NCAAB
Jordan Ramsay
March 18, 2024

2024 March Madness Odds: Sleeper picks who could make a Cinderella run in the NCAA Tournament

One of the best parts of March Madness is watching the inevitable Cinderella team that emerges to go on a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Double digit seeds have made it a habit to go far in the NCAA Tournament, including last year when Princeton reached the Sweet 16 as a 15-seed.

This year’s tournament promises to be no different in terms of potential upsets as the parity in college basketball has made it harder than ever to fill out your March Madness bracket.

So, who will be the NCAA Tournament Cinderella team in 2024? Let’s take a look at some candidates.

Don’t forget to check out our complete list of NCAAB game odds and NCAAB futures.

Grand Canyon Antelopes (12)

Grand Canyon made the jump to Division I basketball ahead of the 2013-14 season. Since then, they’ve made two appearances in the NCAA Tournament, but they’re still searching for their first tournament win. The Lopes lost to Iowa as a 15-seed in 2021 and they fell against Gonzaga as a 14-seed last year.

Grand Canyon finished first in the WAC with a 17-3 record and they set a new school record after going 29-4 overall this season. With NCAA Tournament appearances in two of the last three years, head coach Bryce Drew has completely revamped the program since taking over in 2020.

The Lopes boast a deep eight-man rotation that can expand as high as 10 when healthy, with three players averaging 13 or more points per game. Tyon Grant-Foster leads the way with 19.8 ppg, Ray Harrison is second at 13.7 ppg and Gabe McGlothan is third with 13.0 ppg. This is a team that always seems to get to the free throw line and they’re solid shooters from beyond the arc. Grand Canyon also have a balanced defence that rebounds strong, generates steals and is solid in transition.

James Madison Dukes (12)

James Madison punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over a decade after blowing out Arkansas State by 20 points in the championship game of the Sun Belt tournament on March 11. This will be just the sixth tournament appearance for the Dukes at the top level, but keep in mind they have won games in four of the previous five tournaments.

James Madison has gone on dominant stretches this season. The Dukes finished the season 31-3, a new Sun Belt single-season record, and they’re riding a 13-game win streak into the NCAA Tournament. Offence has been a major key to James Madison’s success as they are a top-10 scoring team in the nation, averaging 84.4 points per game.

Matching up against the right opponent is obviously huge and the Dukes drew a very favourable first round matchup against a Wisconsin team that struggles to defend and went just 4-4 ATS against ranked teams. James Madison is a deep and experienced team that is efficient on both sides of the floor. Look for the veteran duo of Terrance Edwards and T.J. Bickerstaff to potentially lead James Madison on a long run at the Big Dance.

McNeese State Cowboys (12)

McNeese State dominated the Southland Conference with a 17-1 record this season, finishing 30-3 overall. The Cowboys are entering the tournament on an 11-game win streak. They’ve only made two previous trips to the NCAA Tournament, losing in the first round in both years. As a 16-seed, they fell to top-seeded Illinois in 1989 and they haven’t made a trip back to the Big Dance since they were a 14-seed in 2002.

Although he was suspended for the first 10 games of the season because of recruiting violations, Will Wade has completely revamped a Cowboys program that suffered 11 straight losing seasons before the former LSU head coach took over this year. The team managed to snag leading scorer Shahada Wells (TCU) and DJ Richards (UTSA) out of the transfer portal while filling out the roster with other solid transfer or junior college additions.

Nationally, McNeese ranks 10th in field goal percentage (49.3 per cent) and tied for second in average steals per game (10.4). The team boasts four different players who are hovering right around 40-plus per cent shooting from three-point range on three-plus attempts per game in Wells (39.6 per cent), Richards (44.1), Javohn Garcia (45.7) and Antavion Collum (40.2).

Samford Bulldogs (13)

It looked bad for Samford early this season after they dropped their first two games at Purdue and at VCU, but since then they ripped off 22 wins over their next 23 games. They finished with 30 wins en route to winning the SoCon championship. The Bulldogs’ only previous national championship appearances were in 1999 and 2000, losing in the first round both years.

Samford is a bit of a risk because they are a terrible defensive team, but their electric offence is hard to overlook. They’re the fifth highest scoring team in the nation, averaging 86.0 ppg, and their 39.3 shooting percentage from beyond three is top-10. The Bulldogs have four players averaging double digit points per game, while Achor Achor, Jaden Campbell and Jermaine Marshall are all shooting above 50 per cent from the field.

The Bulldogs are facing the injury-plagued Kansas Jayhawks in the first-round. Kansas has struggled all year, culminating in a 72-52 blowout loss against Cincinnati int he first round of the Big 12 tournament. The Jayhawks are one of the weakest 4-seeds in NCAA Tournament history, while there’s an argument to be made that Samford is currently the scariest team that isn’t a traditional powerhouse or from a Power-6 conference.