We already have some clues about this year's Cinderella, the team that somehow every year spoils all the fun (see also: make mad in march; anger) for top seeds but actually makes it that much more interesting for viewers. Mostly they come from mid-major (a term that smacks of "not quite good enough") conferences, and most of those conferences have finished their yearly tournaments by now; the winners get automatic births (ah, to be born).

Those in by midweek make up your list of Cinderella candidates, so go study now; fill in your brackets Monday: Austin Peay, Belmont, Butler, Cornell, Davidson, Drake, George Mason, Mt. St. Mary's, Oral Roberts, Portland State, San Diego, Siena, Western Kentucky, and Winthrop. Some of those are surprising enough to spawn quite a list of powerful bubble teams.

The chairman of the NCAA selection committee, that group of men who are sequestered in a room in Indianapolis or Kansas City or some other basketball Mecca to sort through the teams, to make the seeds (getting all of this embryo imagery?), is Tom O'Connor, who also happens to be the athletic director at George Mason University, the Cinderella-est team perhaps in all of college basketball history (see Final Four 2006). George Mason must have a closetful of glass slippers because they are back this year. O'Connor told a gathering at a CBS Sports function that his daughter held up a sign during the Colonial Athletic Association Conference that said: George Mason is the new George Mason.

Nobody's ever really sure how these raggedy teams, with their Princeton offenses and trick defenses, make it so far after going virtually unnoticed by the college basketball fan all year. If you take George Mason, circa spring 2006, you'll find its star, power forward Jai Lewis, was drafted by the pros, but in football (New York Giants) not basketball. He wanted to be an offensive tackle. Today he plays basketball for Ironi Ramat-Gan in Israel where he gives new meaning to the term "West Bank."

Or how about Tony Skinn, who famously punched a Hofstra player in the groin of that year's conference tourney's semifinal. Skinn plays in France for Roanne in the Pro A league (InformationWeek lapel pins for anyone who knows what that is). He also plays in the NBA Summer league for the Orlando Magic, a team that, last year, included the Hofstra player he punched.

Lamar Butler was his region's MVP. Apparently he told the coach when being recruited that he'd lead George Mason to the Final Four. He was offered a spot on the Wash Wizards summer league team, and plays with BK Prostejov in the Czech Republic (team motto: BK Prostejov is the new Roanne).

Will Thomas, a sophomore forward at the time, is a senior averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds. Point guard Folarin Campbell is still playing and was a major reason for George Mason's run through the Colonial tournament.

Who can forget the courageous 1990 run made by Loyola Marymount on the back of little Bo Kimble, who shot each first shot of a set of free throws left handed (his opposite hand) in memory of Hank Gathers, the team's heartbeat and nation's leading scorer who died, of all things, of heart failure; and of all places, on the court during a WCC conference tournament semifinal game. The tournament was suspended, LMU got an automatic bid, riding emotion past Alabama in the Sweet 16.

The potential for triumph and courage and heartbreak abound each year as stories unfold and Cindy climbs up that old pumpkin. And that heartbreak can happen early, even before the big dance. This year the University of San Diego stunned perennial Sweet 16 team Gonzaga in their conference tourney's championship. Gonzaga is easily good enough to get in and get a high seed, but St. Mary's also had a good year, so that's three teams from the West Coast conference. That means someone somewhere else gets the boot. The bubble teams are cursing the Tereros (I'll save you the lookup: it's a bullfighter) heading into this weekend's Tom O'Connor-led exercises.

For each of these surprise teams, there's always some heroic effort from a player most people haven't heard of. For San Diego, that might be freshman guard Rob Jones -- grandson of Jim Jones Sr., leader of the People's Temple church in Jonestown Guyana. Freshman. This top recruit had a big game against Gonzaga for coach Grier, who was an assistant for Gonzaga's famed coach Mark Few.

There was one incredible story forming for this year, and it seems to have blown up just today (Friday). In 2003, Baylor basketball player Carlton Dotson murdered his teammate Patrick Dennehy in one of the strangest and most incomprehensible stories in sports this decade. Baylor survived that and two years of probation following a tuition payment scandal where coach Dave Bliss was alleged to have asked players to lie and cover up during the investigation. Not exactly a powerhouse, Baylor last made it to the tourney in the 1987-88 season, and this year it could have been back but for a twist on Charles Perrault's famous tale: she never makes it to the dance in the first place.