Dave Telep evaluates high school basketball players for a living. While most fans watch the N.C.A.A. tournament to root for their alma mater or to follow their brackets, Telep sees a referendum on his professional opinion.

Too many times, Telep said, he will see a player like Patrick O’Bryant, a 7-footer who led Bradley on an unexpected run to the Round of 16 in 2006, and torture himself for not having identified him as a high-caliber prospect.

So Telep, the national recruiting director of Scout.com, decided last summer to execute a semi-scientific evaluation. Call it a study of Cinderella’s DNA: what makes up a great midmajor player and why those players were not recruited by traditional powers.

“You can only do my job for so long before you flip on the N.C.A.A. tournament, look at the guy from Bradley, shake your head and wonder, ‘How did that happen?’ ” Telep said. “The whole goal of this study was to lessen my angst during the N.C.A.A. tournament.”