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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) /
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(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

1. Liberty Flames (12-seed, Midwest Region)

Frankly, the Midwest Region in the Mythical March Madness bracket was loaded with potential cinderella candidates as the Liberty Flames are the third in that quadrant of the bracket to earn that designation. But rest assured, the Flames are every bit as deserving as the other two squads from the Midwest.

Just last season, Liberty was able to pull off one of the bigger upsets in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament when, also as a No. 12 seed, the Flames knocked off the Mississippi State Bulldogs. They then went on to give Virginia Tech all that they could handle in the Second Round, though they were ultimately ousted in a nine-point loss to the Hokies. But in 2020, they’d have been set to reach the Big Dance with almost the same group and another year of experience.

Winning the Atlantic Sun Tournament, the Flames finished the season with an impressive 30-4 overall record with wins over Vanderbilt and Akron in non-conference play and their only non-conference loss coming to the LSU Tigers. Liberty proved that they were a balanced and dangerous veteran unit.

Led by Caleb Homesley, Scottie James and Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz (a member of the college basketball All-Name Team), the Flames weren’t particularly elite on offense or defense, ranking outside of the top 65 in KenPom’s efficiency rankings but represented a balanced group. Taking that into account with their winning experience from a year ago and Liberty had everything you need for a dark horse run in March.

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