The college basketball season is one week into February, which means March Madness can\u2019t be too far away. Lots of people are beginning to think about the NCAA Tournament. If the race for the Final Four is something you care about, you will want to get a look at a few teams which won\u2019t be highly seeded but could certainly thrive in the first two rounds of the tournament, ultimately reaching the Sweet 16. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 \u2013 Wyoming Cowboys<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Cowboys probably won\u2019t be seeded any higher than No. 7 or 8, but they are a team no one will want to play in the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Coach Jeff Linder has developed a patient halfcourt offense which reliably generates good ball movement and quality shots. That is exactly the kind of style which can frustrate a high-seeded giant on the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. What Wyoming also does is that it beats its opponents to the right spots on the floor. Positioning and footwork are very precise and well-coached on this Wyoming team. The Cowboys have a star player, Hunter Maldonado, who can get big buckets in important situations. There is a lot to like about this team, and it will get a chance to make big noise in the brackets in March. Wyoming looks like a very solid bet for the NCAA Tournament even if it loses in the Mountain West Conference Tournament in early March. The Cowboys have lost only three games all season long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 \u2013 UNC Wilmington Seahawks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The UNC Wilmington Seahawks have been one of the comeback kings in college basketball this season. They have come back from 10-point deficits to win on several occasions, and they have come back from seven-to-nine-point deficits on a few more occasions. Trailing by nine or 10 points early in the second half simply doesn\u2019t rattle this team. The Seahawks maintain their composure and have owned late-game situations on a very consistent basis this year. When a higher seed gets a seven-point lead with 12 minutes left in the game, not only is UNCW still very much in the game; the Seahawks will be in a position to do what they have done for most of the year. That characteristic defines a true bracket buster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3 \u2013 Miami Hurricanes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Hurricanes have struggled in recent weeks, but they are still very likely to make the NCAA Tournament. When they make the tournament, they will be a tough out because they have veteran guards who know how to handle pressure and stress. Miami coach Jim Larranaga did a really good job of getting into the transfer portal and finding players who can score in crunch time. This particular strength \u2013 having guards who can get big baskets \u2013 is a central trait of a good team. Miami is not to be underestimated in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 \u2013 LSU Tigers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Tigers have lost six of seven, but they didn\u2019t lose a game until the final week of December and are still likely to make the NCAA Tournament. If the Tigers get in, they have a track record for bothering higher seeds. They gave No. 1 seed Michigan a run last year before barely falling short in the round of 32. LSU won\u2019t have a high seed, but the Tigers are going to be annoying for superior opponents to play because they are so active and bothersome on defense under head coach Will Wade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The college basketball season is one week into February, which means March Madness can\u2019t be too far away. Lots of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":17677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaab"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21406"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21411,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21406\/revisions\/21411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}