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NCAA Basketball: 5 early potential Cinderellas for 2021 NCAA Tournament

By Trevor Sinodhinos

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)
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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LEXINGTON, VA – JANUARY 10: The Furman Paladins huddle (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) *** Local Caption
LEXINGTON, VA – JANUARY 10: The Furman Paladins huddle (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) *** Local Caption /

Potential NCAA Basketball 2021 Cinderella – Furman Paladins

Last tournament appearance 1979-80

If anything, Furman Basketball ended the 2019-20 season leaving the impression that they will be worse next year. After finishing the season just one victory behind East Tennessee State for the Southern Conference Regular Season title, the Paladins were upset by Wofford in their first conference game. That loss put the brakes on the anticipated rubber match between East Tennessee State and Furman for the tournament championship.

It seemed to be par for the course for the Paladins as they had split with Wofford and East Tennessee State in the regular season and showed they had trouble winning big games. As was the case in their three-point overtime loss at Auburn and their eight-point loss to Arkansas, the upside is that teams need to learn to win, before they can actually win. The 2019-20 season afforded the Paladins with valuable losses to learn from.

Although they will be losing Jordan Lyons and his 16.4 points per game, the Paladins have already learned how to win when losing their top scorer. From the 2018-19 season, they improved their conference record by two victories after losing their leading scorer and rebounder in Matt Rafferty. The 2020-21 season will see three double-digit scorers return, as well as their top six-minute getters after Lyons. The returning six top minute guys are either juniors or seniors that include their top rebounder and assist man.

Next. Early mid-major power rankings for 2020-21. dark

The Paladins will be aided when their turnovers per game drop below 11 per game, as Lyons averaged 2.2 per game which was more than the 2020-21 backcourt averaged combined last season. As well, their twenty-second ranked 9.3 three-pointers will improve without Lyons averaging 2.4 makes for 7.2 attempts. Every indication is that Furman will be dangerous to bet against as they will improve upon their 81 position on KenPom.

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