Weekend preview: Why Michigan State, Houston, Kansas could win big - ESPN

The storylines sometimes overshadow talk about teams that have quietly hit their stride at this stage of the season.

This week alone, Purdue and Kentucky both claimed they had a «Big Z» in Wooden Award winner Zach Edey and new arrival Zvonimir Ivisic, respectively. DePaul fired Tony Stubblefield after his team's 3-15 start. Now, a new coach will try to rebuild DePaul and lead the program to its first NCAA tournament appearance in 20 years. Good luck.

Illinois' Terrence Shannon Jr., who was arrested in December on a felony rape charge, returned to the court after a federal judge granted his request for a temporary injunction on the school's decision to suspend him. And the South Carolina Gamecocks, who one year ago won just 11 games in Lamont Paris' first season at the helm, is already well past that number of victories, highlighted by beating ranked Kentucky for the second year in a row Tuesday.

But the North Carolina Tar Heels haven't seen themselves mentioned much in national headlines in recent weeks. The Tar Heels probably don't care, though. They haven't lost since Dec. 16 and they're the best defensive team in the ACC. They also lead the league in offensive rebounding rate. Then there's DaRon Holmes II and Dayton, who have won 13 games in a row and should be favored in every Atlantic 10 game the rest of the way. Auburn meanwhile had not only entered the week on a wild 11-game winning streak, it also won every game by an average of 20.9 PPG before its first SEC loss Wednesday at Alabama.

Right now, some of the best teams in America are quietly marching toward the NCAA tournament while other teams get the headlines. Perhaps that will make them even more dangerous in the postseason.

All odds from ESPN Bet.

Friday, 8