4 Underrated Teams That Can Win It All

The college basketball season is one week into February, and so much has changed from early January. Teams which were off the radar a month ago have risen to the forefront of the sport, and teams which might have seemed like title contenders – a good example is UCLA – no longer look like immediate threats to win the national championship. Here, let’s take a look at relatively underrated teams which, while not seeded No. 1 or No. 2, could still make a lot of noise and maybe win the whole thing in early April.

1 – Illinois Fighting Illini

The Illini were a No. 1 seed last year in March Madness. This year they won’t be anything higher than a No. 3 seed, barring an extremely improbable set of occurrences. Yet, they really do have a chance to win the national championship. Last year’s team had a college basketball superstar, Ayo Dosunmu, who has had a quality NBA rookie year with the Chicago Bulls. This year’s team knows it has to be more balanced and can’t rely too much on one man to bail everyone out. Accordingly, you are seeing more versatility from this particular Illinois roster, which makes the Illini harder to defend and more of a genuine threat in March. Alfonso Plummer, Trent Frazier, and Andre Curbelo are all very talented and capable offensive performers, surrounding big man Kofi Cockburn. Illinois has lots of legitimate scoring options at the ends of games, which gives this team a level of unpredictability which can help it rise higher in March. Teams knew Dosunmu was getting the ball in a big moment last season. Now it’s not the case, and that can paradoxically help Illinois get better in March.

2 – Texas Tech Red Raiders

The Gonzaga offense figured out Texas Tech, but Gonzaga has the No. 1 offense in the country. Few other teams have solved the Texas Tech defense coached by Mark Adams, who has done an amazing job in his first season as head coach after taking over from Chris Beard, who went to the University of Texas this past offseason. Adams gets his players to defend at such a consistently high level that Texas Tech will stay competitive in games even if its shots aren’t falling. That will give Texas Tech a real chance to string together several consecutive NCAA Tournament wins, much as it did in 2019 when, as a No. 3 seed overlooked by many, it won five games in a row to make the national championship game.

3 – Providence Friars

The Friars are not a dominant team, and they probably won’t get a top-two seed in the NCAA Tournament unless they win the Big East Tournament, but they could really go all the way because they play strong defense. They don’t commit very many turnovers; they’re one of the national leaders in fewest turnovers per game. They also shoot free throws at a very high rate. Of the 358 teams in Division I major college basketball, the Friars are in the top 25 in most free throw attempts. These are all very important components of a high-level team. They’re not necessarily sexy, but they do matter. Providence is very much an example of a team which is sneaking under the national radar, despite having a 20-2 record.

4 – Wisconsin Badgers

The Wisconsin Badgers can go far in March because Johnny Davis is one of the three best players in the country. Davis can go off and light up the scoreboard in a way few other players can. He has struggled recently, but those struggles aren’t likely to persist. If he is firing on all cylinders, Wisconsin becomes an extreme headache for any of its opponents.