10 surprise teams primed to steal the NCAA Tournament

These 10 teams who likely won't end up as a No. 1 or 2 seed in March Madness, could shake up their region and maybe even make a run to a national title if things break right.

By Josh Yourish | Mar 20, 2024, 6:57 PM EDT

Saint Mary's Gaels guard Alex Ducas (44) / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

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Net: 31 Projected Seed: 7. . . 26-5 (14-4). 9. team. . 547. Utah State Aggies.

Last year, San Diego State finally broke through for the Mountain West Conference, making it all the way to the National Championship Game. This season, it has felt like the rest of the conference has been emboldened and will easily be a five-bid league.

Utah State finished at the top of that loaded conference and all five of their losses this season were in Quad 1 games (4-5 Quad 1 record). Danny Sprinkle's Aggies are 10th in two-point field goal percentage behind 6-foot-8 forward Great Osobor who averages 17.6 points on 63.4% shooting.

While the Aggies are 286th in three-point attempts on the offensive end, Alford understands the value of the outside shot and mitigates it defensively. Utah State is No. 2 in the country in opponent three-point percentage at just 28.2% which means they’re never in danger of getting run off the floor by a team with the hot hand.

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