Missed out on college hoops? Here's what you need to know ahead of March Madness

Believe it or not, it's almost time for March Madness to begin. The first sporting casualty of the coronavirus pandemic is set to return in its full glory with Selection Sunday on March 14 and a bubbled NCAA Tournament based entirely in Indiana in the weeks to follow. The season itself has been wild, setting the stage for a potentially thrilling event. In case you have decided to do an annual late February check-in on the landscape here's what you need to know about the world of college basketball.

The blue bloods have gone missing

When most fans think of college basketball they think of the traditional powerhouses like Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Michigan State. Yet a casual glance at a bracketology report right now would be an absolute shock since pretty much all of these teams are either not in the field or well below where they are typically seeded in the field.

The unusual offseason prevented typical preseason workouts and training camps, making it harder for teams with annual turnover like the blue bloods have to get into a rhythm. If the season ended today, Duke, Michigan State and Kentucky wouldn't make the field while North Carolina may be stuck with a spot in the First Four. Kansas is somewhere in the range of a 4 or 5 seed today and it appears unlikely that any of the traditional powers will be cutting down the nets in April.

Gonzaga and Baylor are in pursuit of perfection

The two best teams over the course of the season have been Gonzaga and Baylor, a fact that hasn't changed since the preseason polls had the Bulldogs and Bears ranked as the top two teams in the country. Gonzaga has been on a methodical death march towards an undefeated season, toppling four top-20 teams in the non-conference schedule while posting the deepest offensive team of Mark Few's tenure.

Baylor has managed to stay unbeaten in the rugged Big 12, an impressive accomplishment since the league is likely to send seven of its ten teams to the NCAA Tournament with six potentially landing 4 seeds or higher. A lengthy COVID pause has left the Bears vulnerable to a tough sprint to the finish, which combined with the Big 12 Tournament makes it likelier that they enter March Madness with at least one loss.

The Big Ten could send ten teams dancing

The Big Ten was America's deepest conference a year ago and has maintained its strength in 2021. There was talk that the league could send a dozen teams to the NCAA Tournament a year ago and the Big Ten can easily send ten teams to March Madness this season.

The top of the heap is a four-team tier featuring Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa and Illinois, with the Wolverines and Buckeyes looking like the biggest threats to upset the Gonzaga/Baylor tier of teams. The next group of teams that appears to be safely in the field features Wisconsin, Purdue, Maryland and Rutgers, which is poised to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991.

The bubble group features the trio of Minnesota, Indiana and Michigan State, each of whom has its flaws. The Golden Gophers should make the field if they find a way to win a road game, which could come as soon as a matchup with lowly Nebraska, while it feels like one of Indiana or Michigan State will get in with the other sitting among the first four teams on the outside looking in.

The Big East is not a beast

No league has taken a bigger hit year-to-year than the Big East, which looked like it could have sent seven teams dancing last March. A stunning fall from the league's middle class leaves only two locks for the field and a strong possibility that the conference could send less than five teams into the NCAA Tournament.

Villanova and Creighton are locked in, but what happens after them is an open question. Seton Hall looked like they should be safely in the field but a pair of bad losses to Butler and Georgetown have left them on the bubble. Xavier has a solid resume with a win over Oklahoma on it but the Musketeers simply haven't played a lot of games as a result of a lengthy COVID pause.

The other Big East bubble team is UConn, which has had to endure a COVID pause and a lengthy absence from star guard James Bouknight. If the Huskies can finish strong with Bouknight back in the fold they have a good chance to sneak into the field.

Cinderellas could be plentiful in March

The best part of March Madness is its Cinderella stories of mid-major programs that rise from relative obscurity to steal the hearts of the nation with dramatic NCAA Tournament runs. 2021 has a plethora of quality candidates to wear the glass slipper, including 2018 darling Loyola-Chicago, which appears to be safely in the field thanks to a strong run in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Other notable Cinderella candidates include Drake, which was undefeated for a long time in the Missouri Valley, Western Kentucky, Belmont, Winthrop and a trio of quality A-10 programs (St. Bonaventure, Saint Louis and Richmond). Don't be shocked if there is more chaos in the first and second rounds thanks to the emergence of some of these programs as Sweet 16 threats