4 College Hoops Teams Flying under the Radar

Here’s one recipe for a season of low stress and high success…

Lose a few games in the non-conference schedule. If you can, lose to a team that resides in a mid-major conference. Then, proceed to turn up the heat in conference play with little or no media attention.

Let’s take a look at some teams that are flying high and still evading the chatter that surrounds teams like UNC, UCLA and Memphis…

Stanford (20-3)

The Cardinal is now ranked seventh in the nation as of today. But judging by the amount of national attention they get, who would have guessed? An early season loss to MAAC leader Siena and a weak non-conference schedule put Stanford at an immediate disadvantage. Now, they’re rolling. Tied for the Pac-10 lead, the Cardinal floored the Oregon teams at home this week and survived a tough three game road stretch against Cal, Washington and Washington State in the weeks prior. C Brook Lopez has established himself as one of the best big men in the land. And twin brother Robin provides another menacing presence down low. To go along with the twin towers, four other players average more than 4 rebounds as well. And with G Anthony Goods and F Lawrence Hill making things happen on the perimeter, Brook Lopez has all the more room to move around in the paint. This week should be a good test for the Cardinal as they travel to face Arizona State and Arizona. Games at home against Washington State and away against UCLA and USC still loom large on the schedule as well. As a team that goes 8 or 9 deep and has a legitimate low post threat, the Cardinal may very well survive their way to the end of March.

Purdue (19-5)

Who leads the Big Ten? Wisconsin, Michigan State or Indiana? None of them… the Boilermakers are on top with a record of 10-1 after taking out Wisconsin in Madison on Saturday. That’s not bad considering they’ve barely cracked the top 25 (ranked 23rd). All the credit goes to a rough non-conference performance. The low point came in a loss at home against Wofford, a middle of the road SoCon team. To Purdue’s credit, they’ve lost all 5 games by an average of a little more than 4 points. At any rate, they now own a 9 game winning streak heading into a showdown with Michigan State on Tuesday night. Nobody could have predicted that this very young team that was picked to finish at the bottom of the pack would even smell the Big Ten lead, let alone hold it. They go 9 deep, they’ve got 3 guys averaging double digit points, and they have 8 guys that average 3 or more rebounds per game. Their big 3 of E’Twaun Moore, Robbie Hummel and Keaton Grant fill it up from long range with more than 42 percent accuracy. Hummel and Grant hit over 85 percent of their free throws, too. When it comes down to it, youth and the lack of a solid post presence may finally catch up to the Boilermakers, but it’ll be interesting to see when that day will come.

Florida (19-5)

Win a couple championships then have your whole starting 5 leave. Then, put together a non-conference schedule that allows you to stay in your home state for a month in a half before travelling to your first out of state away game. There’s a recipe for an escape from the limelight. But they have won the games they should win, they’ve beaten a ranked team and they gave Tennessee a good scare in Knoxville. If you’re Billy Donovan, could you really ask for more out of your guys? You’ve got 9 guys who have played in all 24 games. You’ve got a wide body in the post, a do-it-all wingman and a creator that can hit the occasional three. They score 80 points a game and allow 66. This young team has the talent to shock some people. Especially with Marreese Speights muscling around in the paint. The stretch run will reveal how good these young guys really are. They travel to play Vanderbilt, Georgia and Kentucky. And they host LSU, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Tennesseee. They could go 5-2 or they could go 2-5. That’s why the games are played…

Connecticut (18-5)

A couple years of above averageness takes a little heat off your once powerhouse team. Now, with lower national expectations and less media scrutiny, UConn is back and ready to rumble. Fueled by the low post energy of Hasheem Thabeet and the perimeter expertise of A.J. Price, the Huskies are riding a 7 game winning streak that could very well turn into a 15 game winning streak by regular season’s end. Oh… I guess I forgot to mention the double double machine Jeff Adrien. Things are going so well for UConn that they’ve rattled off the last five victories without scorer Jerome Dyson. Lest we forget, the last five included Indiana in Bloomington, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse in the Carrier Dome, and Georgia Tech. I wouldn’t exactly call those 5 gimmes. Jeff Adrien is the rock in the middle. He gets his points and he gets his boards. The wild card on this team to watch is the tall and athletic Thabeet. He averages 11.2 points per game, 7.5 rebounds per game and 4 blocks a game. He also shoots a team best 64 percent. If the athletic big man can consistently do what he did to Georgia Tech (24, 15, 6), then this team will be ferocious. And with Wednesday’s game in Storrs against Notre Dame and 7 more games to play against middle of the road Big East competitors, it’s very possible that UConn ends up with a 26-5 record and a top 10 rank.