Illinois and 5 Underachieving Teams That Will Succeed Come March
Every season, there are always a few inconsistent, but talented teams that seem to stumble during conference play.
This year, it seems as some of the teams that were mentioned as potential conference champions and Final Four contenders have folded and now face a tough road to reach the NCAA Tournament in March.
Many issues can cause this dilemma. Whether it be a lack of veteran leadership, sub-par coaching, or immaturity, teams can always find themselves during late February and make a late push into the NCAA tournament.
What a team needs to make a run in March is a point guard with strong ball handling skills, rebounding big men, and and solid team defense.
The following five teams exemplify enough of these traits that despite their recent struggles, they should be a force to be reckoned with late in the season.
Illinois Fighting Illini
1 of 5
Preseason Ranking: 16
Current Ranking (as of February 15, 2011): Unranked
Record (as of February 15, 2011): 16-9, 4th in Big Ten
The Fighting Illini came into the 2010-2011 campaign with high hopes of a return to the top of the Big Ten.
They had a solid recruiting class led by McDonald's All American, Jereme Richmond, and veteran leadership from point guard Demetri McCamey and forward Mike Davis.
After a loss to the University of Illinois-Chicago in mid-December, the Illini have yet to regain the intensity that distinguished them from other talented teams from across the country.
This loss to UIC began a disturbing pattern of playing either up or down to their opponents. Bruce Weber's club has had bad losses to Penn State, Indiana, and Northwestern in conference play.
But, what does give the Illini promise is that they do also play up to the level of their opponents.
For example, Illinois has beaten Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota, and North Carolina. The also played Ohio State tough in a five-point loss and took Texas to overtime.
Overall, Bruce Weber and his talented squad should be able to poll together enough consistency to make the NCAA tournament and do some damage based on their touguness and talent—all while riding on the back of their experienced leader, Demetri McCamey.
Michigan State Spartans
2 of 5
Preseason Ranking: 2
Current Ranking (as of February 15, 2011): Unranked
Record (as of February 15, 2011): 14-11, 5th in Big Ten
After Michigan State and Tom Izzo reached their second consecutive Final Four last April, many held the veteran Spartans in high regard.
With a healthy Kalin Lucas and a strong supporting cast, the defensive minded Spartans would have been a favorite to reach its third consecutive Final Four.
But, with offseason turmoil surrounding the transfer of guard Chris Allen and Coach Tom Izzo's interest in the Cleveland Cavaliers head coaching vacancy, the Spartans have yet to play up to their potential.
Michigan State has struggled to a 6-7 record in the Big Ten, correlating with their lack of consistency. With embarrassing losses at Iowa and at home against Michigan and the lack of a true signature win, the Spartans have a lot to take care of in order to make the NCAA Tournament.
Although their resume may have many holes, the Spartans have opportunities in their next three games, following a 10-point loss at Ohio State, to make their case to the selection committee. With wins in their next three games (vs Illinois, @ Minnesota, vs Purdue), the Spartans should be able to regain the confidence that they lost early in the season.
With this confidence, combined with Tom Izzo's illustrious coaching experience, Michigan State could be a major lower-seeded threat in March.
Kansas State Wildcats
3 of 5
Preseason Ranking: 3
Current Ranking (as of February 15, 2011): Unranked
Record (as of February 15, 2011): 17-9, 6th in Big 12
Like Michigan State, K-State was feverishly hyped after their Elite Eight loss to Butler in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. With the return of stars Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly, the Wildcats had the talent and experience to make a deep run into March.
KSU faced a tough test in their 5th game of the season as they traveled to Kansas City to take on the defending national champions, Duke.
After sustaining that 14-point loss, the graduation of last year's senior leader, Dennis Clemente (17 pts, four assists in 35 mpg), was extremely apparent. Clemente's composure and headiness steadied the erratic Wildcats during their tournament run last March.
