What Nevada players are predicted to break out at NCAA Tournament

Check out all of the news you may have missed from the Mountain West?

CBS Sports Matt Norlander points out Nevada players who will be known very soon.

Jordan Caroline and/or Marcus Marshall, Nevada: Both are well-known to fans in the Mountain West, but not to the general sports audience. Nevada is a somewhat-trendy pick to beat Iowa State in that 5-12 game.

If it happens. these guys will be the reason why. While Nevada’s Cameron Oliver is a sophomore power forward who will be picked in the 2017 draft if he opts to leave, it’s Caroline that does more damage for the Wolf Pack. He put up 45 points against New Mexico earlier this year. He averages 14.8 points and 9.2 rebounds. Marshall leads the team in scoring (19.8) while running the point.

Iowa State head coach Steve Brohm arrives in Milwaukee.

Hallice Cooke on his heart scare, a return to the court and his Nevada team facing his former Iowa State squad.

Cooke is redshirting with the Wolf Pack but he is just glad that he is now be able to play basketball.

"We did a stress test all over again," Cooke said, "and they did an (echocardiogram), put all the machines to my heart and they saw that I didn't have (cardiomyopathy). They diagnosed me as athlete's heart, meaning my condition couldn't worsen and it couldn't kill me. So they allowed me to play again."

"I'm not taking it for granted," Cooke said, "because I know I could be in a totally different position."

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval predicts the Wolf Pack to the Sweet 16

Sandoval is an alum of the Wolf Pack and maybe he is just going with “his team” to win a few games. Look for a potential bet of some sort with the Iowa governor but nothing has been official.

Does experience matter in the NCAA tournament?

Nevada has zero games of NCAA experience. Iowa State has five players who have appeared in 24 total NCAA Tournament games and that includes a pair of Sweet 16 games.

Nevada’s Eric Musselman is not phased by the lack of experience.

“I think it certainly helps to have experience,” Musselman said. “But the one thing that’s helped us is we played the last regular-season game against Colorado State with great pressure. We had to win that to win our conference. And then you play in the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed and we go and win three in a row. That helps us, but you can’t make up for NCAA experience, and so they have a decisive advantage there from a mental standpoint and in-game experience standpoint.”

Musselman getting paid.