Every moment on the court is important in the grand scheme of things, but with the calendar finally hitting March we have hit the golden hour of this college basketball season. The greatest postseason in American sports is right around the corner as we countdown the days until the NCAA Tournament. We’re not quite there yet and we’ll still have some exciting ball in the coming weeks before the bracket is unveiled.
March Madness is when dreams come true, when the slipper fits, and when realities are devastated by the fragility of the Tournament. Around the nation, hundreds of teams have spent the last four months jockeying for their position and proving why they belong in the field. For some, they’ll need victory at their conference tournament and have no other shot at the Big Dance, but others won’t see their seasons end in these conference events.
We typically focus and hear the stories of those top teams, of the ones who’ll easily snag at-large bids or won’t necessarily have to sweat out the bubble on Selection Sunday. The truth is that March is when a ton of stories are told, some with happy endings but most in sorrow and missed opportunity. After all, only one team can cut down the nets as national champions, but that doesn’t mean March won’t have several winners even before then.
The last few weeks and months have showed us some of these winners already and we’re considering every part of this college season right now. Our Top 25 rankings need their weekly update and it’s easy to see just who has stood out with emphatic play and successful results. We’ve once again adjusted the rankings, doing our best to including what we believe are the best teams in the nation, even if those aren’t necessarily the ones whose stories we’ll hear in the coming weeks.