Adding insult to injury, both Pullen and Kelly were forced to miss games to do question about improper benefits they may have received. In the absence of Pullen and Kelly, the team was 2-1 with a loss to UNLV.
Kelly was forced to sit out three more games as his team dropped two of three games, with back to back losses to Oklahoma State and Colorado to open up Big 12 play.
Coming into their matchup with No. 1 Kansas in Manhattan, Kansas State had an 0-5 record against teams that are currently ranked amongst the top 25 teams in the country, losing by a combined 15 points per game.
The Wildcat's matchup with Kansas was accurately billed as a "season-saver" as K-State won by 16, giving them a signature win to add to their tournament resume.
All in all, Kansas State's latest victory should catapult their confidence leading them on a charge through the Big 12 and NCAA tournament, possibly resulting in another trip to the Elite Eight.
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Tennessee Volunteers
4 of 5
Preseason Ranking: 20
Current Ranking (as of February 15, 2011): Unranked
Record (as of February 15, 2011): 15-10, 5th in SEC - East
Recruiting violations and odd off-the-court antics (showing up shirtless and body painted to Tennessee Lady Vols basketball games) seem to follow coach Bruce Pearl everywhere he goes.
That was no different this season as Pearl was suspended by the SEC for the first eight games of conference play for violating recruiting laws.
But, one thing coach Pearl is, is that he's not scared to play any team at any point during the season. Tennessee's top ranked strength of schedule and top 25 RPI are very impressive based on the fact that the Vols are currently posting a .500 record in the SEC.
But, like many of the teams featured in this article, the Volunteers have been the definition of inconsistency. When looking at their wins over Villanova, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, and Memphis, UT looks like a solid contender in the SEC.
But, they have had some inexplicably bad losses, such as back-to-back losses to Oakland and Charlotte, and even worse, a 13-point loss at home against the College of Charleston on New Year's Eve.
After examining their puzzling losses, it may seem hard to find any reason to consider Tennessee a serious threat late in the year. But looking back at some previous seasons, the Volunteers reached the Elite Eight in '10, and the Sweet 16 in '07 and '08.
This experience is demonstrated by having 10 upperclassmen on the roster, including leading scorer, Scottie Hopson.
Overall, the six wins over teams with an RPI in the top 50 should outweigh the bad losses for Tennessee.
One more thing in their favor is that all it takes to get hot in the tournament is a couple of games where they play as well as they did in their wins against Pittsburgh and Villanova.
Missouri Tigers
5 of 5
Preseason Ranking: 15
Current Ranking (as of February 15, 2011): 21
Record (as of February 15, 2011): 20-6, 4th in Big 12
Just by looking at the numbers, Mike Anderson's Missouri Tigers look as if they are a truly quality team. But, where the Tigers have really been playing underwhelming basketball is on the road.
The Tigers are just 1-5 away from Columbia 0-4 in the Big 12.
Another issue for Missouri is their lack of interior size. This may become a problem during the tournament and has already posed problems for them when they played Kansas.
The Tigers lost by 27 at Kansas and struggled to contain the Morris brothers inside. Despite their 20-6 record, Missouri has struggled to reach its 6-5 conference record.
Albeit, the Big 12 is much improved, the Tigers had the opportunity win at Texas A&M in overtime, and pick up a victory at Oklahoma State, when they could have cut the Cowboys' lead to just 2 points with 44 seconds left.
One thing that Mizzou does do very well is score the basketball. They average almost 84 points per contest, good enough for the sixth highest mark in the country, and their scoring is not just with one player—the Tigers are 12th in the country in assists per game.
With a shooting percentage of over 47 percent, the Tigers' offensive prowess allows them to stay in games by continuing to make runs when they are down.
Lastly, Mizzou is one of those teams that gets the absolute most out of their talent, but unfortunately for them, their talent level is not that high. But what will pull them through is their coherency, despite only having one senior on the roster.
In conclusion, Missouri is one team that no one wants to face in March due to their offensive abilities.
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