Parity has been on full display early in the 2023–24 men’s college basketball season. The top 10 in the AP poll have been a revolving door each week, with three different teams claiming the top spot and several others cycling in and out of the rankings after upsets and big wins. All this sets up for a chaotic (yet entertaining!) conference season, which is underway for most teams as the calendar flips. Who are under-the-radar teams that could make some noise in their respective conference races? Here’s a look at some dark horses that will make an impact on the six high-major conference title hunts.
ACC: Wake Forest Demon Deacons
There might not be a better coach in college basketball at finding under-the-radar gems in the transfer portal than Steve Forbes, and the fruits of that labor are on full display right now with the Deacs. Wake is starting four transfers and is undefeated since getting former Gonzaga Bulldogs and LSU Tigers big man Efton Reid cleared by the NCAA, part of an eight-game winning streak that has propelled the Demon Deacons into the NCAA tournament conversation.
Forbes struck gold in previous years with Alondes Williams and Tyree Appleby as transfer guards. This year, he landed a pair of stars in the backcourt out of the portal: Gonzaga transfer Hunter Sallis and Central Michigan Chippewas import Kevin “Boopie” Miller. Combined, the two are averaging more than 35 points and six assists per game, forming one of the ACC’s most prolific backcourts. And with Reid eligible, Wake has a legitimate interior presence to keep up with bigger ACC teams on the boards and defend the rim. It will be hard to top the likes of the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tarheels, but this is a very dangerous team.
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Big 12: Iowa State Cyclones
There are a lot of potential dark horses in the Big 12 behind favorites like the Houston Cougars and Kansas Jayhawks, but the Cyclones look particularly intriguing. While T.J. Otzelberger’s team has played one of the weakest nonconference schedules in the country, ISU has shown plenty of promise as a potential contender.
The biggest reason for optimism has to be the play of sophomore point guard Tamin Lipsey, who has exploded in his second season in Ames. He’s averaging around 15 points, six rebounds and six assists per game and has emerged into a reliable three-point threat, making him one of the nation’s best point guards. Add in Keshon Gilbert as an off-ball weapon and freshman Milan Momcilovic shooting the ball extremely well from deep, and you have an improved offensive unit to go with what has consistently been one of the nation’s best defenses under Otzelberger.
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Big East: Villanova Wildcats
Road wins are like gold in a league like the Big East, and Villanova already has a pair of them in early action. While many teams figure to win in Chicago against DePaul, the Wildcats have arguably the league’s most impressive win to date with their road win at Creighton. After an uneven nonconference slate that included a dominant showing at the Battle 4 Atlantis but bad losses to Drexel and Penn, it wasn’t entirely clear which Villanova team we’d get in league play. If they can keep up the early positives, the Wildcats could end up being serious challengers to UConn and Marquette at the top of the Big East.
Big Ten: Illinois Fighting Illini
The Purdue Boilermakers are an overwhelming favorite to win the league for a second straight year. But Illinois might just have the right mix to push for the crown despite being overlooked after the indefinite suspension of Terrence Shannon Jr. following his arrest on rape charges in Kansas. (Shannon’s attorney says he’s innocent and intends to take the case to trial.) The Illini have been elite on the defensive end of the floor this season thanks to high-level positional size and switchability from 1 to 5. That needs to carry them without a dynamic scorer like Shannon on the floor, though so far the Illini have looked sharp offensively in his absence. Southern Illinois transfer Marcus Domask’s importance on the offensive end has grown, with the Illini desperately needing consistency from a guy with two 30-plus-point games but five with seven or fewer points.
Pac-12: Utah Utes
Now 11–2 after two wins to start conference play, Utah appears to be on the verge of a breakthrough in Craig Smith’s third season on the job in Salt Lake City. This Utes team won’t overwhelm anyone from a talent standpoint, but it has one of the sport’s most underrated stars in Branden Carlson and tons of experience around him. At 7 feet tall, Carlson is one of the most well-rounded bigs in the country, capable of scoring from inside and out and pairing with Colorado Buffaloes transfer Lawson Lovering to protect the rim at a high level. Saturday’s game against Arizona in Tucson will be a good litmus test to see how the Utes will match up with one of the nation’s elite teams.
SEC: Auburn Tigers
Auburn seems like the most forgotten-about team in college basketball, quietly knocking on the door of KenPom’s top 10 nationally but barely cracking the top 25 of the most recent AP poll. Outside of a surprising road loss at the Appalachian State Mountaineers during which the Tigers shot just 3-of-27 from three, Auburn hasn’t lost in nearly two months, looking dominant at times thanks to its elite athleticism and team speed. Freshman point guard Aden Holloway has lived up to the hype, looking like one of the most dynamic young guards in the sport of late, and big man Johni Broome continues to be a double-double machine. This team is highly impressive: dominant on both ends at the rim, sharing the ball at an elite level and avoiding the untimely mistakes that plagued them a season ago. The Tennessee Volunteers and Kentucky Wildcats have gotten most of the attention in the SEC, but the Tigers could easily be right there at the end.
