If you’re just tuning in to the college basketball season now that the Super Bowl is over, you might do some double takes looking over the standings.
Kentucky is 5-13. Duke is 7-8. They’re a combined 9-24 against the spread. Michigan State is 10-7. None of those three teams is even close to the NCAA tournament field. North Carolina and Kansas are better but underwhelming at 12-6 and 13-7, respectively.
It has been decades since all the blue bloods were bad in the same season. It’s hard to believe it isn’t related to a weird COVID-19 season — almost all of those teams listed above rely on blue-chip freshmen, and they didn’t have a normal preseason — but regardless of the reason, it has been the biggest story in the sport.