Dick Vitale reveals 6 non-NCAA Tournament teams he's excited to watch in 2022-23
ESPN analyst Dick Vitale will be back under the headset for the 2022-23 college basketball season following a lengthy battle with cancer.
He has overcome his sickness, and is ready for a strong season out of six teams in particular, a group which he is dubbing his “super six” teams that missed the NCAA Tournament last season that he is sure will earn a bid when Selection Sunday rolls around this coming March.
Cincinatti Bearcats (18-15)
Florida State Seminoles (17-14)
Texas A&M Aggies (27-13)
St. John’s Red Storm (17-15)
Xavier Muskateers (23-13)
Oregon Ducks (20-15)
Oregon finished 11-9 in Pac-12 conference play in 2021, but was one of the hottest teams in the country in the meat of their league matchups. Winning nine of its conference wins between in an 10-game span, Oregon hot-shotted themselves into a sure-fire NCAA Tournament team, and a legitimate contender against Arizona and UCLA.
Instead, the Ducks lost seven of their next eight games and was bounced in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament and earned their way into the the NIT Tournament before losing to Texas A&M – another team on Dickie V’s list.
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There probably isn’t a team that was more snubbed during the postseason than the Aggies. After making it to the finals of the SEC Tournament and knocking off No. 4 Auburn and No. 15 Arkansas in consecutive days, Texas A&M was blown out by the Tennessee Volunteers in the championship game.
It wasn’t enough, and the Aggies weren’t invited to the Big Dance, and instead earned a No. 1 seed in the NIT Tournament. With a major chip on their shoulder, the Aggies took down Alcorn State, Oregon, Wake Forest and Washington State before falling to Xavier 73-72 in the NIT Championship game.
If Vitale’s predictions pan out, the NIT will be the least of the Muskateers and Aggies problems, as they’ll be dancing with the college basketball giants when it’s all said and done.