As conference season begins, several teams will enter the league play overrated based on a couple of key wins and glowing records overall against mainly light non-conference schedules. There can be great value early in conference play going against these teams as the national perception and ranking at this juncture in the season is often far off from where the team will likely end up by season’s end. Here are five teams that are ranked or on the verge of being ranked that may be overvalued based on recent results. These are all solid teams that could well make the NCAA tournament but these teams will not likely hold up in the postseason and could be teams to play against when they are favored or overvalued against quality competition, particularly away from home.

Oklahoma: The Sooners have climbed high in the rankings and many expect this to be a top ten team for the rest of the season. Blake Griffin is a rare talent that will be drafted high in next year’s NBA draft if he stays healthy. Unfortunately Oklahoma has not been a great defensive team and entering a tough Big 12 schedule and postseason play the Sooners are likely to slip up. A look at the early season schedule presents few high quality wins and several struggles against decent but not great teams. Oklahoma’s best wins over USC and Davidson both came by slim margins despite being played at home. The win over Purdue in New York looks nice as well but the Boilermakers have not been as strong as many projected. The top four opponents have all scored 72 points or more against Oklahoma and Arkansas posted 96 points to hand the Sooners their first loss. Oklahoma will end up with a strong record but expecting a Big 12 title or a deep tournament run is a stretch.

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Boston College: Just as talks of an undefeated season were starting to grow for North Carolina, Boston College went to Chapel Hill and dominated the Tar Heels. It was a great win that puts a stamp on the season for the Eagles but Boston College will be overrated for the next several weeks if not longer. BC has lost just twice, a neutral site game against Purdue and on the road against St. Louis. BC has now won ten consecutive games but outside of the North Carolina win there are few quality wins on the resume. Boston College can claim narrow wins over UAB, Massachusetts, Iowa, and Providence but the one road win in that group came in overtime. Boston College has been carried by strong shooting in early season play but the defensive numbers are very mediocre. Tyrese Rice is a veteran playmaker that can win a few games on his own but off-games offensively will lead to losses against mediocre teams for Boston College once the ACC season gets going.

Notre Dame: The Irish won a NCAA tournament game last season but the Irish will never make a deep postseason run unless the defense improves. The numbers do not look that bad overall, allowing just 66 points per game while featuring one of the top scoring offenses in the nation but against quality competition the Irish will not stack up well. North Carolina beat Notre Dame by 15 and the Irish also lost to average teams away from home, losing to St. John’s and Ohio State. Notre Dame did put together big wins over Texas and Georgetown but this week’s win over the Hoyas came in a very favorable situation. In lined games the Irish are allowing 73 points per game and that is including wins against Furman and Loyola Marymount. Against respectable competition Notre Dame is giving up a ton of points, including recently allowing 82 against DePaul and a team that is reliant on outside shooting is going to fall in some games that a team ranked this high and valued this well should win.

Arkansas: Coming off a banner week with wins over Texas and Oklahoma the Razorbacks will start to get some attention and should appear in the next rankings. Arkansas played two great games in its toughest match-ups but most of the early season schedule was embarrassingly weak. Seven of the twelve wins for Arkansas came in unlined games and Arkansas has only played two road games all season long. Those games featured the lone loss, at a 7-7 Missouri State team and a two-point win at South Alabama and the Jaguars are no where near as strong as last season. Arkansas also needed OT to beat Southeastern Louisiana and struggled to pull away against Austin Peay, UC-Davis, and North Texas. Despite the weak schedule Arkansas is allowing over 68 points per game and although the Razors have been a strong rebounding team, those numbers will drop in the SEC grind. Arkansas could make the tournament but this team is not likely going to be a SEC contender.

Minnesota: Coach Smith as done a great job reviving the Gopher program and Minnesota has been ranked in the top 25 and has the marquee win it lacked last season after knocking out Louisville. That win was an odd neutral site game in Arizona and the Cardinals faced a nightmare travel schedule to get there. Minnesota has wins over Virginia and Ohio State already this season but the Gophers have played just one true road game, a one-point win at Colorado State. Minnesota also has found itself playing from behind in several games including both Big Ten games and a couple of games against weak non-conference foes, most notably the Cornell game. The Gophers have been able to sneak out several narrow wins but on the road in Big Ten play that is unlikely to happen. Minnesota has a nice team with several strong defensive players but the overall defensive unit will be vulnerable against strong outside shooting teams with athletic inside-out type players as Michigan State exhibited. The offense lacks a go-to playmaker and has not been consistent enough to emerge as top tier team once conference play begins. Minnesota has improved but is likely bound for a .500 conference season and a spot on the bubble.