FanHouse TheyDoNotComeFromNowhere

Every year Cinderella captures our hearts in the NCAA Tournament. They begin fittings for their glass slippers in November, though. They Do Not Come From Nowhere introduces you to the teams that will be busting brackets nationwide come March.

There's no doubt that the hot conference in college hoops right now is the Atlantic Sun. Gardner-Webb beat Kentucky in Lexington and Mercer took out O.J. Mayo in his first college game in the last two weeks. And then last year's entrant in the Big Dance, the Belmont Bruins, won at Cincinnati to give the conference its greatest exposure ever. It turns out that the Bruins were just warming up.

Belmont went into Tuscaloosa last night and beat the Crimson Tide 85-83 for their second win over a major conference team in 10 days. Justin Hare knocked down a jumper from the foul line with seconds to play, the 13th time he's beaten the final horn for a win or overtime in his Belmont career. Hare is the best player in the conference and the big reason why they are favorites to make a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

How much of a chance do they have to make noise when they get there?

Every year Cinderella captures our hearts in the NCAA Tournament. They begin fittings for their glass slippers in November, though. They Do Not Come From Nowhere introduces you to the teams that will be busting brackets nationwide come March.

Future coaches and players for the Stanford basketball program will want to pay close attention to that headline. The most embarrassing loss in school history occurred in 1989 when the third-seeded, Todd Lichti-led Cardinal were upset by Siena in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Yesterday's 79-67 rout in Albany may not be as painful but you can imagine it will be a long time before Stanford agrees to head to New York's capital for another date with the Saints.

For Siena, yesterday was their first win against a ranked team since that momentous 1989 victory. They've kept a pretty low profile since then. Their biggest contribution to college hoops has been Paul Hewitt, who parleyed three good years into the Georgia Tech job. They will have at least one more chance to add to their hit list on January 3 when they travel to Memphis to take on John Calipari's highly regarded squad. Another win seems unlikely in that spot but the Saints could get their first NCAA bid since 2002 if they can handle business in the MAAC the way they handled Stanford.

Every year Cinderella captures our hearts in the NCAA Tournament. They begin fittings for their glass slippers in November, though. They Do Not Come From Nowhere introduces you to the teams that will be busting brackets nationwide come March.

If you were building an unsung team that has the makings of a March surprise it would have experience on the court and on the sideline, play good defense and have a superstar capable of taking over a game on the offensive end. In other words, it would look like Davidson and that's why they almost knocked off North Carolina in Charlotte last night.

Davidson returns every scholarship player from last year's 29-win team, a team that was considered too young to challenge for the Southern Conference title. Jason Richards is a heady point guard whose 7-plus assists a game were attained with a sparkling 2.35 assist/turnover ratio. Forwards Thomas Sander and Boris Meno combined for nearly 25 points and 15 rebounds a game and with Andrew Lovedale created a frontline that helped the Wildcats outrebound their opponents by a wide margin.

All of their work set up Stephen Curry.

Every year Cinderella captures our hearts in the NCAA Tournament. They begin fittings for their glass slippers in November, though. They Do Not Come From Nowhere introduces you to the teams that will be busting brackets nationwide come March.

Our first potential Cinderella is no stranger to the Big Dance. Mark Few has taken the Bulldogs to the ball in each of the last nine seasons. They no longer have to remind people how to pronounce the school's name or rely on the memory of John Stockton to tell people that they've been around a good long while. Still, they play in the West Coast Conference and are thus consigned to mid-majordom.

They return two talented guards in Jeremy Pargo and Matt Bouldin which means they won't miss departed leading scorer Derek Raivio all that much. Throw in Micah Downs and you have a typical Few team. They fill it up from the outside, move the ball well and put up points in bunches. Typically Few's teams also struggle defensively and that may be where this year's version surpasses recent versions.

The freshman Austin Daye is 6'10" with a 7'5" wingspan and could make life difficult on the perimeter for shooters used to open looks at the Bulldog hoop. He has eight blocks in his first two games and adds a new dimension to their defense. He's their leading scorer to boot and could be a major factor come tournament time.