Duke looked fantastic over in Maui, capturing yet another title over on the Island, and looking sensational taking down three straight tough opponents in as many days. Then last night, Ohio State looked even more impressive, taking that same Duke team behind the woodshed and reminded everyone what Arizona looked like in last season's NCAA Tournament.
Impressive? Yes. Surprising that these teams have had some early season success? Certainly not.
Here's five teams who are making a name for themselves the hard way this November; unexpectedly.
#1 - Harvard Crimson - It appears Tommy Amaker has his
team poised to make a run to the NCAA Tournament this season, and might
not even need the Ivy League's automatic bid to do it. They are 6-0
with wins over UCF and Florida State over in the Bahamas last weekend,
and a win over Loyola Marymount, that is looking better and better as
the Lions stack up wins (over UCLA, then last night over #25 and Maniac
early-darling, St. Louis). A December tilt with UConn could be the only
stumbling block to entering Ivy play with a legit shot to run the
table...
#2 - Indiana Hoosiers - See the previous column, but Tom Crean's bunch appear to have IU back on the verge of re-joining national relevance. We still have yet to see them face a true Top 25 opponent, but at 7-0 after a 12-20 (3-15 in conference) season, it's one heck of a start.
#3 - Virginia Cavaliers - Another team that has yet to really extend themselves, but at 6-1 fresh off a pasting of a Michigan team that handled Memphis and pushed Duke, Cav fans have to like their chances of fighting for third in the middle of a muddled ACC.
#4 - San Diego State Aztecs - UNLV will garner all the MWC acclaim after knocking off North Carolina, but the most impressive team out West has been Steve Fischer's Aztecs. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year after Kawhi Leonard departed early for the NBA. At 7-1 (and leading Creighton in the second half at the time of writing) with wins over Long Beach State, Arizona and USC, as well as a respectable road loss at Baylor, this has the look of a sure-fire NCAA Tourney team.
#5 - Oregon State Beavers - The Beavers are 5-1, but only 1-1 in games against real opponents. However, their 100-95 OT win over Texas was impressive. Their most impressive outing was a 64-62 loss to a good Vanderbilt team. Craig Roberson's team is going to be a tough out in the Pac 12 and have the potential to sneak up as a bubble at-large team in March. They won't have much on the out of conference resume, but have 18 games in a balanced Pac 12 to fight to 9-9 or 10-8.
No comments:
Post a Comment