Searching for Cinderella: Stephen F. Austin

College basketball fans will remember Stephen F. Austin. The Lumberjacks have been a good team for several years now. In the 2012-13 season they were the favorite to win the Southland tournament but were upset by Northwestern St. They went to the NIT with a 27-4 record and lost to Stanford in the first round by just one point.

Last season, there was no heartbreak. The Lumberjacks rolled through the regular season losing only to Texas and ETSU. They won the Southland tournament and entered the NCAA Tournament as a 12 seed. In one of last year's best tournament games, the Lumberjacks upset VCU in overtime, 77-75, for their first tournament victory in school history.

They have not slowed down this season. They started the season just 1-3, but that is misleading. Those three losses were against Northern Iowa, Xavier, and Baylor. Since then, they're a perfect 19-0 including wins over Memphis and Long Beach St.

They are led by Senior Jacob Parker and Junior Thomas Walkup who are both averaging 14.2 points per game. It's really a balanced attack, though. Eleven players have played in at least 21 games, and 10 of those players average more than 10 minutes per game. Parker and Walkup are the only two players to average double figures in scoring, but 6 players average between 4 and 10 points per game. They get so much scoring from so many different places because of how well they pass the ball. They average 17.3 assists per game, which is 5th nationally. All of that adds up to a team that ranks 29th in Adjusted Offensive Efficiency according to Ken Pomeroy. In fact, the Lumberjacks are 36th overall according KenPom.

If you're looking for a team who could potentially pull an upset or two in the NCAA Tournament, you could do worse than Stephen F. Austin. A tournament-experienced team with a senior leader who has tested themselves this season, the Lumberjacks are poised to not only get their second-ever tournament victory but also to make their first Sweet 16 appearance.