Some mid-major leagues deserve two teams in the NCAA Tournament field

Selection Sunday is sneaking up on us, only three weeks from Sunday, and the annual question from all corners of the nation appears to be a little louder in this strange season:

Will the committee that chooses and seeds the final at-large teams for the NCAA Tournament go top-heavy with representatives from the power conferences that finish at or just above .500, or will they will give serious consideration to a second team from a mid-major league?

It’s been a decent season for the teams that people don’t tend to see much. Drake, which was one of the last three Division I unbeatens with Gonzaga and Baylor before losing, and Loyola Chicago have been duking it out in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Mountain West has a strong bunch of contenders in San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah State, and Boise State, and should get two in.

Then there’s the Atlantic 10 Conference, where Virginia Commonwealth and St. Bonaventure have stepped forward to give the league a strong chance for two teams in the tournament. And St. Louis is one of the first four out in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology mock.

The Big Ten enters the weekend with nine teams projected to be in the dance, and a 10th team, Minnesota, squarely on the bubble. But you might say the Golden Gophers’ resumé — No. 57 in the NET, 6-9 in conference — doesn’t deserve a bid at the expense of a high-quality mid-major team if the selections were made this weekend.

Here’s the case of two mid-majors, Belmont and Winthrop. Belmont (23-1) of the Ohio Valley Conference has the most victories in Division I and a 20-game winning streak. Winthrop (19-1) of the Big South barely preceded Drake in losing its first and only game. Keeping them on the sidelines if either did not win its conference tournament would seem unfair.

But the NET doesn’t seem to be on their side. Through Thursday’s games, Belmont is ranked 64th and Winthrop is at No. 70.

Still, there is a lot of basketball yet to be played. It should be an interesting three weeks.

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With the coronavirus pandemic having resulted in more than 300 postponed or canceled games this season, the members of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee have their work cut out considering teams that might have played eight to 10 fewer games than a team of similar ability.

Mitch Barnhart, Kentucky’s athletic director and chair of the committee, called the disparity of games “new territory” and used the cases of St. Louis and Minnesota as examples.

In an interview this week with Matt Norlander of CBSSports.com, Barnhart said the Billikens “got a high-quality win over LSU out of conference, then all of a sudden they’re put in a position where they’ve not played many conference games [six] and have been put on pause, or someone else’s put them on pause on their schedule.

“Minnesota has played a pretty full schedule of 21 games and is struggling to win on the road. What does that mean to their total resumé as it relates to teams that haven’t had the opportunity to go on the road? Those are great conversations.”

Another issue is the reduction of nonconference games this season, which makes it more difficult to compare the credentials of teams from different leagues, especially upsets of teams from bigger conferences.

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Well, we might have written off Kansas a little too quickly.

The Jayhawks, who fell out of the Top 25 last week for the first time since Feb. 2, 2009, have won four straight games and are back in the rankings at No. 23 going into Saturday’s home game against No. 15 Texas Tech. They are 19th in the NET and No. 24 in KenPom.com’s rankings.

“I think we’re getting better,” Kansas coach Bill Self said Wednesday night after his team’s 59-41 win over Kansas State. “I think our best ball is still ahead of us.”

Kansas (16-7, 10-5 Big 12) is 5-5 against ranked teams this season. Texas Tech (14-6, 6-5) will be its 11th ranked opponent.

Arizona at No. 17 Southern California, Saturday at 6 p.m., Fox29: The Trojans (18-3, 12-2 Pac-12) have won seven straight and hold down first place in the conference by one game over UCLA. They are sixth in the nation in field-goal percentage defense at 38.3%. The Wildcats (14-8, 8-8) have lost their last three road games.

No. 7 Virginia at Duke, Saturday at 8 p.m., ESPN: The Cavaliers (15-4, 11-2 ACC) were routed in their last start, 81-60, at Florida State and now head back out on the road to take on a Blue Devils team (9-8, 7-6) that has won back-to-back games and is playing with more confidence.

No. 3 Michigan at No. 4 Ohio State, Sunday at 1 p.m., CBS3: The fight for the Big Ten regular-season championship, not to mention securing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, brings us to this matchup of the old football rivals Wolverines (15-1, 10-1 conference) and Buckeyes (18-4, 12-4), winners of seven straight.

Few players in the nation have been more skilled at drawing fouls and getting to the line than Rhode Island senior guard Fatts Russell, who starred at Imhotep Charter. The 5-foot-11 Russell is seventh in Division I in free throws made with 111, and eighth with 134 free-throw attempts, shooting 82.8%. Russell leads the Rams in scoring (14.5 points per game), assists (4.0), and steals (2.05).