To hear the NCAA Tournament selection committee tell it, Arizona State and Syracuse made the 68-team field before the calendar turned.
The fact that they will meet in a Midwest Regional play-in game in Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday indicates how much slippage occurred in conference play.
Arizona State (20-11) beat tournament No. 1 seeds Xavier and Kansas in November and December and rose to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 as the last undefeated team in Division I before scuffling in the Pac-12. The Sun Devils had an 8-10 conference record and lost to Colorado in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament.