NCAA Bracket 2012: Cinderella Teams That Will Get Bounced in Sweet 16

Cinderella teams are what make the NCAA tournament one of the year's best sporting events. But they also bust a lot of brackets, so there's certainly some give and take. That said, a handful of lower seeds advanced to the Sweet 16 and have the Final Four on their mind.

Let's examine some of dark horse contenders that will watch their tournament runs come to an end earlier than they hoped, but later than most people expected. For a complete look at the remaining bracket, visit the official NCAA web site.

Xavier

Xavier received a gift when Lehigh stunned Duke, as the Musketeers took full advantage by using a strong second half to eliminate the Mountain Hawks. Senior center Kenny Frease has stepped up in a big way so far, scoring 35 points in the first two games.

The offense still goes through Tu Holloway, though. He's been on fire throughout March and will need to maintain that high level of play if the Musketeers are going to keep their tournament dreams alive. An off game from him would surely lead to elimination.

Holloway and Co. face off with an athletic Baylor team that has already been given a scare by South Dakota State. The Bears seemed to use that as a wake-up call and have too much athleticism throughout the lineup for the Musketeers to contend with.

NC State

After spending the final few weeks of the regular season on the tournament bubble, NC State received an at-large bid and has made the most of it. The Wolfpack have upset San Diego State and Georgetown en route to the Sweet 16.

They have been able to advance this far because of terrific balance. Five different players have scored at least 10 points in one of the team's two games, which makes them tough to defend. Unfortunately for the Wolfpack, Kansas can match their depth.

The Jayhawks used a couple strong defensive stands to fend off Purdue after trailing for most of the game. Given a second chance to succeed, Kansas will knock off NC State as it continues to put recent tourney failures in the past.

Ohio

There might not be a player in the tournament on a bigger hot streak than D.J. Cooper. After carrying the Bobcats through the MAC tournament on his back, he's continued that trend during the Big Dance with two monster performances.

While his strong showings were enough with some help from his teammates to get past Michigan and South Florida, North Carolina is a completely different story. The Tar Heels are an elite team, even with Kendall Marshall's status unclear.

The Bobcats don't have enough talent from top to bottom to keep up with UNC. Cooper will be able to keep them afloat for a while, but eventually the Tar Heels will wear them down and advance to the Elite Eight. It's still not a bad run for a team that finished third in its own conference.