Fansided

Mythical March Madness: 5 dark horses that would have gone far in 2020 NCAA Tournament

By Cody Williams

CINCINNATI, OH - JANUARY 29: Markus Howard #0 of the Marquette Golden Eagles brings the ball up court during the game against the Xavier Musketeers at Cintas Center on January 29, 2020 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH - JANUARY 29: Markus Howard #0 of the Marquette Golden Eagles brings the ball up court during the game against the Xavier Musketeers at Cintas Center on January 29, 2020 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 6
Next
(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

4. Yale Bulldogs (12-seed, West Region)

Over the past few years, James Jones has made the Yale Bulldogs one of the elite mid-major programs in college basketball that it feels like not enough people are talking about. They are a perennial contender to make it to the NCAA Tournament and, after the Ivy League Tournament was one of the first to be canceled due to coronavirus concerns, Yale was named the league champion and earned the automatic bid for March Madness.

Had they gotten their chance to dance, the Bulldogs clearly had the goods to challenge just about anyone that they would’ve come up against. Unlike many mid-major or Ivy League teams, the Bulldogs have the size to not have mismatches created against them with Paul Atkinson and Jordan Brunner, two of their three leading scorers.

When you then factor in the outside-shooting threat of guard Azar Swain, Yale is clearly a dangerous team. That’s why they were able to post a league-leading record in a talented season for the Ivy League while also acquitting themselves well in non-conference play with a win over Clemson and a tough loss to Penn State.

With the experience of Atkinson and Brunner in addition to Jones’s proven record as a coach at this point, Yale clearly had the goods to make some real noise. They could attack inside out against anyone in the country and really caused some flawed No. 5 seed (Michigan in the bracket here) and teams beyond to have a ton of trouble.

Home/March Madness