NCAA Tournament 2020: Selection Committee bracket preview takeaways

San Diego State can’t Move Themselves up

Another huge takeaway from the early release of the rankings is that San Diego State does not control their own destiny but instead is the highest they can be without help from other teams.

With an undefeated record, the Aztecs have done all they could possibly do, yet they are still only the fourth overall team in the nation according to the Selection Committee.

While this might not mean a whole lot and you might be sitting there asking yourself “why does it matter, they’re still a one seed”, it does matter because another California team is ahead of them.

This means that if SDSU stays where they are and the top-four doesn’t move, they would be in the East Region which goes through New York and not in the West Region which goes through Los Angeles.

Having to go to the complete opposite side of the country as opposed to traveling two and a half hours north is a huge disadvantage for the Aztecs and there is nothing they can do to change it.

San Diego State doesn’t play a single other ranked team this season and they have only played one total this season which means it will be impossible for them to move ahead of Gonzaga unless the Zags drop a game or two.

But is this fair? Should San Diego State be the fourth-ranked team, or should they be ranked higher?

Here is what each of the one seeds’ resumes looks like:

San Diego State:

• 23-0 overall
• 4-0 vs quad one opponents
• 4-0 vs quad two opponents
• 7-0 vs quad three opponents
• 8-0 vs quad four opponents

Gonzaga:

• 25-1 overall
• 5-1 vs quad one opponents
• 3-0 vs quad two opponents
• 8-0 vs quad three opponents
• 9-0 vs quad four opponents

Baylor:

• 21-1 overall
• 7-0 vs quad one opponents
• 6-1 vs quad two opponents
• 3-0 vs quad three opponents
• 5-0 vs quad four opponents

Kansas:

• 19-3 overall
• 10-3 vs quad one opponents
• 5-0 vs quad two opponents
• 1-0 vs quad three opponents
• 3-0 vs quad four opponents

No one (maybe with the exception of SDSU fans and students) is making the case that San Diego State should be ranked ahead of Kansas or Baylor, but why are they behind Gonzaga right now?

Both Gonzaga and SDSU have played the same amount of games against a combination of quad one and quad two opponents and the Aztecs are 8-0 against such opponents while the Zags are 7-1.

Now to be fair, the teams Gonzaga played might’ve been a bit better than those San Diego State has played, but looking at just the quadrant one and two record, it’s hard to picture why the Zags would be above the Aztecs.

This will be a comparison to keep your eye on as the season moves on and the tournament gets closer because I have a feeling the picture in March might be similar to what it is right now.