They're known as bracket-busters, dark horses and Cinderellas. They're often undersized, undermanned and under-hyped. But somehow they manage to knock off higher-seeded and highly regarded opponents, sending NCAA Tournament brackets into a tailspin.
And it happens every single year.
It's difficult - if not frustrating - to predict an underdog team to pull the huge upset, but it might not be as enigmatic anymore.
College basketball analyst Tony Mejia, a staff writer for CBS Sportsline.com, broke down the issue of what makes a dark horse candidate, who to look for this year and who's luck might just run out.
"(Dark horses) are the teams with senior leaders and senior point guards," Mejia said. "Teams that have been pretty good for a long time. Also teams that are well-coached."
And more than likely, once a dark horse makes a memorable run, it's remembered in the annals of NCAA hoops.
Indiana, for example, upsetting No. 1 seed Duke in last year's tournament and making a run to the championship game, or Gonzaga's string of Sweet Sixteen appearances from 1999 to 2001, once a team knocks off a favorite, they're thrust into the March Madness spotlight.
Mejia tabbed the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks as a carry-over from last year capable of being in that spotlight once again. Last year, the 13th-seeded Seahawks upset fourth-seeded Southern California and gave eventual-runner up Indiana a scare before ultimately losing.
The Seahawks are led by a prolific, underrated shooting guard, Brent Blizzard. He averages 21.5 points a contest and just under 4 assists.
Other dark horse candidates are Manhattan, who owned a 17-game win streak this season, and UW-Milwaukee, who captured the Horizon League Tournament championship over heavily-favored Butler.
In fact, picking one or two dark horses to upset a favored team has become commonplace in recent years. So prominent, that even MSU players like their odds in picking a team to make a run this March.
Sophomore forward/guard Alan Anderson said he liked a pair of familiar faces to go far into the Big Dance.
"I like (Hakim) Warrick and (Carmelo) Anthony for Syracuse, they're a good combination," Anderson said.
The Orangemen are ranked in the top 25, a bit high for a Cinderella prospect, but dangerous nonetheless.
