NCAA Basketball: 5 sleepers for the Final Four in San Antonio

2. West Virginia Mountaineers

West Virginia was a trendy pick to do well before the season started. An opening demolition at the hands of Texas A&M took away some of that shine, though.

Since then, the Mountaineers have not lost a game. Their schedule hasn’t been overly impressive, but they did defeat another ranked team in Virginia this week.

Unsurprisingly, the bell stops at star Jevon Carter. The guard is currently the only player averaging more than four steals per game, playing the type of ferocious defense Bob Huggins is known to employ. His 19.4 points per game are not too shabby either.

Help on the defensive end has come in the form of sophomore Sagaba Konate. He is blocking 3.4 shots per game, including five in just 15 minutes against NJIT on November 30.

The one concern is three-point shooting. Senior Daxter Miles Jr. has seen his perimeter shot fall apart this season – he’s making just 20% of his three-pointers. He’ll need to improve on that mark and fast.

After a trip to Pittsburgh on Saturday night, the Mountaineers should breeze through the rest of their non-conference slate, building momentum for their Big 12 opener at Oklahoma State on December 29.