NCAA Basketball: 5 early potential Cinderellas for 2021 NCAA Tournament

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 8: Led by committee chairman Mark Hollis (3rd from L), the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

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RENO, NV – NOVEMBER 16: Markquis Nowell #1 of the Arkansas Little Rock Trojans (Photo by Jonathan Devich/Getty Images) /

Potential NCAA Basketball 2021 Cinderella – Little Rock Trojans

Last tournament appearance 2015-16 season

Little Rock Basketball will have two seniors, two juniors, and a sophomore returning from their 2019-20 team who finished 15-5 and in first place in the Sun Belt. The Sun Belt Conference has several of the top mid-major 2020 recruitment classes, but those freshmen will contend nationally in two or three years.

The two seniors who will no longer be the recipient of ‘Maroon Mob’ cheers, combined for a total of 15 minutes played last season. This core group is primed to contend on the big stage together as their trajectory to the top of the Sun Belt Conference Has been distinct. The 2018-19 season saw the Trojans finish with a record of 5-13 in the conference, which landed them in 11th place. That ten-game improvement equated to a worst to first move in the standings and set them up for raised expectations in 2020-21.

Their projected seeding in the 2019-20 tournament reflected the fact that they were unable to win some key match-ups outside the conference. With a 10 point loss at Memphis and a 16-point loss at NC State. These performances led Harkins to predict them as a 15 seed playing San Diego State in the first round.

With all those upperclassmen the return of 6’8 Kris Bankston, a near double-digit scorer during his last full year and Marko Lukic who averaged seven points in 15 games will only add to the depth and allow Coach Darrell Walker to go ten men deep.

KenPom had the Trojans at 129 at season’s end, but if they are able to raise their 71.1 free throw percentage to go with the seventh most free-throws attempted, you can expect any close game to go their way.

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