that VCU was a bubble team behind other SEC teams that had the benefit of the doubt of their conference affiliation.
The Rams are a No. 10 seed and predicted to play against No. 7 Kansas. This would be considered an upset on paper, but in what world should Kansas be seeded higher than VCU this year?
Kansas has struggled, winning just four of the last 10 games and on the brink of an early conference tournament exit. Honestly the deciding factor could be if they go on a Big 12 tournament run and convince the committee to give them grace.
VCU could win their conference tournament after already locking up the Atlantic 10 regular season title and still not have a “strong enough resume” to rise up the seedings. I’m not saying they need to be crowned a No. 4 seed or better, but the Rams have proven to be a solid team this year.
When they go on an inevitable NCAA Tournament run after stringing together a strong opening weekend, we’re going to be looking back and wondering why they were seeded so low.
1) McNeese State Cowboys
Joe Lunardi has McNeese State as a No. 12 seed right now and slated to play No. 5 seed Oregon. Sound the alarm because if there was ever a No. 12-5 upset to watch for, this could be it.
The Cowboys are destined to get underseeded and the higher seed they have, they are more likely to pull off an “improbable upset” to an extent, I’ll say. McNeese could very well take down a No. 3 seed, No. 4 seed, No. 5 seed and potentially the right (or wrong) No. 2 seed.
McNeese State has a NET ranking of 61. While losing both their Quad 1 games to Alabama and Mississippi State, they only lost to Bama by eight points and then Mississippi State by three points.
Any non-SEC team that can hang with SEC teams is a team that could put a lot of teams on upset alert. I think they’re good enough to deserve a No. 10 seed, potentially a No. 8/No. 9 seed, though that might be a bit of a stretch.
Watch out for the Cowboys. They are well within position to get underseeded and be one of the Tournament’s “Cinderellas” this year.