NCAA March Madness: Cinderella watch

Nolan: Akron Zips

Weird teams rock. I love watching basketball that fights against everything that I know is true about the game I love. Akron is an anomaly.

Akron plays basketball like a high school team. Not just because they run up and down the court. Not just because they only take the open shot.

The tallest player in their rotation is six-foot-five.

Yeah, that rocks.

Akron runs at an absolutely blistering pace, with five games this season ending in triple digit points. In their nine-man rotation, eight are upperclassmen. Experience is always a staple in successful teams in March.

The reason I love the Zips is their matchup – Caleb Love and the Arizona Wildcats. These two teams love to run up the scoreboards, with every major market setting this game’s total points line comfortably in the 160’s.

However, Love has a lot of nights that he is slow to get his shot falling, and the Wildcat’s pace drops back significantly. If the Zips can play some gritty, MACtion defense and outrun their opponents, we could be taking a trip to upset city.

Adam: Drake Bulldogs

Drake won the MVC with a 17-3 conference record and 30-3 overall record. A player to watch is junior guard Bennett Stirtz, who averages 19.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.2 steals on 49.3% shooting.

He’s scored at least 23 points in three of his last four games, including 24 points in back-to-back games.

Two other key players to watch include senior forward Daniel Abreu who averages 10.4 points per game and senior guard Mitch Mascari who shoots 41% from three and 86.3% from the free-throw line.

Drake’s first-year coach, Ben McCollum, won four Division II championships with Northwest Missouri State. While this is his first NCAA tournament trip, he’s got the experience to take Drake far.

Their first game in the West Region will be against six-seed Missouri, a team I think they match up very well against. With a win, their path to the Final Four could involve facing the region’s top three teams, Florida, St. Johns and Texas Tech.

If they can knock off Missouri in the Round of 64, don’t be surprised if Drake gives the other top seeds some trouble and goes on a run.

Bryan: Yale Bulldogs

This team is no stranger to shocking the world, as they did so against Auburn last year and Baylor in 2016.

The Bulldogs are 1-8 against SEC opponents all-time, however they are 2-2 as a 12-seed or lower since 2016.

Yale was a tough out in their two games against high-major competition this season, going 0-2 with an average margin of 5.5 points.

In these two competitions–which were against Purdue and Minnesota–this team tied Purdue in rebounds at 31 and out-rebounded Minnesota 37 to 34.

As a team, the Bulldogs are 23rd in the nation in scoring offense with 81 points per game.

Each player on the Yale squad is six feet tall or higher, with their tallest player being center Samson Aletan. Aletan had four blocks against Minnesota earlier this year and his 47 blocks overall this season leads the Ivy League.

You’ve heard of Doug Edert and Jack Gohlke, but now get ready for John Poulakidas, a senior guard that shoots 40.9% from beyond the arc which is fourth-best in the Ivy League.

If Yale were to make a run, they’ll rely on three-point shooting and winning the rebound battle. Against Texas A&M and then potentially Michigan, I see them getting open to creating shots and causing trouble on the boards.

Bronwyn: Grand Canyon

For the past five seasons, the Antelopes have been the WAC's top team, making the NCAA Tournament nearly every year. This season, despite finishing second in the WAC, they won the conference tournament and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Grand Canyon is making its fourth tournament appearance, with three of those coming consecutively in the last five years offering them a strong stance of experience in the madness of March.

Grant-Foster, the preseason player of the year, is a defensive standout who could certainly shut down Maryland then have no issue repeating it against Memphis or Colorado State.

The team overall ranks among the top 15 nationally in steals and top 20 in blocks.

On the offensive end they take over 26 free throws per game, with all starters having surpassed 100 free throw attempts. The team's ability to draw fouls helps them extend games and could put some hot-shooting opponents in trouble.

However, this lock up-d could be cracked having to face likely 1-Seed Florida or 8-Seed UConn in the Sweet 16 bringing their Cinderella run to an end. This is a team that can breaks some brackets and barriers to kick off the tournament.

Nolan Collery is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email njc5848@psu.edu.

Adam Pietrzak is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email app5940@psu.edu.

Bryan Portney is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email bep5295@psu.edu.

Bronwyn Liber is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email brl5354@psu.edu. .