NCAA Tournament 2012: Evaluating The Double-Digit Seeds

Feb 25, 2012; Richmond, VA, USA; Virginia Commonwealth Rams head coach Shaka Smart against the George Mason Patriots at Stuart C. Siegel Center. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-US PRESSWIRE

People all over the world have already started filling out their 2012 NCAA tournament bracket, and in the process, are trying to find those VCU-like Cinderella teams that could make a deep run.

Let’s take a look at all of the double digit seeds in the tournament and evaluate their chances to advance.

The criteria is based on a team’s chance to advance given their overall talent and draw.

Let us begin!

16-Seeds

Western Kentucky/Miss Valley State, Lamar/Vermont, UNC Asheville, LIU Brooklyn

Obviously, don’t expect any of these guys to advance. LIU Brooklyn might be the best of the bunch, but they aren’t gonna beat Michigan State.

15-Seeds

Norfolk State, Loyola MD, Lehigh, Detroit

One 15-seed usually always causes trouble for a little while. I’d say Detroit has the best chance of doing that with the very talented Ray McCallum. Don’t sleep on Lehigh playing with Duke for a half either.

14-Seeds

BYU/Iona, South Dakota State, St. Bonaventure, Belmont

An interesting group here. Iona should beat BYU and has the talent to upset Marquette. South Dakota State is underrated, but I don’t like the matchup with Baylor. The Bonnies won the A-10 tourney title, but again, I don’t like a matchup with a red hot Florida State team.

And then there’s Belmont. Georgetown is the best three-seed they could have drawn and could without question pull the upset. Then there’s another favorable draw in the next round with either San Diego State or NC State. Look out for Rick Byrd‘s team as they have Cinderella written all over them.

13-Seeds

New Mexico State, Davidson, Montana, Ohio

Really, really interesting group. They won’t all pull an upset, but all have decent enough matchups. Honestly, it’s a toss-up, so go with your gut here. I’m leaning more towards Montana over Wisconsin right now.

12-Seeds

VCU, Long Beach State, Harvard, Cal/USF

The latter three teams are in difficult spots. But while VCU has Wichita State and Long Beach State has New Mexico, should both teams win their first round games, they get decent draws after that.

They may not both get there, but either VCU or Long Beach State will be in the Sweet 16.

11-Seeds

Colorado, Colorado State, Texas, NC State

This feels like a bit of a down year for the 11 seeds, to be honest. NC State is the only one I’m confident in to make a run past the first weekend. Not extremely impressed with the draws for the other three.

10-Seeds

Xavier, Virginia, West Virginia, Purdue

Which 10-seed could win and potentially knock off a two? I think Virginia is the best bet simply because of style of play. Should they get past Florida, they could slow Missouri down and make things interesting in that game.

Who is your Cinderella pick for this year’s NCAA tournament?

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