The lack of Cinderellas in this year’s NCAA Tournament is noticeable, particularly given the total chaos of last March in a tournament that saw every No. 1 seed eliminated ahead of the Final Four. Just two teams remain with a No. 6 seed or below, and both hail from the ACC. But who earns the title of America’s team, the true underdog, the Cinderella of this year’s Sweet 16? Is it No. 6 Clemson, a team that wasn’t expected to make it past the first round, or No. 11 NC State, who find themselves on a historic run after an ACC championship win? We break it down.
2024 March Madness: Cinderella teams
Clemson
The Tigers would be quite the interesting Cinderella candidate as a No. 6 seed, but they headed into the first round as a 2.5-point underdog against their No. 11 opponent. They proceeded to defeat New Mexico by 21 points and then upset No. 3 Baylor in the second round.
Few expected Clemson to make it this far — they finished out their ACC season by losing two of their last three regular season games and then falling by 20 points to Boston College in the first round of the conference tournament. Things have turned around for this inconsistent Tigers team — can they sustain this success through the second weekend? This is a team that beat both Alabama and North Carolina and lost to Notre Dame and Georgia Tech.
N.C. State
The Wolfpack are the only double-digit seed headed to the Sweet 16, technically making them the sole qualifier as a Cinderella. However, they also won the ACC, and a Power 5 conference champion is a hard sell as a Cinderella. The Wolfpack were certainly the Cinderella of the ACC tournament, winning five games in a row to fight their way into the NCAA Tournament after going under .500 in their conference this season.
They just keep on winning, and have the charm of a Cinderella with big man DJ Burns winning over the hearts of March Madness viewers everywhere (except perhaps in Lubbock and Oakland County).
Is neither team a Cinderella?
Is there really Madness without a Cinderella? We could probably consider NC State our Cinderella this year, but generally, Cinderellas are previously-unheard-of schools that hail from much smaller conferences (a la St. Peter’s and Oral Roberts).
Maybe neither team fits the more traditional definition of a Cinderella, but the magic of March is missing without a team that the country rallies behind to fight their way to the final weekend. That team is undoubtedly NC State, and they face No. 2 Marquette on Friday. Can they keep the momentum going into the Elite Eight?