15 Best Underdog Stories in College Basketball Today

No sport loves its Cinderella stories quite like college basketball. Teams like Duke and Kansas might be powerhouses year in and year out, but when the Final Four arrives, they can just as easily be left behind for the Butlers and VCUs of the world.

Some teams, most notably Gonzaga, have transcended their underdog status and become national powers themselves, but that doesn’t mean there’s a shortage of potential Cinderellas left in the college game.

Mid-major standouts like Wichita State and St. Mary’s will headline this season’s crop of little guys who could win big.

Read on for the 15 most intriguing underdog stories to be found in college basketball in 2011-12.

15. Fairfield

Few teams ran as hot-and-cold last season as Fairfield, who followed up a three-game early-season losing skid by winning 16 of 17.

Although St. Peter’s upset them in the MAAC tournament, the Stags went 15-3 in conference play in the regular season on their way to a 24-7 finish.

Most of the key players return from that squad, including star point guard Derek Needham, a 5’11” junior who averaged 14 points and 4.5 assists to lead the team last season.

With seven-footer Ryan Olander—10.2 points, 6.8 boards and 2.1 blocks per game last year—back to patrol the middle, the Stags should make a strong showing despite their daunting schedule (featuring Providence, Minnesota, Arizona State and UConn, among others).

14. Bethune-Cookman

It’s hard to be more of an underdog than a team that’s never appeared in an NCAA tournament (on which question, more to come later).

Bethune-Cookman has the kind of roster that could not only earn it its first-ever MEAC tournament title, but also put a scare into a higher seed once they arrive.

The Wildcats won the regular-season MEAC crown at 13-3 behind combo guard C.J. Reed, who averaged 19.1 points and 4.8 assists a night.

With Reed, now a senior, joined by three other returning starters, the Wildcats will have the experience and talent to make their first trip to the Big Dance.

13. Kent State

Kent State stumbled in the conference tournament a season ago, but after finishing 25-12, experience won’t be a problem this year. Of the seven Golden Flashes who played significant minutes last year, only SG Rodriquez Sherman is gone.

The returnees include 6'8'' forward Justin Greene, who led the squad with 15.6 points and 8.5 rebounds a game.

With Greene and fellow senior Michael Porrini (4.7 rebounds and a team-high 4.7 assists) leading the way, Kent State could conjure up visions of bracket-busters past when March arrives. 

12. Long Beach State

Even a Big East squad would be daunted by the non-conference schedule Big West power Long Beach State has on tap.

However, even if an early slate that includes Pitt, North Carolina, Kansas and Louisville proves too much for them, Long Beach State will be a dangerous foe come March.

LBSU returns four starters, all seniors, from a team that won 14 of 16 conference games last year.

With the return of talents like 5'10'' star Casper Ware (17 points and 4.4 assists per game) and rebounding machine T.J. Robinson (10.1 boards a game each of the last two seasons), Long Beach State may even have a chance to pull an upset before March Madness begins.

11. Florida Atlantic

Understandably overlooked after being upset in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt tournament, Florida Atlantic was still a team on the rise in 2010-11.

The Owls knocked off Mississippi State and South Florida en route to a 21-10 record and the regular-season Sun Belt championship.

More importantly, FAU loses only one player—leading rebounder Brett Royster—from that squad. With senior PG Alex Tucker running the show, the Owls have a great chance to sneak up on opponents this season.

10. Harvard

As Cornell demonstrated a couple of seasons ago, the Ivy champions aren’t always pushovers in the tournament.

Defending champ Princeton—who nearly upset Kentucky in March—loses star forward Kareem Maddox, but Tommy Amaker's runner-up squad from Harvard returns all five starters on a team that already finished 23-6 in 2010-11.

Junior PG Brandyn Curry is one of the country's best, having averaged 5.9 assists a game to lead the Ivy League—and finish 17th nationally—last season.

With 6'8'' Keith Wright to hold down the middle (and possibly improve on the 14.9 points and 8.4 rebounds he averaged as a junior), the Crimson have a great chance to get past the Tigers and make their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1946.

9. Belmont

Coming off one of the best seasons in school history, the Bruins have reason to think even bigger this year. Four starters return from the team that fell to Wisconsin in the second round in March.

The 30-5 Bruins—who will face Duke and Memphis in the Maui Invitational—are a safe bet to win their second straight Atlantic Sun crown with 6’9” Mick Hedgepeth (10.6 points, 6.0 rebounds a game last season) anchoring the middle.

