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5 Unranked Teams That Could Make The Final Four

February 16, 2021
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We are just two weeks away from March, and the college hoops action is heating up! With Selection Sunday just out of sight, the Selection Committee is gearing up for what is looking like their toughest year yet. With all of the COVID-19 related delays and pauses, there are lots of quality basketball teams that are flying under the radar right now. In this article, we are going to take a look at five teams that are not currently ranked in the top-25 that could make a run all of the way to the Final Four. Let’s get started by taking a look at a team that is no stranger to the Final Four, the UCLA Bruins!

UCLA Bruins (10-3)

The UCLA Bruins are lurking just outside of the top-25 in the newly released AP poll, but make no mistake, this is a very talented team. Last year, the Bruins finished the season on a tear in head coach Mick Cronin’s first year in Westwood. They went from 8-9 to 19-12 after the strong finish, and many people were looking at them as a dark horse Final Four team last year, as one of the hottest teams in the nation, before seeing the postseason get canceled.

The Bruins rode that momentum into this season, as they brought back basically all of last year’s team, and they entered the year as the favorites in the PAC-12. The Bruins lived up to that hype early in the season as they won twelve of their first fourteen games, with their only losses coming to top-25 teams Ohio State and San Diego State. That run had the Bruins ranked and looking like they would run away with the PAC-12 regular-season title.

UCLA has had a tough go of it recently, though, as they have lost three out of their last four games, with all of those games coming in road conference games. The losses to Stanford and USC were understandable, but the loss at Washington State was a bit of a head-scratcher. This recent skid has dropped the Bruins out of the top-25 and into second place in the PAC-12, trailing USC by one game in the loss column.

These late-season struggles are certainly a bit concerning, but when you look at what Mick Cronin has been able to do in his career, you have to feel like he is going to get this turned around before the madness starts. Cronin took Cincinnati to the NCAA tournament in each of his final nine seasons leading the Bearcats program, and in his previous gig before that, he led Murray State to the tournament in two out of his three seasons at the helm. Cronin is a winner, and he knows how to lead teams into the postseason.

UCLA uses a balanced attack with five players averaging double-digits scoring. The loss of senior guard Chris Smith doesn’t help their chances of making a deep run in the tournament, but this team is deep enough to handle the loss.

The Bruins finish out the regular season with games against USC, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado, and a strong finish would lock up at least a share of the PAC-12 regular-season title. We saw how Cronin and the Bruins finished last season, and I expect more of the same this year, and nobody wants to see the Bruin’s name in their bracket come March.

Florida Gators (10-5)

When Keyontae Johnson collapsed on the floor earlier this season, it looked like the Gator’s dreams of a trip to the Final Four collapsed with him. Johnson came into this season expected to compete for All-SEC honors as one of the best forwards in the conference, and the Gators saw themselves as every bit as talented as any other team in the SEC. After winning their first three games of the year, Johnson went down with a heart ailment early in the game against Florida State, and the Gators lost their first game of the season.

Without their leader on the floor, the Gators struggled and lost games to Alabama, Kentucky, and Mississippi State. But lately, the Gators are finding their stride and wins over West Virginia, in Morgantown no less, and Tennessee, showing me this Florida team can beat elite competition.

Tre Mann has stepped up to fill Johnson’s shoes and leads the team in scoring at 14.5 points per game and is second in rebounding at 5.3 boards per contest. Fellow forward Colin Castleton is right behind him with averages of 13.2 and 5.6. The frontcourt play has been stellar, and it makes you wonder how good this team could have been if Johnson had managed to stay healthy.

Florida has a sneaky good offense as they are 19th in the nation in offensive efficiency per Kenpom. They play stout defense as well, currently coming in at 48th. They had a bit of a letdown game in their last game coming off of the huge upset in Morgantown, losing at home to South Carolina, but when you are looking at team’s ability to get deep into the NCAA tournament, it is all about who they can beat, not how consistent they play. The teams that have talent and get hot late, are the ones you want to watch out for, and Florida fits that description perfectly.

There is still a lot of meat left on the bone in the regular season for Florida as they play at Arkansas, Auburn, and Kentucky and host Georgia and Missouri. Those are all tough but winnable games for the Gators. If they can run the table in the regular season, this could be a team that sneaks into a top-4 seed, which is going to be very advantageous to a second weekend, or beyond, run in the Big Dance.

Purdue Boilermakers (13-8)

This next team might surprise some of you out there, as Purdue isn’t even a team that is a lock to be dancing in March, as they find themselves squarely on the bubble right now, but if the Boilermakers do get their dancing shoes, watch out! Matt Painter’s team is the definition of high upside and low floor. The Boilermakers have eight losses on the season, which is going to be more than any other team on this list. But they also have wins against Notre Dame, Maryland, Indiana, Penn State, Ohio State (twice), and Minnesota.

The Boilermakers have played an absolutely brutal schedule with an SOS of 6, and if they can sneak into the tournament, they are going to be battle-tested and ready to play anybody. Purdue has true road wins at Ohio State, Indiana, and Michigan State, and they have shown the ability to win no matter where the game is being played. That is the type of team you want to get behind in March.

