The NFL season has officially come to a close. And the baseball season is still several weeks away. That can mean only one thing: We are in the heart of the college basketball season. This has been a great season for college basketball, and the excitement should only continue.
I am not your typical college basketball fan. Most people just tune into a game here and there or only follow a given team. Me, I try to get to know as many teams as I can, that way I have more knowledge come the tourney in March. March is my favorite month of the year because of college basketball, and it is truly a passion of mine.
Most seasons, college basketball has some clear cut teams that are considered the upper echelon. This season is different, however. There is no clear cut top team that is considered much greater than the rest. When you examine the field this season, you won't find a team like that. There have been a handful of teams that held the number one spot this season, with Oklahoma being the current top team in the country.
Upsets are one of the best parts of the college basketball season. They are what has made this a season to remember. Every night a ranked team seems to lose, creating more and more buzz. Not knowing what will happen every single night makes the games that much more exciting.
The Next Month
The regular season has just under a month left to go. Over these next few weeks teams will be jockeying for position within their conferences and poising themselves for the "Big Dance." Each game will carry a little extra weight.
For bubble teams (those that did do well enough during the season to be considered a lock), picking up some solid road wins or any kind of upset will only help during this time. And with this season being so wide open, winning as many as possible has to be a must.
If you have never really gotten into college basketball, just tune in to the last five minutes of a game. If it is a close game it could definitely draw you in. Once you catch college basketball fever, it is hard to shake it. It is best to catch the fever in February so you can have some extra rooting interest come March.
Conference Tournaments
The start of the postseason comes in the form of conference tournaments. This is when the fun really starts up. The tournament style of play makes for some extra fun. All the teams from each conference now have a chance at success.
When a team wins their conference tournament, that locks in their spot in the NCAA tournament. For my fellow Monmouth students, this is our team's golden ticket. As it stands right now, Monmouth would enter their conference tournament as the number one seed. If they win their tournament, they are in! With the way they have been playing, my hopes are very high.
These tournaments can also allow for teams that suffered during the season to sneak in. A team can erase an underwhelming season by breaking into the NCAA tournament with an automatic bid. While these teams will be positioned at the bottom of the seed list, just making the tournament is a sort of win. Also, for smaller conference schools, this is simply their only chance. Small conferences typically do not get a bid into the tournament unless they have the auto bid.
At the conclusion of these tournaments, 32 of the 68 teams will have punched their tickets to compete in March Madness.
Selection Sunday
Sunday, March 20, is the day every team is waiting for. This is judgement day. By 7 p.m. the whole country will know which 68 teams will be competing, when and where.
For any team considered on the bubble, this day determines if their season was a success or not.
For the teams that knew they were going to make it, this is the day that they find out who they must beat in order to win it all. They see their first opponent, plus the 15 other teams in their region. These are the teams they need to run through to make the Final Four and then the championship game. Also, their seed will be of importance, since good luck may mean a slightly easier path than expected. Or some bad luck could lead to a tough draw in the earlier rounds.
NCAA Tournament/Big Dance/March Madness
This is when everyone finally starts to pay attention to college basketball. The time to fill out your bracket is now. Each team's path is set and the games can finally tip off. The first four games on Tuesday and Wednesday are just an appetizer, as eight teams will compete for four spots in the actual bracket to cut the field to 64.
The two best days of the whole season come on Thursday and Friday, with 16 games taking place in each day. Games go on all day long, and the fun just lasts all day long as well. These two days will see some upsets, and some people will rip up their brackets.
Saturday and Sunday will see eight games each. By the end of the weekend, the "Sweet Sixteen" will be set. We will have gone from 68 teams a week before on Selection Sunday to 16 after four days of play.
A few days will then pass to allow for some travel. There will be four locations for the next set of games: Anaheim, California; Louisville, Kentucky; Chicago, Illinois; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will play host to four teams each. On Thursday and Saturday (the 24th and 26th of March), Anaheim and Louisville will be at the center of the basketball world. Friday and Sunday (March 25 and 27) will be in Chicago and Philly. Now two weeks removed from Selection Sunday, we are down to the Final Four!
The remaining teams will get almost a week off, and get to travel down to Houston, Texas. All four teams will play on Saturday, April 2, with the two winners moving on to the championship game on Monday, April 4. On that night the tournament concludes, the madness ends and a champion is crowned. (It also signals a start of baseball season -- but that is just the sports nut in me talking).
Monmouth Hawks
To cap this article I need to touch on my team, the Monmouth Hawks. Our guys have been putting on an absolute show this season. They have looked like and played like a tourney team this season. If they can win the MAAC tournament they will be locked into a spot among the NCAA tournament's 68. In the best case scenario they are probably sitting as a 10 seed because of their small conference label. This would pit them against a seven seed, which would be a team that had a decent season but nothing special. In other words, a team they can beat. Most current projections have them sitting as a 12 seed. It just so happens that 12 seeds upset five seeds all the time, which is very much a possibility if the Hawks happen to draw that seed.
If they get upset in the conference tournament (I do not think they will, but in this unpredictable season I cannot just hand them the auto bid), they can still make the dance. Smaller conference schools do not typically get an at-large bid, but that is usually because of they do not have the big time quality wins.
That cannot be said of Monmouth, as they had several wins over big conference schools early in the season. This includes wins over UCLA, USC, Georgetown and, of course, Notre Dame -- all of whom are at worst considered on the NCAA tournament bubble. They also took Dayton right down to the wire, and Dayton is pretty much a lock for the tourney. So while I would not feel it a guarantee until I hear Monmouth's name called, they most certainly deserve it.
Let's not forget the excitement and fun factor. These guys are just fun to watch and bring an entertainment value that should be a part of the tournament. So keep it rolling, guys! We all want to hear Monmouth's name called on Selection Sunday and watch this team play well into March!
