Five Under the Radar National Championship Contenders

The college basketball season is swiftly approaching us. This will be a year like no other with Coach K farewell tour, fans back in the stands at full capacity, and I hate to say it, but the blue bloods will be back this year. Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky will be at the top of college basketball all year. But where can you find the guys that aren’t talked about enough and will have a shot at the national title? Let’s find out.

1. Syracuse

It would be hard to leave out one of the most dangerous teams in March in history under Jim Boeheim. They always seem to be right on the bubble but then emerge in the ACC tournament and then March Madness. This time they have one of the best shooting teams they’ve ever had and returners who are more experienced in the zone and under the bright lights. Buddy Boeheim became the talk of the country for how well he played down the stretch last year and with Quincy Guerrier transferring and Alan Griffin gone he will be the focal point. They add Cole Swider from Villanova who will be a solid piece to the backcourt and Jimmy Boeheim who transfers in from Cornell. The question will be if Joe Girard can become the consistent point guard that this team needs because they will have a rotation of 7 or 8 guys and will play a lot of minutes. Will the Orange find a run like they did with Carmelo? We will see.

2. Indiana

Mike Woodson has done everything right since becoming head coach. He brought back an All-American candidate in Trayce Jackson-Davis, has recruits coming their way, and he’s added valuable transfers to the roster for this year with guys like Miller Kopp, Xavier Johnson, Parker Stewart, and Michael Durr. Mike Woodson can do everything that he must do but the fact of the matter is Indiana has become an afterthought in the Big Ten and hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2016. Woodson will need to fix the guard play and implement some of that NBA spacing to this team so they can find adequate spacing to score the ball. They have the talent but ranked 70th in offensive efficiency last year per KenPom. Indiana could have a chance to emerge towards the top with teams like Iowa, Wisconsin, and Rutgers projected to have down years.

3. Oregon

As long as Dana Altman is the head coach of the Oregon Ducks, they can make a run come March. Throughout the years we have seen time after time that Oregon shows how good they are in the non-conference schedule, then struggles for a portion of the Pac 12 season and hits their stride come March. Losing Chris Duarte, Eugene Omoruyi, and LJ Figueroa will be tough to replace but Altman and his staff have rebuilt this roster perfectly. They added an instant impact five-star Freshman in Nate Bittle at the center position, then added an already proven player in the Frontcourt in Quincy Guerrier from Syracuse, and then to replace Chris Duarte they got De’Vion Harmon from Oklahoma and Jacob Young from Rutgers. The best part for the Ducks is they added all these impact players while still having their go to guy Will Richardson who will look to take the reins after playing alongside Duarte and Payton Pritchard in his three seasons in Eugene. If they can stay healthy, this is a major team to watch.

4. Maryland

It remains to be seen if Mark Turgeon can make a run in March. Since he took over in the 2011-2012 season the Maryland Terrapins have been a top 6 seed four times and made the tournament five times. They have only made it past the second round once and that was a year they beat a 13 and a 12 seed before losing by double digits to a 1 seeded Kansas team. To say that the seat hasn’t been warm for Turgeon in recent years to make a run would be an understatement. Losing Aaron Wiggins to the NBA and Darryl Morsell to Marquette will be a challenge but they have solid key pieces. They bring back leading scorer Eric Ayala and keep Donta Scott and Hakim Hart. Maryland struggled against the dominant bigs in the Big Ten last year. Donta Scott was guarding the likes of Garza, Dickinson, Jackson-Davis, and Cockburn. This year they have a solid big themselves in Qudus Wahab from Georgetown. The backcourt will replace Wiggins and Morsell with Ayala and Hart but also adding everyone’s favorite player after the Rhode Island/Oklahoma Trae Young tournament game, Fatts Russell. To go along with this, James Graham III, Marcus Dockery, and Ike Cornish. This should be a balanced team; a lot depends on if Qudus Wahab is able to bring it every night in the Big Ten.

5. St. Bonaventure

This is a longshot to happen, but this Bonnies team is stacked under Mark Schmidt and has some 2020 Dayton Flyers vibes to them. I believe this will be a team that will have a good record all year, but some people won’t believe they are for real since they play in the Atlantic 10; this time I hope we can find out if the A-10 team is real in the postseason. The Bonnies are led by a dominant duo in point guard Kyle Lofton (14.4 ppg, 5.5 apg) and monster in the paint Osun Osunniyi (9.4 rpg). To go along with this, have three wings who all averaged double digit points last year Jaren Holmes (13.8 ppg), Jalen Adaway (12.2 ppg), and Dominick Welch (11.4 ppg). This starting 5 is up there with some of the best in the country and they are all experienced returners. A team that you know will be tough defensively and able to score the ball, they have a chance to make some noise. They also added some ACC transfers in Karim Coulibaly from Pittsburgh and Quadry Adams from Wake Forest. The Bonnies will have Virginia Tech and UCONN in the non-conference schedule and then most people won’t see them again until March even though the Atlantic 10 continues to prove to be a great basketball conference. Watch out for these Bonnies!