MARCH MADNESS SLEEPER PICKS!!

Source

Welcome back all, before you put those finishing touches on your bracket it's time to take a quick look at a potential "sleeper" pick in each region. Now a "sleeper" pick is a dark-horse candidate that has the potential to make a deep run in the Tournament. Traditionally a "sleeper" is a team outside of the top 4-seed line, but not seeded necessarily too high to be considered a "cinderella". Usually a "sleeper" comprises a mid-range seed (5-9), who is hovering just out of the mainstream but has shown the potential to compete with the big boys throughout the course of the season. They are usually really quality teams that are slightly undervalued. So let's take a look at one potential "sleeper" pick from each region - keep in mind the key word is "potential". Alright let's get to it:

THE SOUTH REGION

(7) NEVADA (27-7)

The Wolf Pack are a little thin coming into the tournament with only six players seeing any kind of significant playing time, but have shown they can hang with anyone. Even after injuries last month left them a bit less formidable than before, they still proved to be a tough team by closing out the season 9-3. They own a Non-Conference win over Rhode Island and a pair of close losses to fellow tournament teams TCU and Texas Tech. They swept Boise St. who was on the "bubble" for most of the season and owned the Mountain West regular season. This is a team that scores 83.1 points per game and relies on a trio of 6'7" athletic wing players in Jordan Caroline and the Martin twins (Cody and Caleb). They will be a difficult matchup for Texas in the opening round and although Cincinnati plays very scrappy D and is very effecient on offense, they might have trouble matching up with the combination of size and athleticism that the Wolf Pack presents. Nevada is capable of going winning streaks as well as they started the season with 8 straight wins and also had a 7-game win streak mid-season. This is a team capable of surprises if they can get it going and stay out of foul trouble. That will be the key as they can't afford to lose any of the three key players listed above.

THE WEST REGION

(6) HOUSTON (26-7)

What a season it has been for Kelvin Sampson's Cougars. They got started early in the year with a non-conference win over Arkansas, added one over Providence a little bit later and then got increasingly better throughout American Conference play. The American boasted a 4-seed in Wichita State and a 2-seed in Cincinnati, not to mention competitive teams in Tulsa, Memphis, and UCF, so the Conference was better than most probably think. They split with Cincinnati and Wichita St. and then got an extra W over Wichita St. in the conference tournament, as well as a sweep of a Temple team that was much better than their 17-15 record. Their last 12 wins have come by an insane average margin of victory of 17.6 points per contest. The Cougars finished the season 10-2, including a 1-point loss to Cincinnati in the American Title game on Sunday. Simply put, Houston is currently playing its best basketball of the season heading into the Big Dance which bodes well for their prospects of making a run. Rob Gray can put up points in bunches (18.5 per game) giving them a top-notch scoring threat. They are solid in all aspects of the game and don't really beat themselves either, so they are going to be a tough out for anyone. That being said, Michigan will be a difficult matchup and potentially North Carolina down the road, but this team is playing good enough at the moment to beat any of them.

THE EAST REGION

(9) ALABAMA (19-15)

If you haven't heard it talked about it by now, I'd be shocked but let me tell you about what the Crimson Tide's Freshman point guard Collin Sexton did in the SEC tournament. He only put this team on his back and scored 58 points in the first 2 games and hit the buzzer-beater for the win against Texas A&M. He has the potential to make this team very dangerous. Don't be fooled by the overall record, Bama played a top 10 overall strength of schedule and got impressive wins over Tennessee (by 28!), Rhode Island, Auburn (2 of 3), and Texas A&M (2 of 3). The Crimson Tide has shown that when they are clicking on all cylinders and big man Donta Hall is healthy they can beat anyone in the country. Bama struggled a bit down the stretch and then got hot in the SEC tournament. Can they keep up the momentum? If Sexton can put up 25 a game (and he is very capable of doing so) they very well could.

THE MIDWEST REGION

(8) SETON HALL (21-11)

The Pirates are making their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance under coach Kevin Willard and hoping to advance this year after bowing out in the first round in each of the past two. The Hall is an experienced group that has been playing together for a couple of years now and has four big-time players to lean on. Desi Rodriguez is a more-than-capable scorer and led the team with 17.8 points per contest. Throw in Myles Powell (15.4 ppg) and Khadeem Carrington (14.9 ppg) and this team would be tough to stop for anyone, but that isn't even accounting for double-double machine and matchup nightmare Angel Delgado (13.3 points and 11.6 rebounds per game). When all four are playing together and playing at their highest level, this team can beat anyone. They started the season 14-2 before fading a bit down the stretch, but that could be attributed to a tough closing schedule (3 of their last 6 were road games at Villanova, Xavier and Providence). This team has as much experience and talent as anyone out there, and will pose a matchup problem for top-seed Kansas.

As always, let me know your thoughts and if you have any "sleepers" of your own out there and good luck with the brackets as the action gets going tomorrow!