Dark Horses with Potential to Win Major NCAA Basketball Conferences in 2015-16

We love the underdog. The out-of-nowhere story.

Really—how many folks outside Lexington wanted Kentucky to run the table to the very end? Maybe some historians, too, but weren't Michigan State and Duke just as intriguing to last until the Final Four under their particular circumstances?

And that's what we're here to discuss: not the favorites, not the next-in-line contenders...but the dark horses. The ones that need some breaks to, in this case, win league championships but nonetheless shouldn't be considered so far off the radar that they don't register a few beeps.

Can a defending NCAA runner-up really sneak up on a conference? Can anyone really upset Kansas? Can anyone really be a threat to those SEC-dominant Wildcats?

Of course. Again, we're not talking likely. But we're talking possible.

Summon your inner Lloyd Christmas.

We're sayin' there's a chance...

ACC Dark Horse: Miami Hurricanes

Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

College basketball fans have to have warm spots in their hearts for Miami head coach Jim Larranaga.

Sure, the love and respect date back to the George Mason Final Four run of '06 (has it been that long already?).

But his team these days has an interesting chance to be a threat in the ACC around the usual powers.

Sure, Virginia will be right at the top. But it lost Justin Anderson somewhat surprisingly to the NBA draft.

North Carolina will be the favorite, but it needs Marcus Paige to be healthy after foot problems hurt him last year. You say Duke's young again? We'll say "so what?" after what it accomplished last year, though truth be told, the Blue Devils aren't quite as talented this year.

Then the loaded ACC has North Carolina State, which seems to make a habit of underachieving in the regular season.

But don't totally scoff at Miami, which returns the regular rotation and also adds power forward Kamari Murphy (previously at Oklahoma State).

Senior center Tonye Jekiri missed some early offseason conditioning work following tonsil surgery.

But a deep NIT run with this group and a healthy, more confident Angel Rodriguez could put UM in contention not only for a return to the NCAA tournament, but a trip to the top of a terrific league. Rodriguez will need to rediscover his scoring for any chance.

AAC Dark Horse: Houston Cougars

Jeffrey Phelps/Associated Press

A coach seeking to make good again in the college game has enlisted a player with a spotty history to help transform a program.

What's going on at Houston is most certainly a power keg. UH coach Kelvin Sampson has insisted on multiple occasions that he's done his due diligence in signing former Oregon standout Damyean Dotson, who was dismissed after sexual assault allegations. (Dotson is pictured above.)

Dotson is from Houston and signed with the local school about a year after his issues surfaced in Eugene, and the 6'5'' guard (a two-year Ducks starter) is eligible immediately.

It's classic high-risk, high-reward, as Yahoo's Jeff Eisenberg suggested in April.

Throw in former Purdue guard Ronnie Johnson, and Sampson has the pieces to be a threat. Johnson was second on Purdue in scoring as a sophomore (10.8 ppg) and ranked ninth in the Big Ten in assists (3.7), though he told the Indianapolis Star's Kyle Neddenriep after the 2013-14 season that he felt Boilermakers coach Matt Painter lost confidence in him.

It will take no shortage of confidence to hang with obvious AAC favorite SMU (which is awaiting announcement on potential NCAA rules infractions), Cincinnati (which gets back coach Mick Cronin) or likely resurgent UConn.

But if the transfers pan out, Sampson may just find some rekindled Oklahoma magic.

Big 12 Dark Horse: West Virginia Mountaineers

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

The Big 12 race clearly runs through Lawrence.

But sooner or later, Kansas will fade. Wouldn't it be wild if a team came out of nowhere to end the 11-year streak?

West Virginia has a toe holding the door open at this point, based on coach Bob Huggins' savvy—and the amount of love he inspires, as pictured above—not to mention a talented returning lineup, along with a game plan that can drive opponents nuts.

The Mountaineers were hardly the most talented team in the league last year, but they still found a way to rattle KU at home and made it to the Sweet 16 even after Juwan Staten and Gary Browne missed significant time.

High-pressure defense and hitting the boards will continue to be keys, even as Staten and Browne are gone.

Country roads will be less bumpy if Devin Williams continues to grow at both ends of the floor and Jonathan Holton continues to register extra offensive chances for his teammates.

Daxter Miles and Jevon Carter will be sophomores who showed some potential. Getting whomped by Kentucky in the NCAA tournament—after some unfortunately timed trash talk—will be a good lesson to just keep focused on the task at hand.

