Men's NCAA Tournament 2024: The Biggest Potential Cinderella Teams in the Field of 68 | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Record: 26-9 (10-8 in Mountain West)

Quad Breakdown: 5-6 vs. Q1, 3-1 vs. Q2, 7-1 vs. Q3, 10-1 vs. Q4

Opening Matchup: No. 6 Clemson

The Mountain West Conference did not end up getting the love many were expecting to see from the selection committee. While six teams made the NCAA tournament field, four were given double-digit seeds, and two slotted in First Four matchups.

All six of those squads are capable of proving the committee wrong and exceeding expectations, but it's the New Mexico Lobos who have the momentum to rattle off a Cinderella run.

The Lobos were squarely on the bubble after going 2-4 to close out the regular season, but they rattled off four wins in four days to win the conference tournament, including victories over No. 8 seed Boise State, No. 10 seed Colorado State and No. 5 seed San Diego State over the final three games.

In the NCAA tournament field for the first time since 2014, the Lobos have taken a significant step forward this year in their third season under Richard Pitino, who inherited a six-win team from Paul Weir.

New Mexico loves to run, checking in sixth in KenPom's adjusted tempo metric, and that is going to make them an uncomfortable matchup for a Clemson squad that ranks 260th in that same statistic.

The same is true of potential second-round matchup Baylor, so if the Lobos can ride their current wave of momentum and control the pace of the game, they could punch their ticket to the Sweet 16.