FGCU basketball (Photo : Facebook)
The NCAA tournament is on, and it's time to predict the "Cinderella teams" that could carve out improbable wins.
The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles are no strangers to the Cinderella tag as they were the 15th seed who went all the way to the Sweet Sixteen in 2013 taking down no.2 seed Georgetown in the process.
Now that they won the 16th seed against no.1 North Carolina, some pundits believe they have the best chance to do what 124 previous 16 seeds have failed to do: take down a no.1 seed in the first round.
One of the growing number of Cinderella hopefuls is Seth Davis of CBS who mentioned in a video (h/t Fansided) that "if there was ever a team that could, he thinks it would be Florida Gulf Coast. While Florida Gulf Coast is a talented small school, they are going up against a North Carolina team that cruised to the ACC Championship against fellow No. 1 seed Virginia."
While it's not a straight, bold prediction, the sentiment was echoed by FTW writer Charles Curtis who warned: "Dunk City is back in the Big Dance. And the top-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels should be very nervous."
Curtis noted FGCU's First Four matchup with Fairleight Dickinson which started with an alley-oop and ended in a 96-65 romp.
He reiterated his warning after posting statistics about the odds of a 16th seed beating a one seed (pegged at .5 percent to 5 percent) and that the Eagles have the second highest win percentage in tournament history behind the Duke Blue Devils (although the sample size discrepancy is wide).
"So go ahead and laugh (especially those of you in Chapel Hill). But know that Florida Gulf Coast might be our greatest hope for the upset that's been decades in the making. How does Cinderella City sound?"
The Tar Heels have not been getting the respect from sportswriters, which is rather unfair. They convincingly beat Virginia, another one-seed in the ACC Championship. Yet, there are predictions, like this one from Myron Medcalf of ESPN that they won't last the first weekend.
"North Carolina is a strong group and favored by many to cut down the nets in Houston," Medcalf said. "But Tar Heels fans should keep the tissues close because Providence will defeat USC in the opening round and upset North Carolina in the second round."