Getting through the favorites, including Oklahoma and Iowa State, will not be simple. We have no idea what to make of Shaka Smart at Texas right now. Baylor's always in the mix these days. But Huggins could certainly produce an outfit that sneaks into the fold if it can stay healthy and together.

Big East Dark Horse: Marquette Golden Eagles

John Minchillo/Associated Press

A second-year head coach with a revamped roster is rarely going to play the role of "favorite."

And Marquette doesn't, not around Providence, Villanova, Xavier or even Georgetown.

But what Steve Wojciechowski brings is some solid experience and a relatively fresh start after putting his first significant imprints on a rebuilding program.

MU will essentially start over (after losing three seniors on a score-challenged team) with Indiana transfer Luke Fischer and a hotly commended recruiting class that features big man Henry Ellenson, who should feel especially comfortable as he's lined up with his older brother, Wally.

The younger Ellenson is the program's first McDonald's All-America honoree in over 30 years.

It's asking a lot for Wojo to go from ninth place to first, but there should be enough comparable talent where the Golden Eagles won't need every break in the book for it to happen.

Big Ten Dark Horse: Wisconsin Badgers

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

This one feels like two levels of absurd.

Can a defending NCAA finalist actually be a dark horse?

Can a team not named Duke or Kentucky that lost two first-round draft picks, including the national POY, actually be in the mix in league play?

Pardon us for checking "yes" twice and sort of/kind of rooting for the storybook season for Wisconsin, which will likely have coach Bo Ryan's swan song.

Bronson Koenig, Zak Showalter and Nigel Hayes will have to do a lot of slack pickup to account for the losses of Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker. We know that.

Even our own Kerry Miller is writing off the Badgers, and it's understandable.

But let's say Maryland can't win all of the close games it seized last year and fails to live up to the preseason hype. Plus, Indiana finds some tough Crean-cursed mojo like last year, and the Hoosiers can't live up to the higher expectations. And Michigan State, while an obvious league front-runner, can't immediately rekindle the magic now-graduated Travis Trice and Branden Dawson produced.

Then are you really going to bet against Bo?

PAC-12 Dark Horse: Oregon State

John Locher/Associated Press

Truth is, we're not going to dig quite as deep to find an upset pick in the Pac-12.

Arizona is the obvious favorite. Cal, behind a bevy of talented recruits, is the sexy pick.

But it's Oregon State that could be a real threat. Dam straight, Beavers.

Point guard Gary Payton II is one of only two first-team all-conference players in the fold in 2015-16, among the 10 from last year's list (Cal's Tyrone Wallace is the other).

Oregon and Utah each lost a standout talent (Joseph Young and Delon Wright, respectively), and Wayne Tinkle's second-year team loses no one of significance as it chases an NCAA tournament bid that has been elusive since 1990.

Tinkle will bring in his own son, highly recruited Tres, to the roster.

A team that should score better this year should also get some more easy baskets, too, with Payton returning as the NCAA's best theft producer.

The Pac-12 could be wide open. But historically speaking, OSU has to be a dark horse.

SEC Dark Horse: LSU Tigers

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

LSU might just be in the sweet spot of SEC dark-horse picks.

It's not Kentucky, of course. It's not Texas A&M, which at least returns three starters and will be in the race. On the flip side, Florida (new coach and all) and Arkansas (lost talent and all) are probably too far outside the realm of possibility.

So we'll give the nod to a sensational recruiting class in Baton Rouge that doesn't have Les Miles' fingerprints.

Ben Simmons should be a day-one breakout star. Antonio Blakeney has become a quick friend. Brandon Simpson originally was going to play for Steve Lavin at St. John's. Whoops. Lavin isn't around NYC. So the kid stayed close to home.

The uncertain drama around the fresh talent is that LSU could've been so much more. But Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin took their 31 points and 20 rebounds (average) to the NBA earlier than anyone could've figured.

Simmons is a versatile 6'10'' beast. How coach Johnny Jones uses him—best for the team, or merely however Simmons wishes to be showcased for his inevitably quick route to the NBA—will be an exciting unveiling.

Simmons getting attention is hardly a dark-horse consideration. But getting the Tigers to compete for a conference title against considerably more experienced teams (remember, UK still has Tyler Ulis and Alex Poythress and a host of fresh blue-chip talent) would certainly be an unlikely ascent, albeit with distinct possibility right now.