NCAA Basketball: Ranking final 18 unbeaten teams for 2023-24 season
By Joey Loose
12. Nevada
It’s already year five for Steve Alford at Nevada, but he’s coming off a fourth season that was certainly a much better effort. The Wolf Pack made the Big Dance last season and despite falling in the First Four have looked much more competent as a program. This year’s unbeaten start only confirms their progress while getting great contributions from Kenan Blackshear and Jarod Lucas this season.
It hasn’t been the toughest road for the Wolf Pack, though they’ve shown their dominance during this 5-0 start to the season. They won by 7 at Washington in the opening weekend of the season a few days before slaughtering Pacific in a 47-point beat down. It’s been a lot of home games against West Coast mid-majors for the Wolf Pack, but they’ve taken care of the teams on their schedule, which is all you can do at this point.
We’re talking about a team fresh off a trip to the NCAA Tournament who have played elite offensive and defensive games in the first month of this season. Nevada looks as strong as they have looked since Alford took over this program, though we’ll have to see it against more formidable opponents. The Wolf Pack have games away from home against Drake, Hawaii, and Temple in December and we’ll have to see how they’ll fare in those final nonconference challenges.