After nearly four months of hardcourt action, the calendar now reads March and the most exciting part of the college basketball season is nearly upon us. The NCAA Tournament remains the pinnacle of collegiate postseason and perhaps remains the best postseason event in all of sports. As exciting as it may be to near March Madness again it’s important to remember that we aren’t quite there yet.
There are a few weeks left in the regular season before Selection Sunday and it’s a very important time in the year. Some teams are already concluding their regular season schedules while other leagues have just next week to make their cases to the Selection Committee. Very important games will be played in these coming weeks in the conference tournaments and it’s a time of year when memories and legacies are truly written.
What’s beautiful about this time of year is that virtually every team has their shot to make the Big Dance and every conference gets its moment in the sun. However, only a few teams can realistically run the gauntlet and win the NCAA Tournament and we’ve been thinking about those schools for some time now. We’ve seen grueling combat in the SEC, marvelous teams emerge from the Big 12, and great competitiveness in the Big Ten, but which teams really have been the best this season?
We’re continuing to answer that question with our weekly update to the Top 25 rankings. It’s pretty clear that most if not all of these ranked teams will find their way into the NCAA Tournament in a few weeks. It’s extremely likely that our next national champion will be among them, though each of these teams has work ahead. Whether in their final regular season action or in the league tournaments, what will these teams do down the stretch before hearing their names on Selection Sunday?