March Madness is officially here. After the conference tournament appetizers, the brackets for the men's and women's NCAA tournaments were released on Sunday. Our experts have already published their predictions for both brackets and will have plenty more indispensable information before the first round tips off on Thursday, but you can never have too much March Madness coverage, right? Here are six teams (three men's, three women's) that caught my eye as potential Cinderella picks.
High Point men (No. 12 seed, facing No. 5 Wisconsin at 1:50 p.m. ET on Thursday)
High Point is back in the tournament for the second year in a row after losing to Purdue in the first round as a 13-seed last year. Nearly every contributor from that team graduated, but the Panthers replaced them with a bunch of experienced transfers. They lost their head coach, too, as Alan Huss took an assistant job at Creighton. (Huss, a former Creighton player and longtime Bluejays assistant, was named coach-in-waiting to take over whenever Greg McDermott retires.) Flynn Clayman, his top assistant, replaced him.
High Point has picked up right where it left off under Clayman, continuing to boast one of the best offenses in the nation. The Panthers ranked third nationally in offensive efficiency this season, the same as last year. What's different is that High Point also has a top-notch defense. After ranking 111th in defensive rating last season, it was 19th this year. The Panthers are tied with Iowa State for the fourth-best defensive turnover percentage in the nation. Wisconsin has not coughed up the ball much this season (it's actually tied with High Point for the fifth-lowest offensive turnover percentage) but High Point could force the Badgers to make some costly mistakes.
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