No one was happy that the NCAA basketball season ended in the abrupt way that it did, but these five teams were probably better off not playing another game.
The NCAA basketball season ending in the abrupt and unprecedented way it did was nothing short of heartbreaking for fans, media, coaches, and especially graduating seniors. We’ve heard plenty about the what-ifs and the teams and players that didn’t get their shot when the stars seemed to be aligning. Dayton and Seton Hall might have had their best all-time teams and will each be graduating guys that were national player of the year candidates.
Teams like Virginia, BYU, and Wisconsin were getting hot at the right time. Stephen F. Austin, who earned headlines for beating Duke at Cameron earlier in the season, lost only three times on the year and went out on a 15-game winning streak. They were 31 points in the AP Poll shy of their first-ever national ranking, finishing one spot behind #25 Iowa. The list goes on.
But what hasn’t been as much discussed are the NCAA basketball teams who might not have been as upset to see their seasons come to a premature end, teams who struggled through the end of the year and might have been playing some of their worst hoops of the season. Others maybe were at their peak, and the season-ending when it did allow them to go out on a more positive note than it might have had they had a chance at postseason play.
Of course the season-ending the way it did was devastating for every team that had basketball left to be played, but here are a few teams that may have been better off ending their seasons when they did.