Oral Roberts, Vermont Get Respect

The NCAA college basketball season is just two weeks old, but Suite101's Cinderella Watch is heating up. Which teams will be the surprises of the NCAA tournament? Who will be this season's George Mason? Here are our current top 5 underdogs to watch as the NCAA season unfolds.

1. Southern Illinois -- Off to a 2-0 start and returning all five starters from a team that won 22 games in 2005-2006, we still love the Salukis, who maintain their top ranking in our NCAA Basketball Cinderella Watch and even sneak into our NCAA Top 20.
2. Oral Roberts -- The Golden Eagles were stunned in their opener by Loyola Marymount. Their answer was to shock third-ranked Kansas the very next night they played. Caleb Green is the two-time defending Player of the Year in the Mid-Continent Conference and a contender for NCAA Player of the Year honors. An early-December tilt with Georgetown may tell us even more about how strong the Eagles really are.
3. Saint Mary's -- The Gaels are 4-2, including a big win over USC. Overcoming a very good Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference will be difficult, but the Gaels don’t have to win the league to get into the NCAA tournament.
4. Vermont – An early upset of Boston College, 14th at the time, and the Catamounts looked ready to leap to number one in our Cinderella Watch. They cooled a bit to 3-3, but a very tough early season non-league schedule should make Vermont hard to beat in the America East.
5. Air Force – The only blemish on the Falcon’s 2006-07 season is a loss to Duke. A senior-laden team from the Mountain West, starting 6-1, definitely has our attention.

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