NCAA Basketball: 5 biggest takeaways from 2020-21 initial NET rankings

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 8: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

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UK head coach John Calipari Kentucky Basketball Notre Dame /

1. Duke and Kentucky are in real danger of missing the NCAA Tournament

There’s still a level of disbelief regarding the typical juggernauts struggling so far this season. The biggest standout, in a negative way, is the Kentucky Wildcats, who beat Mississippi State in double-overtime last weekend to be just 2-6 on the season.

That has them as a whopping 144 overall in the current NET rankings, behind the likes of Jacksonville State, Coastal Carolina, and Southern Utah. That puts them absolutely nowhere near the bubble in the at-large conversation. The Wildcats will need to rise nearly 80-90 spots just to get back into the picture.

The good news for Kentucky is that while the SEC didn’t have the greatest collective non-conference, the league did do well in the first set of NET rankings. Both Tennessee and Missouri are currently in the top-10, while Florida, Arkansas, and LSU are 22-24. Alabama is the other in the top-40 overall. That gives them opportunities but they’ll need to win the vast majority of those matchups in order to have a shot at March Madness.

As for Duke, they’re in a bit better shape at 115 with no bad losses, but their best victory out of the five games played is against Notre Dame, ranked at 169 overall. They haven’t been able to play due to their opponents (Pittsburgh and Florida State last week) having covid issues, although that’s likely to be rescheduled.

The biggest question is whether or not the ACC can provide the Blue Devils with enough great wins to get them in comfortably in the field.

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