CBB OT- These are your NCAAT National Championship contenders

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

ACC-
(Regular Season champ)
North Carolina
(Conference Tournament champ)
North Carolina State

(CT Semifinalists)
North Carolina
Virginia

**Pittsburgh n/s

Big 12-
(Regular Season champ)
Houston
(Conference Tournament champ)
Iowa State

(CT Semifinalists)
Houston
Baylor
Texas Tech

Big East-
(Regular Season & Conference Tournament champ)
Connecticut

(CT Semifinalists)
Marquette

**St. John's n/s
**Providence n/s

Big Ten-
(Regular Season champ)
Purdue
(Conference Tournament champ)
Illinois

(CT Semifinalists)
Wisconsin
Purdue
Nebraska

Pac 12-
(Regular Season champ)
Arizona
(Conference Tournament champ)
Oregon

(CT Semifinalists)
Colorado
Arizona
Washington State

SEC-
(Regular Season champ)
*Tennessee
(Conference Tournament champ)
Auburn

(CT Semifinalists)
Florida
Texas A&M
Mississippi State



Why, you are probably asking?.........Well, that's because no team in the modern conference tournament era of CBB has ever won the NCAA Tournament after failing to at least reach the semifinals of their respective conference tournament.

Only 3 teams in that time frame failed to win either their regular season or conference tournament title:

2014 UConn, 2015 Duke, 2023 UConn

(All 3 at least made their CT semies)

This also means that regular season SEC champ Tennessee is a sneaky pick to be upset at some point, as they were knocked off in the SEC Qtrs by Mississippi State.

 

[fezzador]

The way things are shaking out, I'd wager it's pretty close to 50/50 between UConn and the field. And UConn isn't even that great a team, they're just the best out of a REALLY crappy D1. They'd get boatraced by quite a few former champs.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

With the 3 teams that didn't make the field set aside, that leaves 21/22 teams as your contenders to win the national championship.

And I leave the / in because Tennessee has the dubious distinction of being the one team on this list that failed to make their conference tournament's semifinals. They are a favorite in the tournament and are the regular season SEC champs, but as mentioned................NO TEAM since 1998 has won the national championship after failing to reach their conference tournament's semifinals.


But if you really want to split hairs and focus just on the conference champs, excluding Tennessee, that leaves 10 teams to choose from. (Again, if you're going off the percentages that show only 3 teams in the modern conference tournament era won the NCAA Tournament without winning a regular season or conference tournament title.)

Those teams:
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Connecticut
Houston
Iowa State
Purdue
Illinois
Arizona
Oregon
Auburn