March Madness: 4 opponents NCAA tourney teams want to avoid on Selection Sunday

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Every March, there is always an NCAA tournament team that is glaringly more dangerous than the others on its seed line.

It might be a juggernaut No. 1 seed that is the overwhelming favorite to cut down the nets. Or a mid-tier team that struggled early in the season but surged into March. Or a tournament-proven but criminally underseeded mid-major with a history of making life miserable for highly touted teams from a power conference.

The purpose of this now-annual column is to identify those potential opponents that NCAA tournament teams should want to avoid at all costs. Two years ago, we successfully identified Arkansas before the eighth-seeded Razorbacks toppled Kansas in the second round. Last year, we took some big swings and they didn’t really pan out. (Conversely, here are five opponents you should want to see on Selection Sunday.)

This year’s list includes four teams with little in common besides the potential to induce groans from the opponents who have to face them. Let’s start with a projected No. 6 or 7 seed who last lost the day before Super Bowl Sunday.

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BYU Cougars

Record: 23-8, 14-6 Big 12 | Projected seed: 6 or 7

Only a month ago, BYU was on the fringes of the NCAA tournament bubble. The Cougars had followed an underwhelming non-conference performance with a 6-6 start to Big 12 play. They entered the second week of February with one win over an NCAA tournament-caliber opponent and four losses against teams who won’t sniff the field of 68.

Since then, BYU has caught fire, reeling off eight wins in a row to rocket from outside most bracket projections to a potential No. 6 or 7 seed. The Cougars have been college basketball’s second-best team over that stretch, according to Bart Torvik’s rankings. Among the teams they have beaten: Iowa State, Kansas, Arizona and West Virginia.

There are a few key differences between pre-win streak BYU and the current Cougars. On offense, BYU is…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/college-basketball/article/march-madness-4-opponents-ncaa-tourney-teams-want-to-avoid-on-selection-sunday-130009111.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-03-12 13:00:00

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