Busting Brackets
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NCAA Basketball: 5 major problems with a conference-only 2020-21 season

By Caleb Hightower

PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 22: A view of the NCAA logo during a game between the Albany Great Danes and the Duke Blue Devils during the second round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at the Wells Fargo Center on March 22, 2013 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 22: A view of the NCAA logo during a game between the Albany Great Danes and the Duke Blue Devils during the second round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at the Wells Fargo Center on March 22, 2013 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: Tom Holmoe, director of athletics at Brigham Young University, works as the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: Tom Holmoe, director of athletics at Brigham Young University, works as the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

How well will the committee function?

During a July 10th interview, Dan Gavitt, the NCAA senior Vice President of Basketball, assured Andy Katz, a College Basketball Analyst for the Big Ten Network, and Correspondent for the NCAA, that the committee would be flexible when it is time to determine worthy NCAA at-large bid recipients. However, I am simply not sure how the committee will be able to make sure that they at least do an adequate job of distributing at-large invitations, in a fair and unbiased fashion.

And before you point out that this shouldn’t be a major concern, due to the fact that deserving teams get snubbed by the committee every season, let me remind you that this situation is a tad bit different. Yes, the committee has made some poor calls in the past, ignoring teams whose resumes spoke for themselves, but in this case, the committee will not have all of the data that is needed for them to appropriately determine the fate of bubble terms. This means that power 5 and mid-major teams that have more AP (Associated Press) Top 25 teams in their conference, won’t have the uphill battle that teams with minimal AP Top 25 squads in their conference, will have.

Be that as it may, I can’t dismiss the fact that some teams are left out of the NCAA tournament as a result of their inability to take advantage of their competitive non-conference schedules. The difference is, those teams have no one but themselves to blame, and this year if out of conference games are not played, those teams will have to hope that the committee gives them the benefit of the doubt, since they will be unable to make resounding statements in non-conference play.

To put it even more simply, if the NCAA announces that teams will begin play in January but only play conference games, some teams may not get to experience the magic of March Madness. All because of a nonsensical decision made by the NCAA (which would then affect the way the committee functioned), and not as a result of their own failure to take care of business.

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