Led by National Player of the Year Cam Boozer, Duke lost two games all year by a combined four points and will have Patrick Ngongba back after missing the last four games.
With a thin rotation made even thinner late in the year, Siena’s star guards Justice Shoats and Gavin Doty have stepped up in big moments.
After all the discussion, we’ll never have to complain that Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton never got to play in the NCAA Tournament.
TCU has played up to some of the top competition on its schedule with wins over Florida, Iowa State, Wisconsin, and Texas Tech.
From start-to-finish, St. John’s dominated the Big East Tournament, never trailing, and leading for all but 1:45 over three games, spurred on by a historic run by Zuby Ejiofor.
While known for its stingy defense that ranks 24th nationally all season, it was Northern Iowa’s offense that spurred the four wins in four days run at Arch Madness.
The will-he-won’t-he Darryn Peterson saga that loomed over Kansas’ entire season is mostly gone, but the Jayhawks have to figure out what their best lineups look like with him on the floor.
Dom Daniels’ 41 points in the WAC semifinals and game-winning shots in the title game lifted Cal Baptist to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
Bombing away from three has been Louisville’s gameplan all year with a talented backcourt of Mikel Brown Jr., Ryan Conwell, Adrian Wooley and Isaac McKneely.
No team in the country dominates the rim on both ends quite like South Florida and AAC Player of the Year Izaiyah Nelson.
Jeremy Fears runs the show for Michigan State, leading the country in assists and creating dribble drive opportunities while big men Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler dominate the glass.
North Dakota State is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 after going 14-2 in the Summit League with the conference’s top defensive efficiency and offensive rebounding rate.
Ever since UCLA fully leaned into letting Donovan Dent be Donovan Dent, the Bruins have been a much more dangerous team.
Johnny Dawkins deserves a lot of credit for taking this UCF team to the NCAA Tournament and how much he’s gotten out of Themus Fulks and Riley Kugel.
When UConn is on, it looks as good as anybody in the country, but the Huskies coasted through much of Big East play and got pounded by St. John’s at MSG last weekend.
Freshman guard Alex Wilkins scored 21 points per game during Furman’s run in the SoCon Tournament.
Arizona survived its February injuries, lost just two games all year by a combined seven points, and has the best closer in the sport in Jaden Bradley.
The most talented team in the NEC by far, Long Island’s trio of Malachi Davis, Greg Gordon and Jamal Fuller dominated the conference all year.
After losing starting forward Matt Hodge late in February to injury, Villanova ducked out in the Big East quarterfinals with a bad loss to Georgetown.
MJ Collins and Mason Falslev make up one of the best wing duos in the country for Utah State, the outright regular season and tournament champions of the Mountain West.
I’m not sure if there’s a backcourt in the country that I’d take over Wisconsin’s John Blackwell and Nick Boyd, especially after their outbursts in the Big Ten Tournament.
Another year, anoher dominant High Point Big South regular-season title, even with a new coach and many new players, the Panthers are on the nation’s longest winning streak entering the Dance.
There’s a legit case that Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr. is having the best season of any guard to ever play for John Calipari.
Eran Ganot’s unique defensive scheme makes Hawaii one of the most difficult scouts on the west coast.
In order for BYU to make a run, Keba Keita has to stay out of foul trouble and AJ Dybantsa needs to score at levels that eclipse his nation-leading average.
Will Wade’s NC State team is in freefall, as losers of seven of the last nine games heading into the NCAA Tournament, just barely sneaking in the field.
Sean Miller is back in Dayton 365 days later, but this time wearing burnt orange, leading Texas into the First Four as losers of five of the last six.
Graham Ike has taken yet another step forward in the absence of Braden Huff for Gonzaga, which is more athletic as a team than it was last year.
Kennesaw State rallied after losing its best player to a gambling indictment in January to make it back to March Madness.
A physical team built on strong defensive principles, Miami (FL) also has the post play offensively from Malik Reneau to be a matchup problem.
Another power-conference team backing into the tournament, Missouri lost its final three games of the season.
Purdue’s All-American PG Braden Smith is one assist away from tying Bobby Hurley for the most assists in NCAA Division-I history.
How could you not love Queens (NC) head coach Grant Leonard and his sweater game, leading the Royals to the NCAA Tournament in their first year of eligibility backed by a legion of sharpshooters?
Good luck scoring inside or even getting a good look inside against Michigan’s three towers in the frontcourt and they’re also a top 10 offense.
In Howard’s last 11 games in MEAC play, it went 11-0 with an average margin of victory of 22.1 points.
Looking like a vintage Vermont squad over the last month and change, UMBC ravaged America East in all facets of the game on a 12-game winning streak.
