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College Basketball: No clear National Championship favorite entering February

By Matt Johnson

Mar 22, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; General view of the NCAA logo at midcourt of the KeyArena during the game between the Northern Iowa Panthers and Louisville Cardinals in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 22, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; General view of the NCAA logo at midcourt of the KeyArena during the game between the Northern Iowa Panthers and Louisville Cardinals in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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As the college basketball season turns the page from January to February, we still don’t see any clear cut favorite to win a national title.

January has now officially come and gone. And as crunch time in college hoops draws ever nearer, teams are sharpening their games in hopes of making a big splash come March.

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It’s against this backdrop the debate regarding potential national championship favorites is bandying about like a hot potato. Media members are having an understandably hard time naming a consensus favorite. The reason? There simply isn’t a hands-down, stone-cold-lock appearing ready to make a run to Houston.

Even national pollsters are having a difficult time figuring it all out.

First, it was North Carolina holding top-billing. Then Northern Iowa came along and shocked the powder-blue and white.

Next it was Kentucky. But UCLA had other ideas and knocked the Wildcats from the top spot.

Michigan State had their turn at No. 1 for a few weeks before being shoved off their perch by Iowa.

Kansas enjoyed a nice run on top before dropping a game to West Virginia and Oklahoma had a brief stint as top-dog until falling to Iowa State.

With February now upon us, the revolving door of college basketball’s No. 1 ranking is currently shared by the Tarheels and Sooners depending upon which major poll is preferred. What does it all mean? To be blunt, nobody knows who the best team in college basketball is.

Last year was a different story.

John Calipari’s Wildcats, with their bevy of McDonald’s All-Americans and future NBA Draft picks, simply swatted away everyone and everything in their path. The only question was whether anyone had enough in the tank to halt an impending championship party in Lexington.

As the Wisconsin Badgers ultimately proved, the answer was a resounding “yes.”

No such consensus exists in 2015-16. And it could lead to one of the most memorable two-month runs in recent college basketball history.

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Even naming a top-five list of favorites is problematic. North Carolina? Yeah. Kansas? Probably. Oklahoma? Sure. After that, things get pretty dicey. After all, how many experts had Iowa and Texas A&M manning top-five spots in both major polls by February?

In the meantime, there is no shortage of teams feeling good about their chances.

Maryland has been lurking in the shadows for much of the season and possesses enough talent to be a popular dark-horse choice. Virginia always seems to be on the cusp and could emerge given the topsy-turvy results seen in 2015-16. Villanova and Xavier have a combined four losses atop the Big East and could be interesting come March while Baylor and West Virginia are looking strong in the Big 12.

Heck, even probation-laced SMU  and their sterling 19-1 record, could make a case. Alas, the Mustangs will be relegated to riding pine once March Madness rolls around.

The bottom line to it all is everybody has a chance.

As a marketing strategy, the NCAA peddled that myth over the years to bolster revenue and TV ratings for their signature event in March. It was a fun, up-lifting notion providing hope to even the smallest of schools they could make a miracle run to the Final Four.

For the better part of six decades, that’s all it was.

But in an era where schools like George Mason, Butler and VCU have written recent Final Four history, a previously overlooked minnow might even be ready to swim with the big fishes once tournament action gets underway.

Therein lies the true potential of the next two months.

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Dreams are always big in college basketball. For some, that’s all they’ll ever be. For others, visions of cutting down nets and national title glory are very real however.  And with less than two months until the field of 68 is revealed, college basketball’s race for supremacy is as wide-open as ever.

So enjoy the next two months. There should be plenty to savor.

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