March Madness Is Heating Up
February wins opening doors for NCAA sleepers
College basketball's mid-major conference teams are jockeying for NCAA Tournament bids and tickets to March Madness. Suite101 ranks the top 5 NCAA Tournament sleepers.
Suite101's Top 5 March Madness NCAA Tournament Sleepers
- Winthrop Eagles, 23-4 (Big South) -- The Eagles have won 13 straight and 17 of 18. An easy victory over NCAA Tournament hopeful Missouri State is a great resume builder. Winthrop sports a very nice backcourt of Michael Jenkins and Torrell Martin. Both are big and average a combined 30 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. The Eagles have a big front court, too, and go nine deep. Winthrop lost by just 3 points at top-ranked Wisconsin in December and lost a close game after leading by 8 at halftime at North Carolina.
- Appalacian State Mountaineers, 21-6 (Southern League North) -- The Mountaineers have a non-conference RPI ranking of 7. An amazing road team, Appalacian State had four straight wins at Virginia, at Central Florida at Vanderbilt, who defeated top-ranked Florida, and at Virginia Commonwealth;all of these teams are likely NCAA Tournament qualifiers.The Mountaineers also won at 23-4 Davidson and at Wichita State. A team with tremendous depth and experience, the Mountaineers play 10 guys more than 12 minutes per game. Only senior guard D.J. Thompson plays 30 minutes, and 5 starters average double figures. Forward Donte Minter gets 12 points and 5 rebounds in just 19 minutes. An 11th man, freshman guard Ryan Abraham gets 7.5 minutes.
- Davidson Wildcats, 23-4 (Southern League South) -- The Wildcats are a lofty 19-1 in their last 20 games. Guard Stephen Curry averages20 pts 4.6 rebounds per game and shoots 40% from 3-pt range. Davidson sports a solid seven-player rotation, playing without a true center. The Wildcats could be one of the 12 seeds who beats a 5 seed. It happens ever year in the NCAA Tournament.
- Santa Clara Broncos, 20-7 (WCC) – Santa Clara beat Gonzaga and San Diego twice. The Broncos can play very big with 6-11 Sean Dennison, who had 18 points and 12 rebounds in a recent win over San Diego, John Bryant, 6-10, 320, and Josh Higgins 7-0, 275, and Scott Doherty is a big guard at 6-4. Santa Clara had a quality loss to number 10 Nevada early in season. The Broncos could be a very tough 12-14 seed, especially for a team that is not too big.
- South Alabama Jaguars, 20-8 (Sun Belt) – The Jaguars have won 13 of 14, including solid February win over Western Kentucky. South Alabama starts all upperclassmen with a solid backcourt of Demetric Bennett and Deon Merritt, who combine for 28 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Ernest Little is an excellent forward at 6-9, 230, who contributes 13 points and 9 rebounds.
The copyright of the article March Madness Is Heating Up in College Basketball is owned by Mark Barnes. Permission to republish March Madness Is Heating Up must be granted by the author in writing.
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Feb 19, 2007 2:27 PM
Mark Barnes
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