It’s clearly been a weird year in college hoops, one that will only get weirder as we inch closer to March. Barring shocking conference tournament runs, Duke, Kentucky and Michigan State won’t be dancing. North Carolina finds itself clearly on the bubble, Syracuse is right there with them and Arizona is ineligible because of a self-imposed ban. Kansas is about as much of a non-threat as they’ve been in decades.
Whether some of those teams end up making a run or not is irrelevant to the fact that clearly we’re in changing times in college basketball. Some of the biggest programs are down and – this year more than ever – it’s clear that some of college basketball’s most iconic coaches won’t be around forever either.