Surprising College Basketball Teams Competing for Their Conference Titles

With a little more than a month left in college basketball's regular season, the cream is starting to rise to the top in conference standings. It's just not the same teams we expected to see when the 2014-15 season began.

Some of the nation's best conference races involve teams that were predicted to finish far from first place, while others feature schools that entered the season projected near the top but have faced the kind of adversity that normally leads to a disappointing season.

Coaches picked defending national champion Connecticut to win the American Athletic Conference, yet the Huskies sit in sixth place at the halfway point. Same goes for Florida in the SEC and Texas in the Big 12.

Instead, the spots those teams were supposed to be in right now have been taken up by a new crop of contenders, all of whom can be adequately described as "surprises."

Boise State

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Record: 16-6, 6-3 Mountain West (3rd)

Preseason projection: 2nd

How they've done it

Coming off its first-ever win at Utah State on Tuesday, Boise State has won six straight and gets co-Mountain West leader San Diego State in town this weekend. It's a far cry from the team that lost its first three conference games and four straight overall in December and January, back when the Broncos were still trying to figure out how to play without senior guard Anthony Drmic.

Drmic averaged 15 points over the first seven games before suffering an ankle injury, and in late December he was ruled out for the year.

Stepping up in his absence has been senior guard Derrick Marks, who is averaging 19.8 for the season but since Jan. 3 is averaging 25.5 points and shooting 54 percent.

Next big test

Feb. 8 vs. San Diego State (18-5, 8-2)

Butler

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Record: 17-6, 7-3 Big East (T-2nd)

Preseason projection: T-7th

How they've done it

After a dismal first season in the Big East, Butler's preparations for this year took a major detour when coach Brandon Miller left the team in October for undisclosed personal reasons. Butler appointed assistant Chris Holtmann its interim coach, but on Jan. 2, the school named him the permanent coach.

The Bulldogs have rallied behind Holtmann's leadership, starting with a third-place finish in the Battle 4 Atlantis (where they beat North Carolina and Big East foe Georgetown) and continuing into conference play. Butler is 3-2 on the road in the Big East, winning at St. John's and Seton Hall.

Butler has also benefited from the return of a healthy Roosevelt Jones, who missed all of last year with a wrist injury. The 6'4" junior forward is averaging 12.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists.

Next big test

Feb. 14 vs. Villanova (20-2, 7-2)

Dayton

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Record: 17-4, 7-2 Atlantic 10 (T-2nd)

Preseason projection: 3rd

How they've done it

Dayton was the surprise team of last year's NCAA tournament, pulling off upsets of Ohio State and Syracuse en route to the Elite Eight. There were strong expectations for this season, and the Flyers got off to a 7-2 start before coach Archie Miller had to dismiss his two tallest starters in mid-December.

Yet Dayton has kept on winning, going on an eight-game win streak and winning 10 of 12 since 6'9" juniors Jalen Robinson and Devon Scott were accused of stealing from dorm rooms. It's done so despite having only six scholarship players, and none taller than 6'6".

"No other Division I team is limited so noticeably," wrote Gary Parrish of CBS Sports. "Most junior college teams aren't this short in the frontcourt."

Dyshawn Pierre and Jordan Sibert—key pieces of last season's tourney run—and breakout sophomore Kendall Pollard have combined to average 41.3 points and 16.6 rebounds.

Next big test

Feb. 6 at George Washington (16-6, 6-3)

Georgia Southern

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Record: 15-4, 8-2 Sun Belt (1st)

Preseason projection: T-9th

How they've done it

Just like its football team was a major surprise in its first year of FBS play last fall, Georgia Southern's basketball squad is far exceeding expectations. The difference is this Eagles team has a chance to play in the postseason, and if it continues on its current pace, it would be the program's first such playoff appearance of any kind since making the NIT in 2006.

Georgia Southern, which went 15-19 playing in the Southern Conference last year, hasn't made the NCAA tournament since 1992.

Senior guard Jelani Hewitt averages 19.5 points and is making 3.3 three-pointers per game, but it's the defense that has paced the strong start. The Eagles are allowing less than 60 points per game and holding opponents to 37.7 percent shooting.

Next big test

Feb. 5 vs. Georgia State (15-7, 8-3)

Maryland

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Record: 19-4, 7-3 Big Ten (T-2nd)

Preseason projection: 10th

How they've done it

The team of turmoil with a turtle mascot needed to have a solid year in order to keep Mark Turgeon's job safe, but that didn't mean being the biggest surprise of the Big Ten.

Seven players transferred from last season's 17-15 team, meaning there was going to be a strong emphasis on the freshmen whom Maryland had coming in. This was exacerbated when senior guard Dez Wells injured his wrist and missed seven games, yet the Terrapins went 6-1 in that stretch and became a better team because of it.

