In what is a complete case of coincidences, Awful Announcing touched on this yesterday. This is a chopped down, amended version of a column I wrote back in college. Doesn’t it bother you that so many people mislabel what a Cinderella is and what defines a Sleeper? The definitive rules are after the jump.

Cinderella:

I. Conference Affiliation – Cinderellas must come from low-end conferences. Until an amendment needs to be made, the conferences are as follows: America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, SWAC, Summit, Sun Belt and West Coast.

II. Rising Above Conference Affiliation – Often times, like in Gonzaga or Butler’s case, a team will create a national profile. They aren’t surprising anyone and they’re expected to show up in March. When schools from the aforementioned conferences reach this level, it often takes a while for them to fade back into obscurity.

III. Seeding – Cinderellas MUST be seeded 13 or lower. It’s bracket law and almost always coincides with lower-tiered conferences being placed here anyway.

IV. Winning – A Cinderella can get by on one huge upset victory in the first two days—that’s all they need. Any time a 13 or lower wins a Tournament game, they’ve done their job. With a Cinderella, it doesn’t take a Sweet 16 appearance to legitimize the name. Beating up on a 4 seed or higher is justice enough.

Sleeper:

I. Conference Affiliation – A Sleeper need not come from any specific conference.

II. Name Recognition – Sleepers are teams that have aren’t obscure (read: you probably know their nickname), yet fly under the radar. They can come in many forms and change shape from year to year.

III. Seeding and Winning – There are three different levels for different Sleepers. If you’re seeded 3 or better, you lose any and all Sleeper status. If you want to qualify any 4, 5 or 6-seeds as a Sleeper, they must make the Final Four. (A 6-seed defeating a 2 to get to the Elite 8 isn’t so crazy that you’d consider it “sleep worthy.”) A 7, 8, 9 or 10-seed needs to win at least two games (or more, of course) in order to qualify. As for 11-12s, while picking them to reach the Sweet 16 or further is certainly Sleeper territory, picking them to win in just one game does not qualify. Those games are categorized under…

IV. Upset Special - When an 11 or 12-seed is picked to win only their first round game, it is defined as an “upset special.” Other upset specials apply in later rounds, when the Sleeper line can appropriately be blurred. (Such as a 3 or a 4 beating a 1, a 6 beating a 2, etc…)

V. Popularity – Cinderellas don’t apply, because a Cinderella by its own nature never gets enough popular support to lose its cache. Not true with a Sleeper. The rule is: If everyone’s taking it, it’s no longer a Sleeper pick. If they were popular, how could they be a sleeper? Those picks know they’re trendy and are there to dupe you, making you look a fool in the process. I think we all know that feeling too well.

Tweet This Post