4) Furman and Radford will be teams to remember come March
I believe I mentioned this in an earlier Rauf Report but it bears repeating – remember mid-major teams who come through with notable wins in November and December because they tend to be the most dangerous low seeds in March.
Loyola-Chicago made their mark with a December win over Florida last year and those who watched were shown the level of efficiency they played with. I don’t think anyone saw a Final Four run coming but they showed they were good and were capable of pulling an upset or two.
This year, Furman and Radford have each proven themselves in such games twice. Furman went to Chicago and beat the Ramblers before getting their historic overtime win over Villanova. Assuming they win the SoCon and make the NCAA Tournament, they’ve shown their stout defense and unselfish offense can be a handful for some of the country’s better teams.
Radford, who made the Big Dance and won a First Four game last year, has made similar statements. They went on the road and beat Notre Dame in South Bend (albeit a worse Irish team than we’ve seen in years past) and followed that up with an impressive upset over Texas in Austin on Friday.
Both teams play slow – Radford plays at a Virginia-like pace – but both have proven to be potent teams capable of winning a game in March. People tend to forget results like these when they’re filling out their brackets – don’t be one of those people.