2013 NCAA Tournament: La Salle Explorers Go From Bubble Team to Cinderella Story

By Dan Parzych
(Peter G. Aiken/USA Today Sports)

For those who think the La Salle Explorers don’t belong in the 2013 NCAA Tournament–take a look at where they are now.

La Salle is heading to the Sweet 16 after an impressive 76-74 win over the Ole Miss Rebels on Sunday thanks to a go-ahead layup by Tyrone Garland with two seconds left to give the Explorers the lead. La Salle found themselves in the perfect position to take the last-second shot and Garland took advantage of the opportunity to capitalize on the perfect drive to send the Explorers on to the Sweet 16 for a matchup against the No. 9 seeded Wichita State Shockers.

In the weeks leading up to the big dance, La Salle was one of a few teams on the bubble watch and even after being forced to take part in the play-in game before the second round–nobody really gave this Atlantic 10 team much of a shot. Now, they continue to make NCAA history and will have a shot at playing for the Elite 8 next week if they can manage to pull out another win over the Shockers.

One of the main reasons why this is the best time of year is because anything is possible–no matter what seed a team receives. For a team that barely made the tournament in the first place, the Explorers seem capable of defeating any team at this point and it will be interesting to see if they can continue this magical run as a Cinderella squad into the next round.

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