Fire Postseason College Basketball Rankings

UConn's shirts say it's #1, so it must be.

UConn was not the unanimous number-one team in the recently released ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, which underscores the fact that postseason rankings should be fired.

UConn received all but one first-place vote, which went to Ohio State. Northern Arizona Coach Mike Adras went rogue, explaining he voted for OSU because "I thought [it] was the best team in the country based on the entire body of work during the season."



If Ohio State is considered the best team in college basketball even though it didn't come close to winning the NCAA Tournament, then what's the point of the tournament (aside from making billions of dollars for the NCAA)? Adras is probably right that the 34-3 OSU team was better over the course of the season than UConn, which finished 32-9 including 9-9 in the Big East. But the purpose of the tournament is to crown a champion. UConn is selling sweatshirts for $36.95 that say "National Champions" not "Tournament Champions" because most people consider the tournament winner to be the overall champion. It's unnecessary to release rankings either confirming that fact or, in this case, sort of disputing it.

It's common in sports for a team that wasn't considered the "best" during the regular season to win a championship. If a team that wins a playoff isn't going to be collectively considered the best team, then you might as well just declare the team with the best regular-season record the champion. That's boring and nobody wants that, so let's fire this postseason poll.