NCAA Men's Basketball - 4 Teams You Don't Know About

You all know who the big dogs are in NCAA Men's Basketball right now. Heck, I told you who they were. Teams like Memphis, Texas, Tennessee, and North Carolina are getting all of the buzz. Just are other teams like Duke, UCLA, and Indiana.

However, there are other teams out there, you know? We tend to call them mid-majors when they aren't in major conferences, and we call them "second-tier" games when they are in major conferences. But despite what you want to call them, these four teams can play ball, and at the very least, they are going to messing up your brackets if you cross them off everytime they come against a "big dog" in your bracket.

Xavier

If the 4 teams I named weren't so obviously deserving of the 4 #1 seeds, I would have to really consider Duke and Xavier. Xavier is another mid major from the Atlantic 10. And while nobody is talking about them, they are slowly disintegrating their conference, and most of the nation. They are 17-4 against the RPI Top 150, and they are winning their games by an average 14 points. To discard the notion of them having played a weak schedule, their SOS actually ranks 12^th in the nation, and their non-conference RPI ranks 8^th. They also have wins over #19 Dayton, #8 Indiana, and Mike Beasley's Kansas State team.

Butler

Butler was ranked as high as 8^th in the nation in the polls. That ranking was backed up by a high-ranking RPI, which since their loss to Drake, has only fallen to #20 in the nation. Thus far this season, Butler has beaten Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, and Florida State. They are also 14-1 against the RPI Top 150. Their non-conference RPI is ranked 30^th, which signifies that they are going to be one of the tougher outs come this March.

Drake

Drake is yet another mid major that you want to account for when you're filling out your bracket. They don't have the sexy wins that some of the bigger schools have, but they do have a good victory over the aforementioned Butler team, so that should speak volumes. They are also 15-4 against the RPI Top 150, which is amazing. And their non-conference RPI ranks 22^nd in the nation, to go along with their 14^th ranked overall RPI. Their strength of schedule only ranks 74^th overall, but as is often in college basketball, they couldn't get any of the big schools to play them during the non-conference season.

And just in case you haven't been paying any attention... Vanderbilt

In case you haven't gotten the news, Vanderbilt is good. They have beaten Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Florida, and of course, the #1 ranked Tennessee Volunteers. They have an RPI that ranks 7^th in the nation, and they are 16-4 against the RPI Top 150. They have a good chance of doing some damage in the SEC tournament, especially since they have proven that they can knockoff the boys from Knoxville. And another stat of note, is that they are 15-0 in non-conference play with a non-conference RPI that ranks 9^th in the nation. That's impressive.