The March Madness NCAA Tournament is set to kick off this week.
This year's field of 68 is full of teams looking to make a Cinderella run.
While it may be easy to bet on the favorites, it would be hard to ignore several dark horse teams that have shown throughout the college basketball season that they can go on a run.
Here are some dark horses to watch in the tournament that can wreck some brackets this year.
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NCAA Tournament Dark Horses: McNeese State Cowboys
The No.12 seed McNeese State Cowboys are set to face the No.5 Gonzaga on Thursday.
The Cowboys, led by head coach Will Wade, want to build on a stellar season in which they went 30-3 and 17-1 along with a strong tournament performance.
Based on their play this season, they could shock the world with a win over the Bulldogs.
During the season they built a reputation for shooting the ball well, a respectable 38.8 percent from beyond the arch. McNeese State also limited turnovers, becoming one of the most efficient teams in college basketball.
Despite the Cowboys' good play, Gonzaga has proven to be a tough team this season.
Under Mark Fews, the Bulldogs finished with a 25-7 record as they continued to look potent despite losing in the WCC tournament.
The Bulldogs may be the easy bet here based on tournament experience and a team full of seniors and juniors, while McNeese's lack of experience playing against any Quad 1 and Quad 2 clubs may show up against the Zags. However, they shouldn't be counted out as the Cowboys will rely on their high-octane offense to keep them in the game against Gonzaga.
NCAA Tournament Dark Horses: Duquesne Dukes
The No.11 Duquesne Dukes will face the No.6 BYU Cougars in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
This will be Dukes' first time making the NCAA tournament bid since 1977.
Duquesne are building off a strong season in which they won the Atlantic 10 Conference, defeating VCU 57-51 to punch their ticket in.
They knocked off more well-known teams like Dayton and St. Bonaventure on their road to becoming the A10 Conference Champions, showing they do belong in the NCAA Tournament. The Dukes finished the season 24-11 overall.
Now they face a tough Cougar squad, who, despite an ugly loss in the Big 12 Tournament to Texas Tech, are a team built for March Madness with experience.
Duquesne could be the tournament's Cinderella story, and they could do so by winning against a really good BYU Cougars team.
The Dukes are led by guard Dae Dae Grant, who led the team in scoring at 16.9 points per game. Grant is going to be looking to give a big-time performance for the Dukes, and it's no time like the NCAA Tournament to make a name for yourself.
NCAA Tournament Dark Horses: Akron Zips
The No.14 Akron Zips are set to take on the No.3 Creighton Bluejays on Thursday.
The Zips will be making their sixth trip to an NCAA Tournament, the first since 2022 when they lost in the first round.
Arkon had a strong season, earning a tournament bid in the Mid-American Conference, knocking out Kentucky State.
Creighton is a tough squad, one of the better teams in the Big East, and they do have the experience to potentially make some noise in the tournament.
The Bluejays are led by Trey Alexander and Mason Miller, both of whom had strong seasons.
Still, Akron can put together the upset. The Akron Zips are a team that scores behind their lethal guard rotation in Greg Tribble and Ali Ali along with Enrique Freeman, who is the team's leading scorer.
Akron also does a great job in defensive rotation and should make it hard for the Creighton Bluejays all night.
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