March Madness 2012: Cinderella Teams Guaranteed to Excite at Big Dance

Cinderella is readying for the ball, and we have the teams that will be ready for a long and steady dance at the NCAA Tournament. 

Here is a breakdown of the best parts of March Madness—the underdogs. These are the teams that make a huge splash with upsets that we talk about for weeks after the tournament has ended. 

The reason the first weekend is so exciting is because we know that some of the less lauded teams will come out of nowhere for a tremendous bracket-busting performance. 

First, a caveat on the teams we have listed here. Obviously, Selection Sunday is still a couple days off, so we have no idea who will truly be in the field. 

We have erred in not taking deep sleepers, rather teams on the fringe that should be safe from the chopping block, and also have the qualities of a low-seed that will have us captivated. 

VCU:

The Shaka Smart team is back to kill all those brackets that label them as posers. Smart is a genius young coach and it may be his last stand with VCU. 

ESPN issues the job vacancy at Illinois a perfect fit for the Rams' head coach. That should make this tourney a special one. 

VCU beat Drexel to get in, which signals they are heating up at the right time. 

Cincinnati:

It's tough calling the Bearcats Cinderellas because hours before their tip off with Syracuse in the Big East tournament, they are getting love as an eight seed by Joe Lunardi. 

Even with a loss, you have to think they settle in that area. This is my surprise team that will make a Sweet 16 appearance. 

Yancy Gates is playing great ball right now, and the Bearcats' backcourt can get hot from beyond the arc. They have all the intangibles to get it going for a few games, making them very dangerous. 

UConn:

They lost to Syracuse, but they looked good doing it. 

Jeremy Lamb may be the name we all remember after this tournament is done. He looked like a true leader on the floor, and he is willing to do the little things to get a gritty win. 

They fell just short of an upset, but their effort against the Orange has me giddy to see what they have in store for us deeper in March. 

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