The schedule lets up just a little bit the rest of the way out as Purdue hosts Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Indiana and has road trips to Nebraska and Penn State. Kenpom projects the Boilermakers winning four out of those five games, and to be honest, they need those wins, as they are sitting right at the cut line.

There are two big reasons why I like this Boilermakers team so much. First and foremost, Matt Painter is one heck of a head coach. This guy seems to always get his teams into the tournament, and he wins games when he gets there. Painter has taken Purdue to the tournament eleven times in his career, and they have won at least one game in nine of those years. The Boilermakers have made it to the second weekend five times, including a trip to the Elite Eight, under Painter.

The other reason why I think this Purdue team is going to be a problem in the tournament is Trevion Williams. Williams is an absolute monster in the paint for Painter and is nearly averaging a double-double at 15.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. This guy just seems to always be in the right place at the right time, and he gives Purdue a big man that can match up with the best bigs in the nation. With how the schedule lays out, I think Purdue gets in barring a late-season collapse, and they are going to be scary in the tournament.

BYU Cougars (15-5)

The BUY Cougars aren’t getting much attention in the West Coast Conference as Gonzaga is stealing all of the limelight, but you are going to want to make sure that the Cougars are on your radar. The list of wins for BYU is awfully impressive, considering that they play in the WCC. BYU has top-100 wins over St. John’s, Utah State, Utah, San Diego State, Saint Mary’s, and San Francisco.

When you look at the teams to beat BYU, you can see that they don’t lose to bad teams very often. Two of these five losses came to Gonzaga, and you certainly can’t fault them too much for not being able to beat the Zags. Another loss came to a Boise State Broncos team that spent time in the top-25 earlier this year and have a real shot at the Mountain West Conference regular-season title.

BYU also lost to USC, another team that could take home a regular-season league title this year, as the Trojans are currently in first place in the PAC-12. They did have a fluky road loss at Pepperdine, but road games in conference play are always going to be tougher than they appear on the surface.

The analytics tells us that BYU is likely better than they are getting credit for, as they are ranked 30th on Kenpom, and both their offense and their defense are top-50 in terms of efficiency. Former Arizona transfer Alex Barcello has blossomed into one of the top players in the WCC, and if it weren’t for Gonzaga having a team chalked full of future NBA lottery picks, he could contend for player of the year in the league. Barcello fills up the stat sheet with 15.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists a game.

If you pull out those two losses to the Zags, the Cougars have won ten out of eleven games. BYU has to win out in the regular season to get into the tournament, and all three of their games do come on the road, but when you see they are against Pacific, Loyola Marymount, and Santa Clara, it leads me to believe they will take care of business. BYU probably needs to get to the finals of the WCC tournament as well, if they want an at-large bid, but they beat both Saint Mary’s and San Francisco, the next two best teams in the WCC, with both wins coming on the road, so that shouldn’t be too much of an ask.

Oregon Ducks (12-4)

Everybody loves to hate on the PAC-12. And I get it, the conference of champions hasn’t been elite in the last decade or so, and they are on the brink of losing their power conference status as leagues like the AAC, A-10, and WCC threaten to pass them by. But this year, I’m not so sure all that hate is warranted, as I think the league is going to surprise some people in the tournament.

We already talked about how I like UCLA, and USC is a legit top-10 team in my eyes as well. Throw in Colorado, who somehow isn’t ranked in the AP Poll despite being ranked 14th on Kenpom, and this league is actually pretty good. That leads me to the other team that is much better than most people are giving them credit for right now, the Oregon Ducks.

Oregon was playing great basketball early in the year as they won nine out of their first eleven games, including wins over Stanford, Seton Hall, San Francisco, and Utah. Then the Ducks had a COVID-19 outbreak in the program, and they were put on pause for two weeks. We have seen multiple times that when teams come back from these mid-season delays that they don’t play very well, and that was the case for Oregon, as they lost their first two games back, both coming at home, to Oregon State and Washington State.

But since then, the Ducks have gotten their rhythm back, and they are back to playing good basketball. Oregon is on a three-game winning streak, and last week the Ducks picked up a road sweep over both Arizona and Arizona State. They get a chance to avenge their loss to Colorado at home this week, and if the Ducks can win that one to run this winning streak to four straight games, there are going to jump right back into the top-25 nationally.

The Ducks are just a game back of USC in the PAC-12 standings, and even though the league is everyone’s favorite power conference punching bag, whichever team emerges as the league champion is going to be a solid basketball team. Eugene Omoruyi leads the way for Oregon, and the senior transfer from Rutgers has really found himself lately. Omoruyi is averaging 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals a game during this current three-game winning streak, and if he can keep playing at this high of a level, I think Oregon has a real shot at snagging at least a share of the PAC-12 title.

Wrap Up

Some of these teams are just criminally underrated by the public and should be ranked, while others are just talented teams that aren’t deserving of a top-25 ranking but can compete with the best teams in the nation. Either way, don’t be shocked if all of these teams are still playing on the second weekend of the tournament, and if they get hot, they could be cutting down the nets at the Final Four. Thanks for reading, and make sure that you stay tuned to TheSportsGeek as we get closer to March Madness!

https://www.thesportsgeek.com/blog/5-unranked-teams-that-could-make-the-final-four/

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