Men's NCAA Tournament 2025: The Biggest Potential Cinderella Teams in the Field of 68

The 2025 men's NCAA tournament is officially underway with the First Four games tipping off Tuesday night, and the first full day of action will kick off on Thursday. Before it does, let's identify a few Cinderella teams that could be the difference between winning and losing your bracket pool.

(Click here to play the NCAA March Madness Men's Bracket Challenge.)

Here, we've highlighted five double-digit seeds—one from each of the four regions, along with a bonus team—that have the best chances to put together Cinderella runs based on their regular-season performance, momentum and the path ahead.

Which team will don the glass slipper this year? Let's dive in.

Record: 25-9, 16-4 in MWC, NET: 47

Quad Breakdown: 3-5 vs. Q1, 7-2 vs. Q2, 4-2 vs. Q3, 11-0 vs. Q4

Opening Matchup: No. 5 Memphis

The Mountain West has made a strong case to be classified as a major conference in college basketball. It sent four or more teams to the NCAA tournament in each of the past four seasons.

New Mexico, Utah State and San Diego State each earned at-large bids this year, while Colorado State punched its ticket by winning the conference tournament. The Rams' late-season momentum stretches back to mid-February, as they enter March Madness riding a 10-game winning streak.

Only three of their losses came to teams that did not make the NCAA tournament field, and all three were during non-conference play, before the calendar flipped to 2025.

While nothing truly jumps off the page from a metrics standpoint, the Rams do have a bona-fide star in Nique Clifford (19.0 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 4.4 APG), who could be a first-round pick in the 2025 NBA draft.

Positive momentum and an NBA-caliber talent is reason enough to believe the Rams could make some noise in March.

Record: 30-3, 17-3 in MVC, NET: 56

Quad Breakdown: 2-0 vs. Q1, 4-0 vs. Q2, 11-3 vs. Q3, 11-0 vs. Q4

Opening Matchup: No. 7 Kansas

The 2024-25 Drake Bulldogs share some striking similarities with the 2017-18 Loyola-Chicago team that reached the Final Four as a No. 11 seed out of the same Missouri Valley conference.

The Bulldogs play at a snail-like pace, ranking last in the nation among 364 teams in KenPom's adjusted tempo metric. They limited opponents to 46.6 shot attempts per game, which was the fewest in the country.

They proved more than capable of controlling the tempo against major conference opponents, limiting Kansas State and Vanderbilt to 70 points each in Quad 1 non-conference victories.

Offensively, Northwest Missouri State transfer Bennett Stirtz has been a revelation in his first season at the D-I level, averaging 19.1 points, 5.7 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals on his way to Missouri Valley Player of the Year honors.

The Bulldogs were a popular Cinderella pick last year and narrowly lost a 66-61 game to No. 7 seed Washington State. This is a better all-around team and one of the nation's elite mid-major squads this year.

Record: 29-5, 14-2 in Big South, NET: 82

Quad Breakdown: 0-0 vs. Q1, 1-0 vs. Q2, 8-3 vs. Q3, 18-2 vs. Q4

Opening Matchup: No. 4 Purdue

The High Point Panthers rank No. 25 in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency metric, ahead of a long list of other teams in this year's NCAA tournament field, including Michigan State, St. John's, Maryland and Texas A&M from the top four seeding lines.

They average 82.2 points per game and shoot nearly 50 percent from the floor as a team. The Panthers spread it around nicely on offense with Kezza Giffa (14.8 PPG), Kimani Hamilton (13.4 PPG) and D'maurian Williams (13.5 PPG) sharing the scoring load and former Kansas recruit Bobby Pettiford (8.9 PPG) providing a spark off the bench.

There are some red flags, most notably a defense that checks in No. 227 on KenPom's defensive efficiency metric, but that terrific offense is reason enough to believe they could win a game or two and bust some brackets along the way.

Despite last year's deep NCAA tournament run, would anyone be surprised to see Purdue on the wrong end of an early upset given its recent history?

Record: 28-6, 13-5 CUSA, NET: 60

Quad Breakdown: 0-0 vs. Q1, 3-2 vs. Q2, 14-4 vs. Q3, 8-0 vs. Q4

Opening Matchup: No. 5 Oregon

Never sleep on a team that can make it rain from beyond the arc.

The Liberty Flames rank in the top 15 nationally in both made threes per game (10.6, 13th) and three-point percentage (39.0%, 6th), and they were 16-1 this season in games where they hit more than 10 three-pointers.

Kaden Metheny (13.5 PPG, 39.0 3PT%, 99 threes), Taelon Peter (13.9 PPG, 46.0 3PT%, 75 threes) and Colin Porter (9.3 PPG, 44.3 3PT%, 54 threes) give the Flames three knockdown shooters in the rotation, while 6'7" forward Zach Cleveland (11.0 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 5.1 APG) leads the team in rebounds and assists.

The Flames played only five games above the Quad 3 level, but their non-conference resume includes wins over Kansas State and Southland champ McNeese State, and they enter March Madness with an 11-1 record in their last 12 games.

A few years ago, Liberty upset No. 5 seed Mississippi State in the first round of the 2019 NCAA tournament, shooting 12-of-27 from beyond the arc in an 80-76 victory. This team could follow a similar blueprint to victory.

Record: 30-4, 18-2 in Big West, NET: 35

Quad Breakdown: 2-1 vs. Q1, 2-1 vs. Q2, 9-2 vs. Q3, 15-0 vs. Q4

Opening Matchup: No. 5 Michigan

Only Gonzaga (8), Saint Mary's (21) and VCU (31) had a higher NET ranking this year among mid-major teams than the UC San Diego Tritons. That includes the four Mountain West teams in this year's NCAA tournament field.

The Tritons are tournament-eligible for the first time this year following the required four-year reclassification ineligibility period after a school makes the jump from D-II to D-1 competition, and they have arrived on the scene with a bang.

They finished No. 36 in KenPom's final pre-tournament rankings, ahead of 11 teams that are seeded higher than them in the bracket, and they rank inside the top 60 in both adjusted offensive (No. 57) and defensive (No. 30) efficiency. They also do a fantastic job protecting the basketball, averaging just 8.7 turnovers per game.

The Tritons beat Utah State in non-conference play and went 2-1 against a very good UC Irvine team that was on the bubble for an at-large bid. So while they are lacking in exposure to major conference foes, they made their case against the quality opponents they did face.

Big West Player of the Year Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (19.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 3.7 APG) and sharpshooter Tyler McGhie (16.4 PPG, 114 made threes) could lead this team to the Sweet 16 and beyond.