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NCAA Tournament: 5 deep sleeper picks to win 2019 national title

By Holden Walter-Warner

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 08: Myles Powell #13 of the Seton Hall Pirates celebrates his shot in the first half against the Butler Bulldogs during quarterfinals of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 08: Myles Powell #13 of the Seton Hall Pirates celebrates his shot in the first half against the Butler Bulldogs during quarterfinals of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 15: Caleb Martin #10 and Cody Martin #11 of the Nevada Wolf Pack walk up court during a semifinal game of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament against the San Diego State Aztecs at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 15, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. San Diego State Aztecs won 65-56. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 15: Caleb Martin #10 and Cody Martin #11 of the Nevada Wolf Pack walk up court during a semifinal game of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament against the San Diego State Aztecs at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 15, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. San Diego State Aztecs won 65-56. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) /

Leave the state of North Carolina and you’ll find several legitimate contenders to steal the national title in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

Duke. North Carolina. Kentucky. Talk about boring picks to win the NCAA Tournament.

The usual suspects are always going to be a threat to win the national title. They’re always going to top the leaderboard of most common picks in bracket pools across the world.

That doesn’t mean they’re going to win it all, though – especially not this year.

This has been one of the more unusual years in recent college basketball history. There have been singular players who have defined the season (see Williamson, Zion), but no teams that have grabbed the mantle of dominance for more than a couple of weeks at a time; just this past week, the top two ranked teams in the country fell during their conference tournaments.

An atmosphere of openness exists around this year’s NCAA Tournament, where it truly feels like anybody can make a run and cut down the nets in Minneapolis.

Before picking some sleepers who can make a run, let’s define what sleepers are. They’re teams that enter the Big Dance without the burden of expectations, ruling out any 1- and 2-seeds. Some may consider Virginia a sleeper after what happened last year – but they’re not.

At the same time, keeping things realistic is important. Sure, anything is possible in the NCAA Tournament – just ask UMBC. But it doesn’t seem particularly like that Iona or North Carolina Central will take the crown this year.

Here are five sleepers who can win the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

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