By Charlie Galanti
Marcus Tran
Halfway through conference play, here are 10 G5 teams that could make a run in March Madness this season and help you win your bracket pool.
FAU
1st in American conference
6-1 conference play, 16-4, 7-3 in L10 games,
Devin Vanterpool SO guard leads team in pts, rebs, and steals (15.6, 6.7, 1.7/game)
St Louis
Veteran team led by Robbie Avila, leads team in Pts and Asts (12.8, 3.9)
Xavier transfer and SO Guard Trey Green can kill you from beyond the arc shooting 45.5% from 3
Quality wins over other tournament-worthy teams like VCU, Richmond, and GCU
GMU
Impact players: Riley Allenspach, 6’11” stretch big who can shoot, 3 double doubles this season, averaging 7 rebs a game. Kory Mincy, 6’2” guard leads team in pts, steals, tied for team leader in assists. Whole offense runs through Mincy, shooting 42% from 3 this season.
BEWARE: strength of schedule weak compared to other 1 loss teams so far, will be tested in 2nd half of A10 schedule.
UNCW
17-2, first in CAA
Tougher 2nd half of conference schedule, have to play William and Mary twice, Elon to end conference play in March.
Impact player: Patrick Wessler 7’1” F, 9 double doubles this season, averaging 13 pts 9 rebs dominant in the interior all year thus far.
Liberty
16-3, 1st in CUSA, 12 straight W’s
Good wins over Florida Atlantic and Dayton
CUSA overall weaker conferenc, expect this team to rep the CUSA in March.
Yale
14-3, 1st in Ivy League, Good wins over Navy, Akron.
Nick Townsend. Baller. (Leads team in Pts, asts, and rebs)
Veteran team, 9 upperclassmen, high basketball IQ and averaging less than 10 turnovers per game.
Belmont
Impact player: Jabez Jenkins, FR, stretch guard averaging 9 pts, 5 rebs and 2 asts, look for him to transfer out of the OVC after this year.
Upcoming tests in 2nd half of conference play in UNI and Murray St
Utah State
Best start in program history, lost their last two games to the other two best team in the MWC, Grand Canyon and SDSU.
3 different guards hold the team leads in points, rebounds, and assists. Play primarily small ball, does not have a forward over 6’10”. Playmaking guards MJ Collins jr and Mason Falslev lead the charge on offense, averaging 19 pts/game and 17 pts/game respectively.
Santa Clara
16-5, had close losses to good teams like St Louis and Gonzaga. Won 8 of their last 10.
Averaging 9 steals a game
Have shown they’re able to compete with good teams, need to be able to close out games in 2nd half of conference play by being better on the glass.
Utah Valley
Beat the next best team in WAC (UT Arlington) by 12 already, play them two more times during conference play.
Star player Jackson Holcombe needs to keep playing at an elite level if they want to win the WAC. Averaging 17 pts 8 rebs and 3 asts, along with 2 steals and 1 block per game, he will be the reason this team does or does not make a tournament run.
This team plays great team basketball, ranking 12th in all of D1 for assists per game at 19.8