March is here for everyone in college basketball, including those who didn’t make it last spring. One good way for a program to really want an NCAA Tournament berth? Stay at home and watch 68 other teams play.
So here are six great teams that are making a big splash heading into 2026 before they even get through the door to the NCAA Tournament in 2025.
NEBRASKA
On March 9, 2025, the Cornhuskers lost their fifth straight 83-68 at Iowa, ending the regular season at 17-14, 7-13 in the Big Ten. So they didn’t qualify for the 15-team conference tournament, not them. If you can’t make it to your league’s tournament, you’re missing out on the NCAA Tournament by light years.
Nebraska hasn’t lost since.
The college basketball crown was four wins back in March and is now 19-0, a 23-game winning streak that is the longest in the nation and 15 games ahead of anyone else in the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers’ No. 7 Associated Press ranking is the highest in their history, and you have to go back to 1965-66 to find the only top-10 season.
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So Nebraska won’t miss March this time around. New faces are helping to do this. The top four players are averaging 54.2 points per game, and none of them were there last season. And there is a new faith in Lincoln in a time of crisis. Nebraska is 4-0 on one possession, three in the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers were 0-6 last season.
Believers have been waiting for this for a long time, and their enthusiasm makes it difficult for visitors. Nebraska’s home wins include 21 points over Creighton, 30 points over Wisconsin and 35 points over Oregon. Washington trailed by 18 and lost by 10 Wednesday night, after coach Danny Sprinkle called it “the best crowd we’ve played in before this year.”
MIAMI (OHIO)
These guys are clearly not going to go down lightly if they ever lose. Consider the last days.
Eian Elmer’s 3-pointer saved the game against Buffalo on Saturday. Peter Suder’s 3-pointer with more than a second left led to a 105-102 win. That’s after 27 lead changes.
On Monday, the RedHawks made the Associated Press’ top 25 for the first time in 27 years. They have only been ranked for eight consecutive weeks in the poll’s history dating back to 1948.
Luke Skaljak’s layup with six seconds left at Kent State on Tuesday saved the night and set up another overtime. Miami won 107-101. The RedHawks scored 107 points, shot 54 percent from the field and committed just six turnovers.
Add that to Miami’s 203 points, trailing for all but 42 seconds in the final five minutes of two-game regulation, two shutouts, and a 20-0 run, the best two-game start in Mid-American Conference history. They shot 62.5 percent in both overtimes. It’s a tough team to kill. The RedHawks hadn’t scored 100 points against a MAC opponent in 24 years, now they’ve scored three times in eight days. They haven’t scored a single win in almost four decades of giving up 100 points. They did it in two straight games.
(They also missed 22 free throws in those two games, which is a problem).
Something special is happening, but with such a narrow escape of late, what would happen if Miami had flashy success and then made it to the conference tournament? Could it all be for naught on Selection Sunday? Not awarded to second team in MAC this century with at-large berths. The last time was 1999. The team that benefited? Miami Red Hawks.
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Virginia
Tony Bennett left the coaching job abruptly, and the Cavaliers went 15-17 last season, their first losing record in 15 years.
Then a new face appeared in the city. Coached by Ryan Odom. Yes, Ryan Odom, whose 16th-seeded UMBC knocked off No. 1 Virginia in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. One day, a lion appeared next to the zebras. Odom attacked the portal, and recruitment routes appeared here and there. Only four points returned from last season. The starting lineup includes graduate transfer quarterbacks from BYU and San Francisco and freshman bigs imported from Germany and Belgium. The top reserve played his high school basketball less than a mile from the Charlottesville campus.
The Cavaliers are 16-2, with their only loss in two months coming in triple time at Virginia Tech. There are different styles of doing business in Virginia.
Bennett’s program thrived on tough defense and random scoring. He did well enough to win 30 times four times and win a national title. The Odom version still plays defense, but has stepped on the gas at the other end. The other day, the Cavaliers visited 20th-ranked Louisville and defeated their first opponent of the season 14-0. It ended with a score of 79-70. They scored 80 points in 13 games, the most in 25 years. In 16 seasons from 2009 to 20025, Virginia reached the 90-minute mark four times. The team reached 90 four times in the first 12 games. The 2019 national champion Cavaliers averaged 71.4 points per game. The current number is 84.0.
St. Louis and George Mason
Right now, they’re setting a torrid pace for what could be one of the best matchups in either conference. Both are 18-1. Both are 6-0 in league play. Neither has lost since December 6th.
St. Louis made the AP Top 25 this week for the first time in five years. The Billikens lead the nation in shooting percentage at 35.5 percent, making them difficult to attack. On the other hand, it is difficult to stop them. They are also first in scoring and fifth in rebounding and shooting. They are the only Division I team with six players averaging double figures in scoring. If Stanford hadn’t missed a 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left to beat them 78-77 in November, it would have been the last unbeaten team behind Arizona, Nebraska and Miami.
George Mason celebrated New Year’s Day with no turnovers in an 80-75 win over La Salle. Zero. Zilch. Only five Division I teams have accomplished that feat in the last 22 years. The Patriots’ lineup appears to be stable. Earlier this season, shooting guard Corey Mincey hit 48 consecutive free throws. Coming off an 11-point loss to Virginia Tech in December, the team picked its anniversary year to get off to the best start in school history. It was 20 years ago that the Patriots stunned the nation by going through the blue-blooded jungle of Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn to reach the Final Four. One of the guards leading the troop was Tony Skinn. Now he is coaching the team.
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George Mason hasn’t seen the inside of the NCAA Tournament in 15 years, but the Patriots were in the A-10 title game last March, losing 68-63 to VCU with a chance to tie the game in the final 10 seconds. It can stay with the program for a while. St. Louis hasn’t been there since 2019. The two teams could make a great pair of A-10 tournament championships, but they may have to decide the regular season title first. They don’t meet until March 7.
VILLANOVA
Granted, it’s only been three years since the NCAA tournament, but we’re talking about Villanova. You have to go back twenty years to find out what kind of drought this is. Jay Wright retired and a program that worked so hard to be named among the elite went 56-48 over the next three seasons, 31-29 in the Big East. To that extent.
The Wildcats are currently better because of it. Kevin Willard’s first team is 15-4 and has climbed to No. 24 in the KenPom rankings. Villanova won the Big 5 in Philadelphia, which has been given before, but not recently. The Wildcats are also off to a rather strange 6-2 start in the Big East, going 2-2 at home and 4-0 on the road in league play. The perfect road sign will get a tough test Saturday at UConn. However, like all of these teams, they are heading into a March that hasn’t been seen in recent memory.
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