Gonzaga has been the AP No. 1 team in men’s college basketball for each of the past four weeks, marking the longest tenure anyone has maintained in the top position this season.
Whether the streak is the start of a dominant run or a continuation of the Bulldogs’ tendency to keep fans on the edge of their seats is yet to be determined. If we’re using history as a guide, it’s safe to assume we’ll see the second option unfold — and that would mean Mark Few’s team isn’t going to cut down the nets in early April.
So if they aren’t, then who is?
For the first time in a few years, there’s no clear-cut favorite. Before Gonzaga claimed the spot a few weeks back, there was constantly dramatic movement around the top of the poll, as the Bulldogs were competing with five other teams – Duke, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State and Kentucky — for the top spot. Michigan State was ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll and hasn’t returned to the position since.
But that’s only a fraction of the movement that has made this season unique, as there have been 15 teams exchanging spots in the top-five of the AP polls. The parity has created a rare kind of buzz around the sport and adds to the excitement of the NCAA tournament.
As college basketball fans, we typically have one or two teams that we root for, meaning that most of the time, we are neutrality watching games, enjoying ourselves as our teams’ rivals beat up on one another. We convince ourselves that each game means something, trying to ignore the fact that there are only a few teams with a chance to win it all, but that reality seems to linger.
However, this season is different. Even the best teams – and the teams with the best coaches – seem vulnerable. Gonzaga is in the weak conference that plagues it each year, and Duke is dealing with the underachieving ACC conference that had just three teams ranked in the AP Top 25 this past week, meaning neither team will head into the tournament being too battle-tested.
And I think this is good for college basketball.
When we see a team or two dominate, we have to find ways to keep ourselves entertained and all we can hope is for one of those teams to have an off night, but in a year like this, where there is no invincible team, there’s this notion that our team could takeover or come out of nowhere in March.
But now is the time we prepare ourselves for the madness, usually by having our eyes glued to the TV, considering the scenarios that could impact where or if our team falls in the Big Dance. Most of the time, we hope our favorite teams’ rivals lose, but there are times when we have to root for them in order for our favorite team to get in the tournament.
And that’s good for everyone involved. As fans, we can tune into a random game and know that there’s a possibility that the outcome may have an impact on our favorite teams’ destiny, and that ultimately determines if our brackets are busted.