March Madness: McNeese and 3 double-digit seeds who can make Cinderella Final Four run

Let’s start off with one of the most polarizing teams entering the Big Dance. The Grand Canyon Antelopes have the makings of a team that can make a deep run. They finished the year 27-4 and 17-3 in WAC play and won the tournament. They have a signature win over San Diego State and played South Carolina close in non-conference play.

The Lopes can score the ball at a high level. They rank 70th in points scored, 49th in points per game (79.5), 62nd in field goal percentage, and 49th in free throw shooting. The Lopes are also 10th in blocked shots, and they are a scary team to watch.

Tyon Grant-Foster leads the way with 19.4 PPG and both Gabe McGlothan and Ray Harrison are averaging north of 13 PPG. Grand Canyon begins with a tough 5-12 matchup against Saint Mary’s, but teams such as Baylor, Arizona, and Alabama could lose earlier than expected. Pay attention to this Grand Canyon team. Oh, and did we mention Bryce Drew is the head coach?

New Mexico

Entering the Mountain West Conference tournament, the New Mexico Lobos were on the outside of the bubble conversation. But, wins over Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, and San Diego State gave New Mexico an automatic bid as they stole a bid from some other potential at-large programs.

The Lobos were 4-6 in the final 10 games before the MWC Tournament, but four straight wins, including three against teams in the Big Dance, have Richard Pitino’s team full of momentum. New Mexico begins with an 11-6 matchup against Clemson, and the Tigers lost by 21 in the ACC Tournament. Jaelen House, the son of former NBA player Eddie House, caught fire for the Lobos recently and will be a huge piece of the puzzle.

NC State

Conference tournaments are unpredictable. Just check out how the ACC Tournament went down. The NC State Wolfpack entered with 14 losses on the year and 10th in the standings. They entered the conference tournament with four straight losses and losers of seven of the last nine. But, they won games against Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, Virginia, and North Carolina to stun everybody and cut down the nets to head for March Madness.

They won the ACC Tournament for the first time in 37 years and became the first team in conference history to win five games in five days. Head coach Kevin Keatts earned a two-year contract extension and some decent incentives as a result. Much like New Mexico, the Wolfpack enter March Madness as hot as ever, and we have seen teams with momentum make a deep run in this tournament time and time again.

NC State begins with an 11-6 matchup against Texas Tech, who got blown out by Houston in the Big 12 tournament and has been up and down all year long. The biggest hurdle for NC State early on is a potential second-round game against Kentucky.

McNeese State

And this is what everybody has been waiting for. Former LSU coach Will Wade, who began his McNeese career with a two-game suspension, has been a magician in his first year with the Cowboys. McNeese had some questionable losses early in the season, including ones to Western Carolina and Louisiana Tech. However, they finished the year 28-3 and lost just one game since November 22. They defeated Michigan, VCU and UAB in the non-conference slate and lost just one game in Southland Conference play.

The Cowboys are 9th in three-point percentage (38.6), 20th in field goal shooting and 41st in points per game. They also rank 25th in turnovers and 19th in assist-turnover ratio, so there is a lot to like about this team. Shahada Wels, who transferred from TCU, leads the way with 17.2 PPG and has back-to-back 27-point performances entering the Big Dance.

McNeese has a brutal first-round 5-12 matchup with Gonzaga, whose up-and-down season ended with them earning a lower seed than they are used to. But, if McNeese can upset Mark Few’s team (and the Bulldogs know they will be ready), the path is there.

The potential road includes a depleted Kansas team dealing with tons of injuries, Creighton or Tennessee, and 1-sed Purdue, who has an obviously rough history recently in the Big Dance. It’s called March Madness for a reason, and nobody knows how things will shake out.