"You don't get this type of turnaround without a psychologist," Maryland Sports Radio Network analyst Chris Knoche told Roman Stubbs of The Washington Post. "The guy who put this team on the couch is Mark Turgeon. I think he's done a really good job of working on the psychology."

Freshman Melo Trimble is averaging 15.2 points, and junior Jake Layman is shooting 49.8 percent while averaging 14.0 points and 6.9 rebounds.

Next big test

Feb. 8 at Iowa (13-8, 4-4)

Northern Iowa

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Record: 21-2, 10-1 Missouri Valley (T-1st)

Preseason projection: 2nd

How they've done it

Getting picked to finish second in the conference sounds nice, but Northern Iowa was pegged as a distant second in the Missouri Valley behind Wichita State. Yet after blowing out the Shockers by 16 points Saturday, the Panthers are the ones in control.

Behind do-everything forward Seth Tuttle, a 6'8" senior who averages 15.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists, Northern Iowa took VCU to double overtime on the road and would be perfect in conference play if not for a New Year's Day loss at Evansville.

The Panthers, who were 16-15 a year ago, haven't made the NCAA tournament since 2010.

Next big test

Feb. 28 at Wichita State (20-3, 10-1)

Notre Dame

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Record: 21-3, 9-2 ACC (2nd)

Preseason projection: 7th

How they've done it

Notre Dame went 15-17 a year ago, a team that had no centerpiece after star guard Jerian Grant was suspended for academics in December. Grant's return has been huge this season, but his presence has also led to every other Fighting Irish contributor becoming a lights-out shooter.

ND shoots 52.1 percent as a team and hits 40.4 percent of its three-pointers. This has enabled the Irish to contend with pretty much any opponent, whether they try to speed the game up or slow it down.

Only Virginia has managed to hold Notre Dame's offense down, and that's something it shares with many teams in the country.

Grant is still the focal point, averaging 17.3 points, but three other players are putting in at least 12.9 points per game.

Next big test

Feb. 7 at Duke (19-3, 6-3)

Purdue

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Record: 15-8, 7-3 Big Ten (T-2nd)

Preseason projection: 11th

How they've done it

Among the more notable coaches on the hot seat entering the season, Purdue's Matt Painter was coming off the program's first back-to-back losing seasons since the last year of Gene Keady's long tenure and Painter's first as his successor.

A third consecutive sub-.500 record was considered a possibility this year, with two of the Boilermakers' top three scorers moving on.

Yet behind 7-foot junior A.J. Hammons and senior guard Jon Octeus, a Colorado State transfer, Purdue is at the head of a pack of teams hoping to stay in sight of Big Ten leader Wisconsin heading into the second half of the conference schedule.

Wednesday's 60-58 home win over No. 20 Ohio State was Purdue's fourth straight victory, a stretch that also included wins over ranked Indiana and Iowa teams. Not bad for a team that went 8-5 in nonconference play, losing at home to Gardner-Webb and North Florida.

Next big test

Feb. 19 at Indiana (16-7, 6-4)

Tulsa

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Record: 16-5, 9-0 American (1st)

Preseason projection: 5th

How they've done it

Tulsa made a surprise run into the NCAA tournament last season despite having a relatively young roster that Danny Manning managed to cultivate into Conference USA tournament champions.

Manning parlayed that success into the Wake Forest job, leaving the Golden Hurricane in a lurch as they moved into a new league.

Frank Haith surprisingly bolted from Missouri in April to take what looked to be no better than a marginal gig, but now Haith is looking like an absolute genius, as he's got Tulsa almost running away with the American Athletic Conference, while his old school is at the bottom of the SEC standings.

But this isn't all about Haith. He also inherited a heck of a team, one that returned four starters from a year ago. The Hurricane struggled early, opening with a loss to Oral Roberts and also falling to Division II Southeast Oklahoma State, but they take an 11-game win streak into Thursday's game at Houston.

Next big test

Feb. 7 vs. SMU (18-4, 9-1)

UC Davis

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Record: 16-4, 6-1 Big West (T-1st)

Preseason projection: 7th

How they've done it

Since joining Division I in 2004-05, UC Davis has averaged 9.8 wins per season and never posted a winning record. This year, the Aggies have already achieved their most victories since their final season of Division II play and appear headed for their first postseason appearance since 2000.

Tied for the top spot in the Big West with projected front-runners Long Beach State and UC Irvine, Davis has gone perfect in conference games on the mainland (only losing at Hawaii by eight points).

The Aggies' leader, far and away, has been senior guard Corey Hawkins, who is sixth in Division I in scoring at 21.3 points per game.

The 6'3" Hawkins also leads the team in rebounds (5.4) and assists (3.8) while shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 52.6 percent from three-point range.

As a team, UC Davis ranks fourth nationally in shooting at 50.2 percent.

Next big test

Feb. 5 at UC Irvine (13-8, 6-1)

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.