NCAA Bracket 2012: Inconsistent Teams with Talent to Make Deep Tournament Runs

There's no escaping the past for any team in college basketball, regardless of how good or bad it may be, though the NCAA tournament does afford all 68 participants the opportunity to wipe the slate clean to some extent in pursuit of a national title.

Some elite teams (Kentucky, North Carolina and Syracuse) managed to live up to their lofty preseason expectations during the 2011-12 campaign. Some who weren't expected to do (as) much (Kansas, Missouri and Michigan State) managed to exceed expectations despite the obstacles that had been laid before them prior to the season.

And then, there were teams, like these three, who came into the year with high hopes, struggled for whatever reason but still have the chance to deliver on the promise with which they began.

Connecticut

Defending a championship is no easy task, especially when your most important player bolts for the NBA, though if any program was going to overcome the odds this time around, it was UConn.

Even without Kemba Walker, the Huskies were thought to have more than enough talent to be an elite team once again, thanks to the presumed maturation of Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier, the frontcourt experience of Alex Oriakhi and the arrival of highly-touted freshmen Andre Drummond and Ryan Boatright.

Unfortunately for folks in Storrs, overcoming Walker's departure proved to be a chore for the Huskies, as did the absence of Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun, who missed time while dealing with recurring health issues.

As such, the Huskies slumped their way to an 8-10 mark in the Big East, with bad losses to Rutgers and Providence, and found themselves firmly on the bubble on Selection Sunday.

The committee proved to be kind to UConn, giving the team an opportunity to show what it can do now that Calhoun is back at the helm. Assuming the Huskies hoop their way past Iowa State on Thursday, they'll be faced with a phenomenal Kentucky team in a rematch of last year's national semifinal, which saw the Huskies pull out a "W" on the way to the national championship.

Vanderbilt

Speaking of Kentucky, the Wildcats picked up just their second loss of the season on Sunday at the hands of Vanderbilt in the SEC championship.

Now, if you'd told folks in the preseason that this would've happened, few would've been all that surprised. After all, the Commodores came into the campaign ranked No. 7 in both polls, with five upperclassmen in the starting lineup, led by surefire NBA prospects John Jenkins and Jeffery Taylor.

It didn't take long for Kevin Stallings' club to underwhelm, though, with losses to Cleveland State and Indiana State outside of the SEC and decisions dropped to Mississippi State, Tennessee and Arkansas within it.

Yet, through all that, Vandy still finished second in the league and gave the Wildcats all they could handle (twice) before spoiling their perfect run through the SEC, 71-64.

Now, the Commodores look like a dangerous team to come out of the East Region, buoyed by their wealth of experience and outside shooting.

Then again, we've seen this script before, with Vandy coming into each of the last three tourneys as a No. 4 or 5 seed and winding up out of the running after their first game. 

Baylor

It's tough to characterize a No. 3 seed as having had a disappointing season, though that's exactly where Baylor finds itself heading into tourney time.

The Bears had so much talent coming in—between Perry Jones III, Pierre Jackson, AJ Walton and Quincy Miller and Quincy Acy—but still finished four games behind a supposedly-rebuilding Kansas club and two behind shorthanded, new-coached Missouri.

Scott Drew's squad began to make good on its "loadedness" during championship week, with a run to the Big 12 title game that was just as surprising as it wasn't.

We'd expected this from Baylor all along! Of course they should've been there!

And now they're back in the Big Dance, two years removed from a run to the Elite Eight. Should the Bears work their way past South Dakota State and UNLV/Colorado, they'll likely have a shot at redemption against Duke after falling short of the Final Four against the Blue Devils in 2010.

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