Next game: Memphis (6-18, 4-9) at USF (19-8, 12-2)
When: Saturday, February 22, 7 p.m. at the Yuengling Center
TV/Radio: ESPN+ and Bulls Unlimited
The NET ranking that the NCAA uses as a key element for post-season at-large tournament bids is designed to take politics out of who gets in and who doesn’t.
However, that metric likely means the USF women’s basketball team will have to win the American Athletic Conference tournament if the Bulls want a spot in the Big Dance.
That’s not because the Bulls aren’t one of the 68 best teams in the country. That shouldn’t even be an issue. But because the AAC is dragged down by multiple teams that aren’t very good, USF gets little to no credit for beating them.
That was the case Tuesday night when the Bulls rolled past Charlotte 70-52, which sounds good, right? However, Charlotte is ranked 248th in the NET, so USF will get little to no credit from the whackdoodle NET system for doing what that analytic says should have happened.
Not only that, the Bulls might also be hurt because they didn’t beat the 49ers by a wider margin. USF held Charlotte to 11 points in the first half and led by 30 points in the fourth quarter before head coach Jose Fernandez emptied his bench. The 49ers promptly pressed full court and cut the final margin to 18 points.
In his post-game remarks on the USF radio broadcast, a visibly perturbed Fernandez expressed his frustration with the selection system afterward.
“This is where the NET comes in, right? You put in your bench about it, and you're up 30, and then they (Charlotte) haven't pressed all game, and they choose to press,” he said.
“But I guess I should have kept my starters in and won by 50, and then I'm a bad sportsman.”
That’s the dilemma facing the Bulls as they head down the stretch. USF is 67th in the NET ratings, which leads the AAC. The Bulls have been stuck in that general area since conference play began. Their next opponent, Memphis, is ranked 201st.
The win at Charlotte was USF’s eighth straight and 14th in its last 16 games. They also own a win over 8th-ranked Duke, which ought to tell the selection committee something. To be fair, the one-point loss to conference opponent 163rd-ranked UAB at home is the prototype of a bad loss.
The Bulls are 12-2 in the conference and trail UTSA by a game in the loss column for the regular-season championship. However, that might not even matter because nearly all the NCAA Tournament projections peg the AAC as a one-bid league.
That means even if the Bulls win the regular-season title, they may have to win three games in three days at the conference tournament. Even then, they likely would be no higher than a No. 12 seed in the NCAA tournament.
In this case, it seems the Bulls are an example of the real March madness.