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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FAYETTEVILLE, AR – DECEMBER 28: Terry Taylor #21 of the Austin Peay Governors (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

Potential NCAA Basketball 2021 Cinderella – Austin Peay Governors

Last tournament appearance 2015-16

As Belmont and Murray State shared the Ohio Valley Conference Regular Season Championship, Austin Peay was disregarded, then they lost to Murray State in the conference tournament as Belmont went on to win it, and Austin Peay was disregarded even more. Lost in that was the fact the Governors ended the season just one game behind and actually split the season series with both Belmont and Murray State.

A rather impressive feat when you take into consideration how they were disregarded at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season when they lost five seniors who accounted for almost 50 points per game. Yet the Governors improved upon their win total by one victory in 2019-20.

For the 2020-21 season, they will be without Evan Hinson who started six games and Reginald Gee who played in six games. Expect the Governors’ KenPom ranking to be higher than 172 and their Net Ranking to be higher than 163 as it was this year. Their poor rankings have to do with their poor non-conference showings as they lost to West Virginia by 31 and to Vanderbilt by18.

As the seven contributors return, they will have to lower the number of turnovers, but their percent from beyond the arc should increase from 35.3 percent, as Hinson connected on less than one per game of the two and a half he attempted. Austin Peay is considered a surprise pick now, but wait until February.

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