March Madness 2012 Brackets: Potential Cinderellas You Need to Know About

With the announcement of the official NCAA Tournament bracket so close, it's not too early to start picking out our favorite "Cinderellas."

Here's a look at schools—that are projected 13 seeds or lower by Joe Lunardi—you shouldn't immediately dismiss when filling out your bracket.

South Dakota State Jackrabbits

Um, their mascot is the Jackrabbits. What other reason do you need to pick them?

If you need more evidence for this projected 13 seed, look no further than Nate Wolters, the best player in this country no one knows about.

Wolters, a 6'4" point guard, has been absolutely terrific for the Jackrabbits. He's averaging 21.3 points, six assists and 1.7 steals per game while only turning it over twice per contest.

For someone who handles it as much as Wolters does and for someone who is taller than a natural point guard, those are gaudy stats.

It's not just Wolters, either. The Jackrabbits score 1.15 points per possession (eighth best in the country) and allow just 0.99 points per possession. They are efficient on both sides of the basketball.

Oh yeah, and the Jackrabbits went into Hec Ed, an incredibly hard place to play, and beat the Pac-12 champion Washington Huskies by 19 earlier in the year.

This is an impressive team.

Drexel Dragons

It's still a large unknown as to whether or not Drexel will make the tournament, and if they do they will likely be in a play-in game as a 13 seed.

Still, this is a very good team.

Don't worry about their mediocre strength of schedule or anything about that. The Dragons have won 19 of their last 20 games, which shouldn't be overlooked, no matter who they win against.

When a team enters a tournament with momentum, and when a team simply knows the feeling of always winning games, it is dangerous and has the ability to play with anyone. 

Drexel will "get up into you" and play incredibly hard defense. Opponents score just 0.91 points per possession against the Dragons, which is 13th lowest in the country.

The Dragons also rebound well, pulling down 53.8 percent of available missed shots. 

They'll pull any opponent through the mud. It might not be pretty, but they have the potential to upset anyone.

Detroit Titans

Two words—er, names, Ray McCallum.

The former Top 50 recruit decided to pass up the Kentucky's and Duke's of the world when he chose to play for his dad at Detroit.

It's worked out pretty well, so far, as the sophomore guard has proven to be an electric scorer (15.6 ppg) to go along with good rebounding (4.5 rpg), passing (3.9 apg) and terrific defense (1.5 spg).

The Titans are likely a No. 15 seed, but they came incredibly close to beating Notre Dame, Alabama and Mississippi State this year, so Detroit can hang with the big conference schools.

If they line up with a reeling Duke squad, watch out.