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: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

How will the committee rank teams?

Problem 3: The committee will not have non-conference games to help them accurately rank teams throughout the season

Now, you may not think that this problem is as significant as the other two I’ve touched on so far, but it is certainly worth exploring. For some people, a ranking is nothing more than a number next to a team’s name, but to me, a ranking is the one thing that allows overlooked squads to garner the national respect that they often crave. And to achieve a higher ranking, teams must play and beat higher-ranked teams.

Sure, winning non-conference games against unranked teams such as Florida, Indiana, and Xavier is impressive, but stealing wins against a 7th ranked Kentucky team, a 14th ranked West Virginia team, and a 10th ranked Florida State team (hypothetically) will unquestionably force the country, and most importantly the committee to take notice of your astounding success.

Without the opportunity to possibly earn an AP Top 25 ranking in the non-conference part of their schedules, and maintain it as the season goes on, certain teams won’t receive the same benefits that others will. Look at a team like Dayton for example, playing a full or reduced season would not affect them too much, due to the fact that the committee will still reward them with an AP Top 25 ranking, for showing that they could accomplish more than anyone ever imagined last season.

Their team may have lost four of the best players from a year ago (Obi Toppin, Trey Landers, Ryan Mikesell, and most likely Jalen Crutcher), which the committee will take into account, but because they finished last season with a 29-2 overall record, an 18-0 conference record, and were ranked in the AP Top 25 for most of the year, due to a spectacular showing in the Maui Invitational, I don’t see the committee leaving them out of the AP Top 25 this season.

And if they do drop 2 or 3 games early in Atlantic 10 conference play this season, and fall out of the AP Top 25, they will be better off(with reference to possibly re-entering the AP Top 25) than many teams who went into the season unranked. This is because many of them (especially mid-majors) play in conferences where there aren’t always a ton of opportunities for them to play elite teams, and showcase that they are deserving of an AP Top 25 ranking between 20 and 25 realistically.

If you need an example to help you clearly comprehend what I am conveying, take a look at the 2018-2019 Furman team.

Before falling 75-57 to LSU in Baton Rouge on December 21st, 2018, Furman won their first 12 games, which included knocking off Villanova (the reigning national champions at the time), and beating Loyola Chicago (a team that managed to weave their way into the final four the previous season) in the process. The committee did not look past Furman‘s early accomplishments and decided to give them their credit, by making them the 24th ranked team in the country.

Unfortunately, they were unable to cling to that ranking for very long, but I’m pretty sure that they would be one of the first teams to point out how, playing competitive non-conference games allows mid-major programs, like themselves, to get the committee to turn their attention towards them. If that chance is taken away from them, I can’t fathom how the committee will make sure that they are keeping their eyes on the right teams.

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