The college basketball season is almost done with January. The urgency of the season is in a slow build, but before too long, the latter half of February will be upon us, and the desperate scramble to the finish line for NCAA Tournament berths will intensify. Right now, which teams lead the pack in the race for No. 1 seeds in each of the four regions, and which team sits at No. 5 in the country, waiting to pounce on an opportunity if one of the top four teams falters? It’s getting interesting, and will only continue to be more so as the weeks go by.
1. Baylor Bears
The Bears’ only loss was at West Virginia, but that did not happen this past week. Instead, Kansas – the team competing with the Bears for first place in the Big 12 Conference – lost at West Virginia. This change of places enables Baylor to rise back to the top spot, shoving Kansas slightly downward in the pecking order. If one was to slot these teams into NCAA Tournament regions, Baylor could play in the South Region, given its location in Texas, which might be closer to a South site than a Midwest site.
It is true that the Bears are not a dominant college basketball team. They simply win the close games they play in. They did so in their most recent game against Texas Tech, and they’ve done it all season. This team might not hold onto its position, but right now, it certainly deserves its position.
2. Villanova Wildcats
The Wildcats lost to Marquette in a stunning result, allowing a 19-4 run over the final several minutes of play to fall by two points. This is not characteristic of a team which has consistently found ways to seal tight games and make the backbreaking play which leaves most opponents bewildered. Is this going to be a one-off event or something which begins to dent the confidence of this team?
The Wildcats are No. 2 because Kansas also lost, thereby failing to move up the college basketball ladder this week. The ACC has also been marked by carnage which prevents any team from that conference from being a No. 1 seed in any NCAA Tournament region.
3. Kansas Jayhawks
The Jayhawks did lose, but with everything that’s happening in the ACC and the Pac-12 as well, the Big 12 superpower is still in line for a top seed in the important college basketball tournament. It has only one Big 12 loss and has only one more really tough road game, at Baylor. This Saturday’s game at Kentucky will be a test, but Kansas should like its chances, given how the Wildcats have plummeted in recent weeks. If Kansas wins at Kentucky, everything is on schedule.
4. Gonzaga Bulldogs
This situation is simple. Gonzaga will get a No. 1 seed despite its presence in the not-very-deep West Coast Conference as long as it can finish the regular season unbeaten. The Zags beat Arizona and own a few other big non-conference wins, such that an unbeaten season would give them enough of a profile to be the top seed in the West. If Gonzaga loses, then it gets really interesting.
5. North Carolina Tar Heels
There is no ACC team in the top four, but if anyone should come the closest, it’s the Tar Heels, who did not lose the past week and have watched Florida State and Notre Dame, the previous leaders of the league, suffer decisive losses this past week.
The Tar Heels have a big game with Miami on Saturday but they are on a roll right now. They enter the weekend as the No. 9 team in the country, having won seven straight games. They have proven to have one of the best offenses in the country, which means they’ll be a nightmare to play from here on out. They have scored at least 85 points in seven straight games as well as 10 of their last 11 contests. Things will get a little bit tougher for them next weekend – they have back-to-back matchups against Top 25 teams (No. 14 Notre Dame and No. 17 Duke). They also have two more games against No. 12 Virginia, which means they still have a long way to go with their schedule.
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