The 8 most underachieving teams of the 2024-25 men’s college basketball season so far

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We’re hitting the home stretch of the 2024-25 men’s college basketball regular season.

Most teams are entering the second half of their conference seasons now that the calendar has flipped to February. And there are some marquee schools that have some work to do to improve their seeding in the NCAA tournament or even simply make the field. Here’s a look at eight of the most underachieving teams in college basketball so far.

North Carolina (13-10, 6-5 ACC)

Carolina’s 87-70 loss to Duke on Saturday was a lot worse than the final score indicated. UNC was outmatched from the jump and it has now lost four of its last five games. Duke was the only ranked team the Tar Heels have faced in that stretch.

Though to be fair, No. 2 Duke is the only ranked team in the ACC. It’s a down year for the conference overall and North Carolina embodies the ACC’s struggles. The Tar Heels are seventh in the conference so far and have lost four games by a single possession. Oh, they’re also 1-9 against teams classified as Quad 1 opponents in the NCAA’s NET rankings.

The upside for UNC, however, is a relatively soft schedule the rest of the way. Outside of the regular-season finale vs. the Blue Devils, North Carolina’s only other game remaining against a team ahead of it in the ACC standings is a trip to Clemson on Feb. 10.

Arkansas (13-8, 2-6 SEC)

John Calipari’s first season in Fayetteville got a little brighter on Saturday when the Razorbacks won in his return to Kentucky. Arkansas was 13-of-25 from the 3-point line in the 89-79 win. The win was Arkansas’ second in its last three games after an 0-5 start to SEC play.

The SEC is the toughest conference in the country and could get a record number of teams in the NCAA tournament. Arkansas has the capability to be one of those teams, especially if the Kentucky game was more indicative of the team’s ceiling than a three-point home loss to Oklahoma was just days before.

But there are few easy wins remaining on the Razorbacks’ schedule….

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/the-8-most-underachieving-teams-of-the-2024-25-mens-college-basketball-season-so-far-161612557.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-02-04 16:16:00

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