Five Under-the-Radar Teams to Look Out for in March

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Sam Lance, Co-editor-and-chief

Madness. It’s the coined term of college basketball come March for the NCAA tournament, and it has already been prevalent this season.

In February, six Associated Press top 10 teams lost on the same day, which matches the record for the most in one day. With upsets bound to happen in March, here are some under-the-radar teams to look out for.

Michigan

The Wolverines started the year unranked and were projected to be a bubble team, but boy have they surprised.

After winning four games in four days and beating Michigan State and Purdue for the Big 10 tournament title, Michigan heads into the tournament on a nine game winning streak.

Michigan is hot and dangerous. They space the floor with five shooters, including sophomore Moritz Wanger, who is on the Wooden Award watch list.

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman has been a much needed senior leader and sophomore Zavier Simpson has improved greatly in the point guard role. Michigan also has a really strong bench and the defense has improved. Watch out for those Wolverines!

Tennessee

Currently sitting at the top of the SEC, Tennessee is 23-7 going into the conference tournament. They have quality wins over Purdue, Kentucky and Florida, and they have also played competitively with potential final four teams like North Carolina and Villanova.

Tennessee shares the wealth and plays great, unselfish basketball. They have three players who average double figures in points, including sophomore Grant Williams. Williams is a great scorer on the block and opens up the Volunteers three point shooting, which is 38 percent as a team.

The Volunteers will be a really tough out in the tournament and are a sneaky pick as a final four team.

Houston

The Cougars have trumped two potential final four teams in Wichita State and Cincinnati, which makes them a intimidating team at 24-6.

They are slated to be around a 7-10 seed, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, and they could easily upset a top tier team in the tournament.

Senior Rob Gray has been the catalyst for the team and is leading Houston in scoring at 18.1 points per game. Corey Davis Jr. is also putting up sound scoring numbers, and he solidifies Houston on the defensive end.

When picking your bracket, watch out for these Cougars.

Creighton

The Big East has been dominated by Xavier and Villanova this year, but the Blue Jays have beaten Villanova and played Xavier to a close 1 point game that came down to the final shot.

Creighton is 21-10 and has gathered four wins against AP top 25 teams. They are a hard nose defensive team with laser shooting from beyond the arc at 37.9 percent.

Senior Marcus Foster, who is averaging more than 20 points per game, is having a terrific season and will look to propel his team in the big dance.

Texas Tech

The Red Raiders play in the tough Big 12, so there’s no doubt they have faced their fair share of challenging teams.

Tech currently sits at 23-8 heading into the Big 12 tournament, and they have huge wins over Kansas, West Virginia, Baylor and South Carolina.

While they might be young, Tech is long and athletic. Zhaire Smith and Jarrett Culver are matchup nightmares on the perimeter and have really stepped up down the stretch. By the way, they are only freshman.

The Red Raiders should be a tough out in the NCAA tournament as well as the Big 12 tournament this week.