March Madness: Ranking the 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament field

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 10: The Villanova Wildcats celebrate with the championship trophy after their overtime win over the Providence Friars during the championship game of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 10, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

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LAS VEGAS, NV – NOVEMBER 20: Head coach Ron Hunter of the Georgia State Panthers talks to his team during a timeout during their game against the Eastern Washington Eagles during day one of the Main Event basketball tournament at T-Mobile Arena on November 20, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images) /

56. Georgia State Panthers

No. 15 seed in the South Region, 21-12 (11-7 Sun Belt)

This is not the same Georgia State team that upset Baylor a few years back. There is no potential first-round talent like R.J. Hunter was that year. Yet, they are still a talented team that crawled their way back to the Big Dance with tight matchups in their conference tournament. Tookie Brown (18.9 points, 4.3 assists) is their best player and a nominee for the best name in the Big Dance. They rank just outside of the top-100 in the KenPom overall rankings.

55. Marshall Thundering Herd

No. 13 seed in the East Region, 24-10 (12-6 CUSA)

What a weird year in the CUSA. It seemed a guarantee that either Middle Tennessee or Western Kentucky would be dancing in March. Yet, out of the smoke came Marshall as the conference tournament victor. It is hard to argue against this team being red-hot right now. They are coming off of some great in-conference wins and boast two high-end scorers. A first-round meeting with Wichita State is a difficult draw but Jon Elmore (22.8 points) and C.J. Burks (20.5 points) will do everything they can to outscore their opponents.

54. Montana Grizzlies

No. 14 seed in the West Region, 26-7 (16-2 Big Sky)

The Grizzlies absolutely dominated the Big Sky. From start to finish, the team was one of the heavy favorites to take the conference title. Travis DeCuire has his team playing great basketball and they dominated Eastern Washington, a team that beat them in the regular season, in the conference tournament final. Three double-digit scoring juniors lead this team in Ahmaad Rorie (17.2 points), Michael Oguine (15.8 points), and Jamar Akoh (13.1 points).

53. UNC-Greensboro Spartans

No. 13 seed in the West Region, 27-7 (15-3 Southern)

UNCG ranks sixth in the nation in points allowed per game (62.4) but do not have the most potent offense. I thought that the entire SoCon was underrated throughout the year and the Spartans were both the regular-season and tournament champions. It is hard to argue against them as deserving consideration as an upset team. If they can slow Gonzaga down and hit their 3-point shots, UNC-Greensboro could reach the second round.

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