Nonconference play can present more noise than signal about what a team is and what it will become. Sometimes slow starts can portend future struggles, sometimes the randomness of college basketball leaves a teams’ résumé lacking but there’s nothing to glean from it, and other times there’s outside factors to consider that explain away why a team underperformed relative to expectations.
So as conference play starts, there’s two ways things can go for struggling teams: they’ll either continue mired in mediocrity or get off the mat and get hot.
Today I’ve picked out seven who fit the latter category and may be primed and ready to shake off some struggles to get hot as conference play kicks into high gear. Let’s jump into the seven.
Teams who started slow but will heat up
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