(sorry if this double-posts, the internet magicians ate my first attempt)
with the exceptions of the early season thumpings by Evansville and Murray. Mendez-Valdez turned into the Sun Belt player of the year, and AJ slaughter is a very good guard, too. Jeremy Evans gives them some size inside, but we'll see if he can hold his own against a Big 10 team. Some of the upset talk probably comes from the big Louisville win, plus people still
remember last year (and somehow never bring up WKU blew a 16 point second half lead), even though this year it's a totally new team and a new coach. Also, WKU has the lowest RPI of the 12 seeds, and Illinois has the highest RPI of the 5 seeds and lost 3 of their last 4 games, so that might lead to some upset speculation.