Four March Madness rosters ranked 10th or worse in their respective section reached the “Sweet 16” and can thus be considered the Cinderella teams of this edition of the tournament
• Read also: March Madness: Cayo shines in defeat
The Iowa State Cyclones became the third to accomplish the feat on Sunday in the second day of second-round games, beating the Wisconsin Badgers 54-49. The Miami Hurricanes became the fourth, later that night when they defeated the Auburn Tigers 79-61.
While it’s not unusual to see such low-ranked teams make it to this stage of the competition, it’s not unusual either. According to the official NCAA website, an average of 2.3 teams with a rank of 10th or worse reach the “Sweet 16” annually.
To get there, the Cyclones (11th), who had beaten the Louisiana State Tigers in the first round, were able to count on the inspired performance of Gabe Kalscheur against the Badgers. The latter made 10 of his 19 shots, as well as one of his three free throws, for 22 points. He added four rebounds and one assist to his record.
They also countered as best they could Johnny Davis, considered a high-quality prospect in the next NBA draft. The latter made just four of his 16 shot attempts and didn’t make a single of his seven shots from downtown, but he converted nine of his 11 free throws, for 17 points, in addition to add nine bounces.
For their part, the Hurricanes (10th) benefited from the inspired performances of Isaiah Wong and Kameron McGusty, who scored 21 and 20 points respectively. The Hurricanes led this duel from start to finish, never trailing.
The Cyclones and Hurricanes thus join the Michigan Wolverines (11th) and Saint Peter’s Peacocks (15th) as the 10th or lower ranked teams to reach the “Sweet 16”.
Few surprises
The other matches presented on Sunday left room for very few surprises. Besides the Cyclones victory, Villanova and Duke, ranked 2nd, respectively in the South and West sections, advanced to the next round. The former defeated Ohio State 71-61, while the latter eliminated Michigan State with an 85-76 win.
No. 3 Texas Tech had to roll up their sleeves against Notre Dame, but they eventually reached the “Sweet 16” with a 59-53 win.
For its part, Houston (5th) created a very slight surprise by defeating the team just better ranked than it, Illinois (4th), with a clear victory of 68 to 53.