Phil Forte (USATSI)
Oklahoma State's Phil Forte has the Cowboys on the right track. (USATSI)

Looking for a few teams that could be better than people anticipate this season? Check out the list below as we take a look at five teams that could overachieve in 2015-16. In no particular order...

Oklahoma State Cowboys 

Travis Ford always does his best work when he operates in the shadows and that’s the type of situation he’s going to have this season in Stillwater.

No one is talking about Oklahoma State in regards to the Big 12 next season and that’s just fine with Ford, who's led this program to five NCAA Tournament appearances during his seven-year stint with the Cowboys.

Oklahoma State returns an All-Big 12 guard in Phil Forte along with several quality role players in Jeff Newberry, Tavarius Shine, Jeffrey Carroll, Leyton Hammonds, and Mitchell Solomon. Ford is predicting a breakout year for the 6-foot-9 Solomon, who shined in summer workouts.

Freshman point guard Jawun Evans played for Team USA this past July and will likely be an instant starter next to Forte while Eastern Illinois import Chris Olivier is an immediately eligible transfer who averaged 13.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season.

From the periphery this team may look like Evans, Forte, and not much else, but Ford has a way of excelling when elbow grease is required.

Don’t be shocked if the Cowboys are a nuisance to play and find their way into the NCAA discussion by mid-February.

Houston Cougars 

You didn’t expect Kelvin Sampson to be down for long, did you?

Me neither.

The veteran coach returned to college basketball a few years because he had his sights set on making Houston’s program relevant for the first time in decades and he should have a chance to do just that this season.

The Cougars return four of their top five scorers -- Devonta Pollard, L.J. Rose, Danrad “Chicken” Knowles, and LeRon Barnes -- from last year’s team that won 13 games while adding several key newcomers.

Ronnie Johnson (Purdue) and Damyean Dotson (Oregon) are two transfers who should be instant starters while Rob Gray is a junior-college import who scored the ball well on this team’s foreign tour to China in August. Sampson is also high on freshman point guard Galen Robinson, a true floor general in the Fred Van Vleet mold.

Cincinnati, SMU, and UConn look like they’re clearly the top three teams in the American Conference, but the Cougars should be right in the mix of the next tier with Memphis, Tulsa, and Temple.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 

Don’t be shocked if the Yellow Jackets are a bubble team.

Seriously.

Georgia Tech lost 13 ACC games last season by seven points or less and if it goes 7-6 during that span this year it could be on the cusp of the NCAA Tournament.

Brian Gregory brings in several reinforcements in a trio of transfers -- Nick Jacobs (Georgia Tech), Adam Smith (Virginia Tech), and James White (Arkansas-Little Rock) -- who should all see major minutes. The burly Jacobs should give this team another post option aside from Charles Mitchell while Smith will take immense pressure off Marcus Georges-Hunt on the perimeter.

The 6-1 guard led Virginia Tech in scoring last season and brings something to the table that the Yellow Jackets lacked last season -- outside shooting. Smith made 81 shots from long distance last year while Georgia Tech averaged 4.2 triples made per game as a team.

If Smith and Jacobs can score close to double figures and role players like Tadric Jackson, Ben Lammers, Travis Jorgenson, and Quinton Stephens gradually improve, a middle of the pack finish in the ACC is very much within reason.

Fresno State Bulldogs 

Veteran guards win in college basketball and that’s just what the Bulldogs possess.

Fresno State returns three double-figure scorers on the perimeter in Marvelle Harris, Cezar Guerrero, and Julien Lewis as well as forward Paul Watson, who averaged 11.1 points and 4.9 rebounds last season.

The 6-4 Harris (16.4 points per game in 2014-15) is a legitimate Mountain West Player of the Year candidate and can get his own shot whenever he desires.

JUCO import Torren Jones -- who began his college career at Missouri -- should have a major impact at 6-9, while Rodney Terry is also high on 6-6 forward Karachi Edo.

The Bulldogs won 15 games last season and have another year of experience under their belt to go with a major addition in the front court.

This is the sleeper team in the Mountain West Conference and one that should win five to seven more times than it did a year ago.

Iowa Hawkeyes 

The forgotten team in the Big Ten still has firepower.

How much?

Enough to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season.

The Hawkeyes have been in afterthought in most people’s discussions about the Big Ten since last season ended, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not capable of being a team that hears its name called on Selection Sunday.

Fran McCaffery returns five players who averaged double-figure minutes from last year’s team that lost to Gonzaga in the Round of 32. Mike Gesell, Anthony Clemmons, and Adam Woodbury are a proud trio of seniors while Jarrod Uthoff should emerge as this team’s go-to player following Aaron White’s departure.

If Iowa can get a breakout year out of Dom Uhl and newcomers like Brady Ellingson, Andrew Fleming, and Dale Jones shoot the ball the way they did prior to committing to the Hawkeyes’ program, McCaffery could have a team that wins 20-plus games finishes in the upper tier of the Big Ten.