Conference Play Will Always Rule College Basketball Landscape

By Trevor Lowry @TheTrevorLowry on January 13, 2015

The times, they are a-changin’. As the years go by, more and more must-see non-conference matchups are becoming a thing. Case in point: The Champions Classic. You know, the early-season tournament that started just a few years back that isn’t actually a tournament. I’m talking about the classic that saw Kansas take on Kentucky and Michigan State take on Duke this season.

It’s great. Not only does it get the die-hard college basketball fans pumped up (if it doesn’t, then you probably aren’t a die-hard college hoops fan), but it also gets the casual fans to actually watch the sport outside of March (for the record, college basketball does exist outside of March). The teams that partake in the Champions Classic, Maui Invitational, NIT Season Tip-Off, Battle 4 Atlantis and all those other early-season tourneys probably like playing in them as well — so everyone wins.

Yeah, the new-age non-conference schedules are getting more and more exciting. For the record, the 49ers — Long Beach State, not San Francisco — fill their out-of-conference schedule with powerhouses on a yearly basis. Seriously, go look at their schedule. That’s all fine and dandy, but nothing beats the traditions of conference play — in college basketball, that is.

Okay, the NCAA tournament trumps all, but we aren’t playing that hand right now, March lovers.

Although conference realignment is doing its best to rip these traditions away, some of the greatest teams in the sport still battle it out on a yearly basis for a conference title. I’m talkin’ Gonzaga vs. Saint Mary’s, Michigan vs. Michigan State, Kentucky vs. Florida, UCLA vs. Arizona, Indiana vs. Purdue, Michigan vs. Ohio State, and the top rivalry of them all, North Carolina vs. Duke.

Yes, there are other must-watch-on-a-yearly-basis rivalries in college basketball, but I’m talkin’ about the conference rivalries that are still in existence.

In five or so years, we will be reminiscing about Duke vs. Syracuse, Duke vs. Louisville, North Carolina vs. Syracuse and North Carolina vs. Louisville. That’s pretty awesome, but at the same time, pretty weird — at least right now. So how does non-conference play differ from conference play, and why is the latter better?

Conference play builds rivalries and traditions, and lets a 15-20 team (2012-13 Liberty Flames) make the dance thanks to an automatic bid from winning a conference tournament. I’m just getting started. Non-conference play helps a team build its resume by getting statement wins. It can be a team’s best friend or worst nightmare. However, what a team does in its conference is tantamount to its season.

Huge non-conference matchups do tend to have an NCAA tournament-like atmosphere nowadays, so that’s pretty cool. Teams can certainly make statements in their non-conference schedules, but they make their mark in conference play. Kansas winning 10 straight Big 12 titles is all you need to know about that.

Take this into consideration: Casual fan A asks casual fan B who they think will win the Big 12. Casual fan B responds with, “I don’t know, the Jayhawks always win that conference, so my best bet is them.” Nine times out of 10, no matter what year it is or how many of Bill Self’s players were lost to the NBA in the offseason, casual fan B would get that right — with no research whatsoever, mind you.

I don’t care if a team beats Kentucky, Duke, Louisville and North Carolina in its non-conference schedule. If it does not have a winning record, or better yet, is a few games under .500 in conference play, it is not making the field of 68. Now, that is a very extreme case. Plus, good luck to a team that would actually have to play those top dogs in a single year.

With that said, there are countless teams that have finished with a winning record in their conference (ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big East, Pac-12 and Big 10 included), or right around .500, and still did not have the pleasure of lacing up their dancing shoes. Why, you ask? Well, because said teams played a bunch of cupcakes in their non-conference schedule.

There have also been countless teams that played no one in their non-conference schedule, finished with an okay conference record and still managed to make the NCAA tournament. How is that possible? Easy — those teams won their conference tournament, which is a completely different beast.

See, the funny thing about conference tournaments is the fact that no matter what a team’s record, relevance in the sport, how many future NBA players it has or talent in general, said team makes the dance as long as it wins its conference tournament. It’s yet another reason why March is so amazing.

Remember that one time when Gerry McNamara led Syracuse on an improbable run in the Big East tournament in the 2005-06 season? The Orange had bubble written all over them entering the Big East tourney — overall record of 19-11, conference record of 7-9 — but they managed to win four games in four days, on the back of McNamara, and earned that automatic bid.

So in short, if a team is all about scheduling powerhouses in its out-of-conference schedule, it better hope it at least finishes with a decent conference record. That is, if said team plans on punching its ticket to the dance. Even though big-name schools are starting to schedule other big-name schools before conference play even begins, I’ll take North Carolina vs. Duke any day of the week.

Trevor Lowry is a Content Associate at www.RantSports.com. If you’re a tweeter feel free to follow him @TheTrevorLowry, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.