On the perimeter, leading scorer Ian Clark (12.4 points a game) will once again lead a flotilla of talented guards including defensive specialist Kerron Johnson (2.0 steals a game).

8. Coastal Carolina

Thanks to an upset loss to UNC-Asheville in the Big South tournament final, Coastal Carolina was the best team you never heard about last season.

The Chanticleers finished in the Top 20 nationally in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage (.490, fourth-best in the country).

The roster that posted those impressive numbers returns nearly intact, with forward Chad Gray the only player in last year’s rotation who won’t be back.

6'3'' senior Desmond Holloway (18.5 points, 6.9 rebounds a game) and mates have a real shot at the school’s first-ever win in NCAA tournament play.

7. George Mason

Overshadowed by conference rival VCU in March, the Patriots won’t have an easy task in climbing back to the top of the underdog heap.

George Mason must simultaneously replace its leading scorer (guard Cam Long) and the coach who built the program into a national contender, Jim Larranaga

Even in the increasingly competitive CAA, though, new coach Paul Hewitt’s team will be a serious threat.

An experienced frontcourt led by Ryan Pearson (14.2 points, a team-high 6.7 boards per game) and 6'9'' Mike Morrison (5.5 boards and a team-leading 1.2 blocks a night) will have GMU in the national conversation again come tournament time.

6. Butler

No, Butler isn’t going to sneak up on anybody this season after back-to-back national title game appearances. If the Bulldogs win big once again, though, it could be Brad Stevens’ biggest coup as a coach.

The loss of Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack leaves the team with the least talented roster it’s had in three seasons, trying to meet the stratospheric expectations that come with their recent success.

With a bulls-eye on their backs, young Bulldogs like Khyle Marshall and Andrew Smith will have to step up in a big way for the team to make its third straight tournament appearance, let alone its third straight Final Four.

5. Wichita State

The successes of CAA teams over the last several years have tended to eclipse the previous king of the bracket-buster conferences, the Missouri Valley. No team from the Valley is better equipped to make noise in this season’s tournament than Wichita State.

The Shockers finished second in the MVC in the regular season, missed the NCAAs but took home the NIT title.

Scoring leader J.T. Durley is gone, but the next five scorers return, including senior guard Toure’ Murry (9.4 points, a team-high 3.4 assists per game) and seven-footer Garrett Stutz.

4. St. Mary's

Conference rival Gonzaga may have moved on from Cinderella to national power, but St. Mary’s is still very much in bracket-buster territory as a program.

After sharing the regular-season conference title with the Zags but missing the NCAA tournament, the Gaels have a great chance to score another set of March upsets in 2012.

Star PG Mickey McConnell has graduated, but Australian junior Matthew Dellavedova (13.3 points and 5.2 assists per game last season) looks more than ready to take over the offense.

He’ll be joined by three other returning starters on a veteran roster that looks to be set for a big year.

3. Vanderbilt

Arguably too good a team to belong on this list, Vanderbilt has a chance this season to make up for a history full of near misses. Though they’ve been SEC contenders before, the Commodores have never made a Final Four.

With an experienced team led by SEC scoring champ John Jenkins (19.5 points per game), the perennial also-rans could become the main attraction. Look for a big year from Jenkins and defensive-minded center Festus Ezeli (6.3 boards, 2.6 blocks per game).

2. VCU

No, the Rams probably won’t repeat their stunning Final Four run this season, but the darlings of the 2011 tournament will be back for more this March.

Despite heavy graduation losses highlighted by leading scorer Jamie Skeen, VCU still has the talent to be a serious threat on the national stage.

The key for this season will be 6'6'' senior Bradford Burgess, one of the best shooting guards in the country.

If the Rams can find a complement to Burgess’ 14 points and 6.1 boards (perhaps from sophomore big men Juvonte Reddic and D.J. Haley), they can count on coach Shaka Smart’s high-energy press to keep them in the game against almost any opponent.

1. Northwestern

Northwestern is the rare program that’s never been anything but an underdog (undercat?) in its long history.

The Wildcats are the only major-conference team never to play in the NCAA tournament, and the last two seasons have been the only two 20-win campaigns in school history.

If Northwestern hopes to build on that success to earn its first trip to the Big Dance, this will be the year to do it.

The return of high-scoring senior John Shurna (a combined 17.4 points a game over the last two seasons) and 6'11'' Luka Mirkovic in the middle will give the Wildcats a fighting chance in Big Ten play and a realistic shot at ending seventy years of futility.