As the calendar fades into March and miracle runs in conference tournaments begin, Selection Sunday approaches. But before people across the nation scramble to fill out their perfect bracket, let’s take a look back at this year’s season.
Heading into the inevitable mayhem of March basketball, this season can be summed up in four words: complete and utter chaos. However, it is not the sheer number of upsets that set this year apart– that factor is actually fairly in line with previous years. Rather, this season’s upsets have simply been much more unexpected and monumental than anyone could have thought.
Here’s an example: On Feb. 20, Arizona State defeated No. 14 Oregon 77-72. Impressive, but Arizona State is a good team with a decent shot at making the NCAA tournament. While it is impressive, it’s not quite as shocking as some of this year’s other games.
For instance, back in November, the Evansville Purple Aces stunned No. 1 Kentucky
67-64, breaking the Wildcats’ 52-game home winning streak against unranked non-conference teams.
Evansville wasn’t a team prepared for a major tournament run nor were they expected to make any sort of noise in the postseason.In fact, the Purple Aces fired their head coach midway through the season and not only finished dead last in their conference, but failed to win a single game in conference play, making the Kentucky game all the more shocking.
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights were ranked as high as 24th in the AP poll this year. Yes, this is the same Rutgers that hasn’t qualified for the NCAA tournament since 1991, and had not been ranked since 1979.
Another perennial Big Ten bottom feeder, Penn State, is having a shockingly successful year. The Nittany Lions have only made two NCAA tournament appearances since 2000, but have been ranked as high as ninth this season, and they have a decent chance to make a run in the Big Ten conference tournament.
But wait, there’s still more evidence that we are in some type of bizarre, alternate college basketball dimension this season.
North Carolina is certainly no stranger to success, with six national championships off of a ludicrous fifty NCAA tournament appearances throughout the program’s history.
However, the Tar Heels are foreign to the blatant mediocrity that they are currently experiencing. In one of their worst seasons in recent memory, the team is set to win less than fifteen games and finish in the bottom few of the ACC standings. Other low points for the blue blood program this season include losing to Clemson at home for the first time ever, and blowing a lead against Duke not once, but twice in the same game to rob themselves of a massive upset.
There are other examples of schools performing uncharacteristically badly. Virginia was in danger of missing the tournament earlier this season after winning it all last year (although the Cavaliers have recovered), and Purdue may be left out after their Elite Eight run. But Chapel Hill, North Carolina is the host of one of the starkest contrasts from the norm in the country this season.
Even the top teams are performing unusually well. Potential number one and two seeds for the NCAA tournament include familiar faces such as Kansas and Duke, mixed in with many outsiders including Baylor, along with non-powers Dayton, and San Diego State. Gonzaga provides even further underdog representation, although the Bulldogs are by no means your average mid-major squad.
In a nutshell, this season is a chaotic mess. College basketball reality is seemingly flipped upside down.
If anyone tells you they’re an expert and know exactly who to pick for this year’s tournament, they’re lying. Sure, some teams have set themselves apart from the pack–Baylor, Kansas, and Duke all come to mind–, but that factor can only be trusted so much, as this season has proven.
A three-legged hedgehog has as much of a chance to fill out a perfect bracket as anyone else does this year. So go out, have fun with it, and get ready to put the madness back in March Madness.
