NCAA Basketball: St. Bonaventure, Dayton and Rice headline Sunday Mailbag

Are there any teams who are unlikely to get an at-large bid but could make a run in their conference tourney? – Kody Thomas (@ Sportsfan102512)

This question is nearly impossible to answer at this point in the year given that teams are just establishing their resume. I do have one team in mind though and it is a team that I have been relatively high on all year and a team who I said had the ultimate sleeper potential in the preseason. They are a team that many people are going to write off because of the name on the front of their jersey but they can play and they can score points quickly.

The Rice Owls are the team that is not likely to get an at large bid out of the Conference USA. The Owls have sleeper potential given their ability to score points in bunches. Head coach Scott Pera loves to spread the floor and his team loves to shoot threes. They have guards Travis Evee and Quincy Olivari who are going to challenge for the most three-point attempts in the country and likely the Conference USA. They will both likely shoot over 40% from deep as well.

Rice doesn’t have any basketball tradition, they are not a basketball powerhouse at all and they have not made the tournament very often. The Owls and head coach Pera are likely going to finish in the middle of the conference, but are not going to have the out-of-conference resume to earn an at large bid.

Watch out for Rice though come March if they stay healthy. Rice is a team that can get hot and put some power schools on notice. That is the best team I can think of three weeks into the season.