Dangerous Teams with Most Cinderella Potential in 2021 NCAA Men's Tournament

Which mid-major team could shake things up in the 2021 men's NCAA tournament?

Ahead we've highlighted the best squads who reside outside of the Power Five conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC) and four other major conferences (AAC, Atlantic 10, Big East and Mountain West). Perennial contender and likely No. 1 seed Gonzaga was also excluded from the mix.

What was left is a handful of intriguing teams that the average college basketball fan likely doesn't know much about.

Focusing solely on teams projected for a double-digit seed in the latest Bracket Matrix, we're taking a look at seven mid-major teams with the most Cinderella potential this March.

NET Rating: 63

Bracket Matrix Seed: No. 12

Belmont enters play on Wednesday with the second-longest active winning streak in the nation at 21 games, including a perfect 18-0 record in conference play.

The Bruins have won at least 20 games every year since joining the Ohio Valley Conference for the 2012-13 season, earning three NCAA tournament bids along the way.

Center Nick Muszynski and point guard Grayson Murphy were freshman starters for the team that earned a No. 11 seed in the 2019 NCAA tournament and won a play-in game, and now they are experienced leaders for one of the best mid-major teams in the country.

The only blip on their resume is a puzzling 13-point loss to Samford (NET: 254) at home back on Dec. 5. The Bulldogs caught fire, hitting 14 three-pointers and shooting 52.5 percent from the field in that game, building a 52-39 lead at halftime. So it was just a case of a bad team playing its best game.

The Bruins have not played any Quad 1 or Quad 2 games this season, so they're far from battle-tested, but a high-powered offense that is averaging 82.8 points per game makes them dangerous.

NET Rating: 13

Bracket Matrix Seed: No. 13

The Colgate Raiders have emerged as the cream of the Patriot League crop in recent seasons.

After finishing 24-11 and earning a No. 15 seed in the 2019 NCAA tournament, they were well on their way to another berth last year with a 25-9 record before the season was halted.

This season, playing a conference-only schedule, they have suffered just one loss to a respectable Army team in the second game of the year.

With an uptempo style that puts them among the leaders in points per game (85.7, fifth) and field-goal percentage (.498, 16th) and a go-to scorer in senior Jordan Burns who is averaging 17.1 points and 5.5 assists per game, this team can't be taken lightly.

Behind a 32-point game from Burns, Colgate gave No. 2 seed Tennessee everything it could handle in the 2019 tournament, narrowly missing the upset in a 77-70 thriller.

NET Rating: 34

Bracket Matrix Seed: No. 11

Drake has not been to the NCAA tournament since 2008, when it went 28-5 during the regular season to earn a No. 5 seed but was upset in the first round by Western Kentucky.

With a Quad 1 win over Loyola-Chicago and a 4-0 record in Quad 2 games, the Bulldogs are squarely on the bubble if they don't come away with the automatic bid from the Missouri Valley Conference.

Transfer ShanQuan Hemphill leads the way offensively with 14.1 points per game, and they can go as many as 10 deep in a rotation that features seven upperclassmen.

The Bulldogs are a bit undersized, and they don't rebound particularly well, but they are an extremely efficient offensive team. They rank among the top 30 nationally in overall shooting percentage (.500, 14th) and two-point shooting percentage (.558, 29th) and are not overly reliant on the three, which makes them less of a boom-or-bust pick and more of a solid sleeper.

NET Rating: 66

Bracket Matrix Seed: No. 13

Aside from leading Toledo in scoring at 17.3 points per game, senior guard Marreon Jackson is also the Mid-American Conference leader in assists (143) and steals (45).

He gives the Rockets a star-caliber player to lean on as they try to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 1979-80 season.

Toledo has a Quad 1 win over Marshall and a 3-1 record in Quad 2 games, and they played Xavier extremely tough in a three-point loss on the road back in November.

At the same time, they also have three Quad 3 losses, all to teams ranked outside the top 100 in the NET rankings, and two of those have come this month.

With Kent State (NET: 90), Buffalo (NET: 92), Akron (NET: 94) and Ohio (NET: 98) all capable of snatching the automatic bid away in the conference tournament, Toledo still has some work to do before it has a chance to play the role of Cinderella.

NET Rating: 42

Bracket Matrix Seed: No. 13

UC Santa Barbara has a pair of former top-100 recruits on the roster in senior guard JaQuori McLaughlin (4-star, No. 95 in 2016) and sophomore Miles Norris (4-star, No. 74 in 2018).

McLaughlin started his career at Oregon State, and he leads the team with 15.9 points and 5.4 assists per game in his third year with the Gauchos.

Norris played one season at Oregon before spending last year at City College of San Francisco, and the 6'10" forward is averaging 10.2 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 41.1 percent from beyond the arc on 56 attempts.

Looking to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2010-11 season, they have rattled off 12 straight wins after starting the conference slate with a pair of losses to UC-Irvine.

The Gauchos have not played a Quad 1 game, and they are 1-3 in Quad 2 contests, but they play an unselfish style of basketball (17.4 assists per game, 13th in nation), and they have the athletes to match up up with a major conference team.

NET Rating: 74

Bracket Matrix Seed: No. 12

Not many mid-major teams have a player like Charles Bassey.

A 5-star recruit and the No. 6 player overall in the 2018 recruiting class, most expected Bassey to be a one-and-done, but he has stuck around and developed into a force on both ends of the floor.

The 6'11" redshirt sophomore is averaging 18.0 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game, and his 33.2 Player Efficiency Rating leads Conference USA and ranks third in the nation.

The Hilltoppers have a signature win with a 73-71 victory on the road against Alabama in December, and they also played West Virginia tough in a six-point loss. A pair of Quad 3 losses cloud their bubble resume, but they have been the class of Conference USA this season and are the clear favorites for the automatic berth.

If they wind up with a 12-seed as currently projected and Bassey has a favorable matchup, they'll be a popular upset pick to kick off the tournament.

NET Rating: 71

Bracket Matrix Seed: No. 13

With 11 players that average at least 10 minutes per game and no one averaging more than 12.3 points per game, it has been a true team effort that has led Winthrop to a 17-1 record in Big South Conference play this year.

That said, Chandler Vaudrin has been one of the most effective mid-major players in the country this year.

The senior forward leads the team with 12.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game, making him one of just two players in the nation who is averaging 12-6-6 on the year.

The Eagles suffered their first and only loss of the season on Jan. 29 against UNC-Asheville in a Quad 4 game, but they are 4-0 with a pair of blowouts in Quad 2 and Quad 3 games, and it's hard to ignore their one-loss overall record.

They rank among the top 50 in the nation in steals (7.9 per game, 46th) and offensive rebounds (13.1 per game, 16th), giving them the profile of a pesky team that can do the little things necessary to hang around with a superior opponent.

All stats courtesy of Sports Reference, while Quadrant information and NET rankings come courtesy of WarrenNolan.com.