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The task of picking your bracketbusters, or worrying about not picking them, is what always drives college basketball followers nuts right around tournament time. It was around this time last year when a lot of people were thinking about filling their brackets and overlooking cinderalla stories Wichita State and George Mason. So who will fill the shoes these two leave open for this year's tourney? Who could surprise the basketball world by making it into the round of 16, 8,... and so on? Here are the top four teams to watch for should they find their way into the tournament:

1. Winthrop
The Eagles finished undefeated in the Big South, what you should do when you are trying to prove you are a tournament-worthy team. They do have four non D-1 wins, and four missed nonconference chances at making statement wins. That said two of the games, UNC and Wisconsin, were games that they could have won. Also, they recently soundly beat Missouri State, a team that has knocked off Wisconsin. They are a veteran squad and have the potential to match up with anyone with a good balanced attack of sound guard and post play.

2. Drexel
This team has won 14 road games this season. That is big in the eyes of those selecting teams for the tournaments, as all the games are played away from home. They have beaten both Syracuse and Villanova on the road, two other teams trying to make their cases for a tournament bid as well. Drexel does need to have a pretty strong showing in the CAA conference tournament, as they sit in 4th place after conference play, but a team that has proven they can win on the road should be a team to be feared.

3. Appalachian State
No this is not just a division 1-aa football school, they have a solid basketball team this year. They have beaten VCU, Virginia, and Vanderbilt this season, all on the road. They also recently took out Wichita State, on the road as well. This is a team that can compete under any circumstances and their relative obscurity makes them a dangerous opponent in the first round.

4. Missouri State
They knocked off Wisconsin at South Padre earlier this season and have lost in close games to Oklahoma St. and Southern Illinois, the former in South Padre as well. They have solid guard play and have swept Bradley in conference play. They don't have quite the resume of the other three but they are a dangerous team to face should they get a complacent opponent in the round of 64.

Learn more about this author, Robert Solis.
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