Glass slippers are popular this time of year. With the brackets out and millions of people using a wide variety of elimination processes to make their picks, the most important aspect is finding the right Cinderella for the March Madness bracket predictions. We will have plenty of coverage to help fill out the rest of your brackets, but let’s start with which teams are most likely to be Cinderella. This will focus on double-digit seeds that can make a deep tournament run.
Finding the Right Glass Slippers for Cinderella With March Madness Bracket Predictions
North Carolina State Wolfpack
The Wolfpack have guards, and March Madness is all about guards. Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner are as lethal of a backcourt as any. They are certainly very volatile, but this is the type of setting they can get hot and stay hot. This duo currently averages 34 points per game, but either one of them can hit that number in a fast-paced tournament game. The Wolfpack can also defend when they want to, which will make them dangerous. Watch out for this group because the Sweet 16 might be a modest prediction for them.
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles
The Golden Eagles were a very popular pick before the bracket was drawn, and then they drew Duke. The Blue Devils are underseeded and as hot as any team in the nation. However, Oral Roberts returns the majority of their Cinderella team from a few years ago, and they have a bonafide star in Max Abmas. Again, guards are so important for the tournament, and you would be hard-pressed to find a better one than Abmas. Honestly, if they drew one of maybe 50 other teams in this tournament they would be a lock. However, the reason they make this list is that if they beat Duke, they should also easily win their Round of 32 game.
Pittsburgh Panthers
It is almost a guarantee that a First Four team makes it to the second weekend. Who will that be this year? Most likely Pittsburgh. Again, guard play matters. Jamarius Burton is a big-bodied guard that is built for tournament play. He has an excellent middle game and controls all aspects of the offense with the ball in his hands. Jeff Capel can post him, he can put him in high pick-and-rolls, and he can isolate him to let him go to work. Also, Xavier is one of the weaker high seeds in the bracket, so the Panthers are in a nice spot.
Kent State Golden Flashes
This one is an interesting one. It seems like half the brackets have Indiana pushing Houston in the Sweet 16, and the other half have them losing in the first round. Indiana is tough with first-team All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis and star freshman Jalen Hood-Schifino. However, Kent State can flat-out score, and they have a deep and talented roster. Indiana has not necessarily made a lot of noise in the tournament’s recent history, which makes this even more of a likely upset. Sincere Carry is a bucket, and the Golden Flashes will score at will in this game. If you look through their schedule, they have single-digit, tough losses to both Houston and Gonzaga.
Honorable Mentions: Iona Gaels, Colgate Raiders, UNCA Bulldogs
Iona and Rick Pitino are definitely up against it when they face the UConn Huskies. However, the game will be in upstate New York, and Pitino will have the Gaels fired up. The environment will be insane, and the Huskies will have to work for everything that they get. A lot of people are going to pick the Huskies to get to the Final Four, but they will have to sweat out this first game. Buyer beware!
Colgate and UNC Asheville are two teams that can score at will and have a legit chance to get to a Sweet 16. However, they drew the two best two seeds in Texas and UCLA. Colgate is a veteran team with tournament experience that shoots lights out. However, Texas is very aggressive defensively and should be able to do just enough to contain the Raiders. UCLA has a few significant injuries (especially defensively), and UNCA has as good of a one-two punch as anyone with Drew Pember and Tajion Jones. Again, this is a tough matchup, but it would not be surprising to see one of these 15 seeds dancing in the Sweet 16.
