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March Madness is nearly upon us as teams vie for a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Conference tournaments are in full swing, and the bracket is already beginning to fill in.
One of the squads looking to get into the field is the College of Charleston basketball team. Unfortunately, a loss in tonight’s CAA Championship could leave them on the outside looking in.
That would be a shame considering C of C currently leads the nation in wins. At 30-3 on the year, they’re the only program to eclipse the 30-win mark at this point in the season, and they also boast the second-best winning percentage in the country at over 90%. Only top-ranked Houston is better.
In conference, the team went 16-2 with one of those losses coming to regular season conference champ Hofstra. Outside of league play, they only lost to a UNC squad that entered the game ranked No. 1 overall.
Being left out would provide the Cougars a fate that hasn’t been seen in at least 30 years.
Charleston is heading to the CAA Finals. 30 wins.
No team has missed the NCAA Tournament with 30 wins since at least 1993. pic.twitter.com/cKd4VxccqJ
— Mid-Major Madness (@mid_madness) March 7, 2023
How is this possible? Strength of schedule.
The Cougars hold the 177th most difficult schedule according to TeamRankings.com. Their in-conference schedule ranks as the 221st most difficult.
Others see the slate as being even weaker, including CBS Sports’s Jerry Palm.
Charleston’s SOS ranks 338th of 363, so I don’t think many teams would tremble in fear of that.
— Jerry Palm (@jppalmCBS) February 26, 2023
Luckily for the College of Charleston basketball team, its fate lies in its own hands. They currently find themselves playing in the conference tournament finals, with a win giving them an automatic bid into the March Madness field.
That win won’t come easy as they’ll face maybe their biggest conference rival in UNC Wilmington for the third time this year. The Seahawks will have nothing to lose in that season finale as they look to play spoiler.
Should C of C lose, it’s possible they’ll be passed over for a middle-of-the-road Power Five school. In Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology projections, the Cougars are listed as one of the “Next Four Out.”
The College of Charleston basketball team may be in a do-or-die situation in Tuesday night’s championship game. Hopefully, they won’t be on the wrong side of history when all is said and done.
**Update**
The College of Charleston beat UNCW in the CAA championship Tuesday to secure an NCAAT bid. They will await their seeding come Selection Sunday.