The bracket is out, which means it’s time to try and find this year’s Cinderella.
Although this year’s NCAA Tournament feels top-heavy, with three juggernauts, Duke, Michigan, and Arizona, essentially entering the tournament as co-favorites, there is always room for chaos in March, and there is certainly going to be a team that captures hearts around the country.
We’ve plucked a pair of double-digit seeds that could fit into the glass slipper this March.
No. 13 Hofstra (Midwest)
Speedy Claxton’s Hofstra Pride tick a lot of boxes for a potential Cinderella. There is plenty of experience on this roster; they have a couple of stars in former St. John’s guard Cruz Davis and Long Island native Preston Edmead, and they play stingy defense.
According to Bart Torvik’s model, the Pride rank 10th in the country in effective field goal percentage on defense, and they are the fourth-best unit in Division I at defending two-pointers.
Hofstra’s offense can also get white hot thanks to some terrific shooting from beyond the arc. The Pride rank 29th in the country in 3-point percentage, and have three starters (Davis, Edmead, and German Plotnikov) who clip at better than 37 percent from downtown.
There’s another reason why Hofstra stands out as a potential sleeper: The Midwest Region is ripe for chaos. Michigan is a beast at the top of the region, but there are a handful of high seeds that have the potential to throw this quadrant into disarray.
Along with the Pride, No. 9 Saint Louis, No. 10 Santa Clara, and No. 12 Akron are all going to be trendy picks to make some noise, which could open things up for a team like the Pride to go on a run.
It will have to start with an upset of No. 4 Alabama in Round 1, but the Pride have the defensive chops to gum up the works of the high-flying Crimson Tide.
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No. 13 Cal Baptist (East)
The WAC Champions bring an intriguing statistical profile with them to the Big Dance.
Not only is Cal Baptist a terrific defensive side (50th in KenPom and 37th in Bart Torvik), but the Lancers are dynamite on the glass. Cal Baptist ranks 11th in offensive rebounding percentage and 44th in defensive rebounding.
And while the Lancers aren’t known to shoot the lights out, they have one of the best scorers in the country on their roster.
Only four players average more points per game than Dominique Daniels Jr., a senior who is putting up 23.2 points per contest.
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Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
