Teams most likely to play Cinderella in the 2018 NCAA Tournament

This isn't football, but Alabama could make a run in the college basketball playoff. The Crimson Tide have a coach in Avery Johnson who has been successful in the NBA and is as fiery as they come. They also have a star guard in freshman Collin Sexton who can take over games and shows the type of moxie that is key in the big dance. They've played a good schedule so they won't be intimidated by anyone. The Tide will put a scare in any team, including Villanova in the second round if Bama gets there. 

The Bison are making their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth in eight years. This team is good and experienced. Senior big man Zach Thomas leads the way, averaging 20.3 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. Two other seniors, center Nana Foulland and guard Stephen Brown, take advantage of the attention Thomas receives. This team knows how to score and doesn't have the attitude of a mid-major that's just happy to be dancing. The Bison have faced North Carolina, Maryland and Arkansas this year and gave West Virginia all it wanted in last year's dance so they won't be intimidated in this tournament. Taking on Michigan State will be tough, but if there is a mid-major up to the task, it is Bucknell.

The Cougars won the Colonial Athletic Conference, and remember not too long ago how big a deal that was? Not many mid-majors can trot out three guys who average at least 17 points per game like Charleston can. Grant Riller (18.7), Joe Chealey (18.5) and Jarrell Brantley (17) can all fill it up despite not playing on a fast break team. They play in the half court and have really good and experienced guards, which is what you look for when spotting a possible Cinderella. Facing off against a banged-up and struggling Auburn team could be a recipe for an upset.

The Ramblers are making their first tournament appearance since 1985. They got there by being a great passing team, a great defensive team and an opportunistic three-point shooting team. The Missouri Valley Conference champs have only lost once since Jan. 3 and employ a very versatile offense with five guys averaging between 10 and 13 points per game. 

The Thundering Herd are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1987. Marshall also boasts one of the best scorers in the nation in Jon Elmore. Elmore's 22.8 points per game are eighth best in the nation, and his 6.9 assists per game are seventh best. Another reason to be drawn to them? Dan D'Antoni, brother of Houston Rockets head coach Mike, is the head coach at Marshall. 

The Tigers lost Michael Porter Jr. early to a back injury, and the Tigers looked far from a team that would do damage in the tournament. They've improved as the season went along and surprisingly got Porter back for the SEC Tournament. Their one game there didn't go well, but if they can connect they are dangerous. The Tigers get an up-and-down Florida State team before possibly playing Xavier. They can beat the Musketeers and be a thorn in the side of any opponent they face the second weekend.

The Ohio Valley Conference champs have lost just once since Jan. 11 (at Belmont) and boast that sought-after mid-major star. Jonathan Stark averages nearly 22 points per game and shoots 41 percent from behind the arc. He can also step to the line and can free throws at a near 90 percent clip. The entire team is potent from downtown and has the résumé of a possible bracket buster. The last two times the Racers made it to the tournament (2012, 2010), they advanced to the second round. It will be interesting to see Stark go up against that "Press Virginia" defense.

After missing the last two NCAA Tournaments, the Wolfpack are back. NC State has beaten Arizona, Duke and won at North Carolina. The Wolfpack are led by big man Omer Yurtseven but also have a nice rotation of guys who can step up. Allerik Freeman leads the Pack in scoring while Markell Johnson led the ACC in assists and fellow guard Braxton Beverly led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. They won't make a run like the NC State team of 35 years ago, but they can certainly beat Seton Hall and Kansas to make it to the second weekend.  

New Mexico State is so fun to watch. The Aggies are solid defensively and fourth in the nation in rebounding. They have a blast on the court and come in hot, winning 17 of their last 19 games. Their stars are Zach Lofton, who leads the team in scoring (19.7 ppg), and Jemerrio Jones (11 ppg, 13.2 rpg), who is second nationally in rebounding. They are active and can win a game or two in this tournament. They beat Miami earlier this year and lost to USC by just five points.  

The Friars can beat anyone; they've beaten Xavier twice and Villanova once, taking the Wildcats to overtime in the Big East Championship Game as well. Head coach Ed Cooley usually has the Friars tough-minded come tournament time. This team has withstood various injuries, losing big man Emmitt Holt early on, the flu and even some split pants during the season, so adversity won't cause the Friars to fold. They're not filled with stars, but they also don't rely on one guy to carry them. Providence, like usual, will be a tough out.

The Rams are good, tough and experienced. Head coach Dan Hurley has Little Rhody primed for the tournament after winning its first Atlantic 10 regular-season title in program history. The Rams are led by seniors E.C. Matthews, Jared Terrell and Stanford Robinson, players who helped beat Creighton in last year's NCAA Tournament and came up just short against Oregon in the second round. The Rams get a struggling Oklahoma sqaud first before probably taking on Duke. They are back and looking to make a huge run like they did in their Elite Eight trip in 1998.

This season, Nevada and Boise State were the teams getting the most pub in the Mountain West, but it was San Diego State who won the league's automatic bid. The Aztecs have beaten Nevada twice and Gonzaga once. Head coach Brian Dutcher continues on Steve Fisher's legacy of tough defense and a balanced offense, with the school reaching the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in eight years. Five players average at least 9.8 points per game, led by Malik Pope (12.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg).

The Jackrabbits are back in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. Mike Daum, the Summit League Player of the Year Award winner the last two seasons, is a legit tournament darling who averages 23.8 points and 10.4 rebounds. He's a big man who can shoot from behind the arc as well as hustle in the paint, but he's not all SDSU has. David Jenkins Jr., who scored 29 points in the Summit title game, is a deadly three-point shooter who can keep defenses from keying on Daum. The third year may be the charm for the Jackrabbits.

Two years ago, many were surprised to see Syracuse make it into the NCAA Tournament. That team surprised everyone and went to the Final Four. Well, here we are again. The Orange were a bit of a shocker to be selected for the dance and this time will be in the First Four. In the first seven years of the First Four's existence, at least one team reached the second round each time. 'Cuse, which employs its usual zone defense, is always tough to deal with when you aren't used to going up against a zone. Jim Boeheim is one of the best coaches in the nation and will have his team ready for a run.

The last time we saw UNC Greensboro, it was smothering East Tennessee State in the championship game of the Southern Conference. The Spartans also have a road win over NC State under their belts, so they can win a game in the tournament. Their MO will be to slow the game down, play tough on the defensive end and fire up a ton of threes. The Spartans aren't lights out from downtown, but they love to fire them up. If they (especially leading scorer Francis Alonso) can get hot from three, they can pull off a first-round upset.

Texas Southern likely won't get to the second round, but this team needs to be commended for what it did this season. You look at the 15-19 record and think this team made a Cinderella run just to win the SWAC Tournament title. No, this team went 0-13 in non-conference play due to a scheduling philosophy. The Tigers played all 13 games on the road against teams like Kansas, Gonzaga, Clemson, TCU and Syracuse. They didn't win any of those games, but it funded the athletic department and gave the Tigers the experience of playing top-quality teams. Including the conference tournament, Texas Southern went 15-6 against SWAC foes and made it back to the big dance. It appears the scheduling experiment worked. Be sure to check out the Tigers in the First Four against NC Central.