It’s hard to find a more physical frontcourt than Kareem Stagg, Kanon Catchings, Dylan James, Justin Abson and Somto Cyril for Georgia, even if it doesn’t translate into strong defense.
If this were a month ago, I’d be excited to pick this electric Saint Louis squad to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, but the team has lost four of its last eight to finish the season.
No team in the country has more culture wins than Texas Tech, which lost superstar JT Toppin in February, but still rallied to win at Iowa State without him.
Akron has won the last three MAC Championship Games by a combined six points, and this is by far the Zips’ best team of the three, led by star guard Tavari Johnson.
All-American PG LaBaron Philon will have a lot on his shoulders with Aden Holloway likely not playing for Alabama this weekend after being arrested.
It’s a lot of ball screens and mismatch-hunting for Hofstra’s incredibly talented backcourt duo of CAA Player of the Year Cruz Davis and Rookie of the Year/Tournament hero Preston Edmead.
Nate Ament and Ja’Kobi Gillespie are Tennessee’s best and only shot creators, but it’s a disciplined defensive team that knows how to win on the glass.
SMU was safely in the tournament field before BJ Edwards got hurt, but he’s expected to be back as the Mustangs snuck into the First Four.
Thanks to an electric spread ball screen offense and some incredibly clutch shotmaking, Miami OH went undefeated in the regular season, 31-0, before dropping in the MAC Quarterfinals.
Ryan Odom’s first year at Virginia is a rousing success, regardless of what happens this week, with 29 wins and blowing past expectations, led by Thijs de Ridder and Malik Thomas.
Horizon League DPOY TJ Burch leads a young Wright State team into the NCAA Tournament after finishing with the top offense in the conference.
Apparently, $22 million could only buy Kentucky a seven seed.
An athletic and talented Santa Clara squad was taken to another level by Allen Graves’ megabreakout midway through the year.
For three years now, Joshua Jefferson has been the most underrated player in the country, but now the Iowa State senior has finally gotten some recognition, earning an All-American nod.
Even though it was only two games, Tennessee State’s OVC Tournament run, eviscerating UT Martin and Morehead State, was one of the most impressive displays of Championship Week.
Florida was the only SEC team that played elite defense and had an elite frontcourt, so its physicality completely overwhelmed the rest of the league.
The pick-and-roll duo of big man Hank Alvey and point guard Nasir Whitlock led Lehigh to a Patriot League title.
Prairie View A&M started 4-8 in SWAC play, but has won nine of its last 10 games, including four in five days to win the SWAC Tournament.
Star big man Carter Welling tore his ACL, and Clemson’s depth will be tested if they’re going to make a run in the Tournament.
Iowa is the third school in three years that Ben McCollum and Bennett Stirtz have taken to the NCAA Tournament, joining Division-II Northwest Missouri State and Drake.
The backcourt of Tyler Tanner and Duke Miles is an absolute inferno when on the floor together for Vanderbilt, which is two wins away from the program’s single season win record.
Just like under Will Wade, Bill Armstrong’s McNeese team wants to press you and force turnovers, which made them a dominant team with that athleticism in the Southland, despite finishing second behind Stephen F. Austin.
This HAS to be the year for Nebraska, which started 20-0 and finished second in the Big Ten, to win its first-ever NCAA Tournament game.
Within the first month of the season, Troy had already played a 3OT game, two 2OT games, and another OT game; since then, the Trojans are 17-6 in their last 23.
North Carolina won’t have Caleb Wilson in the NCAA Tournament, but it still packs a big time physical punch led by seven-footer Henri Veesaar.
Terrence Hill’s evolution into VCU’s legit go-to-guy has elevated the team as it has won 16 of its last 17 games.
For all the offseason talk about Illinois’ forays into Europe for talent, it has been unheralded freshman Keaton Wagler who has raised the team’s level throughout the season.
After a TJ Power-led miracle upset in the Ivy Madness final, Penn enters the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 in year one of the Fran McCaffery era.
Despite about as much roster turnover as Saint Mary’s has had at any point over the last half-decade, Randy Bennett’s squad is right where it always is, in the top 25 of KenPom and wearing home white in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight year.
I still don’t really know how, but Bucky Ball translated well to the SEC, as Texas A&M went 11-7 in conference play.
While the team has had some more flaws pop up this year than the last few, point guard Kingston Flemings is arguably the best player that Houston has had under Kelvin Sampson.
Idaho’s season started with both the men and women beating rival Washington State on opening night for the first time in 40-plus years, and finished with both the men and women making the NCAA Tournament.
