Since DrGOpines.com is a medical information blog, I had to use a medical term to describe the ups and downs, appearance and disappearance, and downright inconsistent behavior of many college basketball teams this season. Bipolar is the term I chose because it accurately describes the back and forth swings in the performance of many college teams.
Bipolar Disorder is a mental health condition characterized by mood swings between euphoria/mania, when things are sunny and rosy to the extreme, and deep depression where all hope is lost and life becomes dark and dreary. In humans, these bipolar phases can last for weeks or months, but in the case of college basketball, it’s a day-to-day, week-to-week, game-to-game phenomenon.
In November, prior to the start of the college basketball season, several media and professional organizations publish a preseason ranking of the top 25 teams—the teams they project will be among the 25 best in the 2024-‘25 season. This season’s poll is very interesting to survey because the preseason poll bears little resemblance to the polls published in early March. What we see now are nine teams who have previously won NCAA tournament titles and were preseason Top 25 teams, who have completely dropped out of the rankings. Kansas (preseason rank 1), U Conn (3), Baylor (6), North Carolina (9), Arizona (10), Arkansas (14), Indiana (17), Cincinnati (20), and UCLA (22) have all won at least one NCAA title, were in the preseason top 25 and now are outside looking in. Gonzaga, a perennial top 10 team was fifth preseason, but their 23-8 record has them outside the top 25.
Kansas, preseason number 1, has 10 losses. Head coach, Bill Self, has been rumored to be retiring, but has denied the authenticity of those rumors. Could they have been started by disgruntled fans? Possibly. UConn, winner of the last two NCAA championships, and preseason number 3, has 9 losses. Their head coach, Dan Hurley, has been criticized for berating the officials in a recent game, bragging he’s the best coach in college basketball, and complaining the TV cameras are on him too much. It appears there’s trouble in paradise. Other perennially good teams have eight or more losses: Gonzaga (8), UConn (9), Kansas and Arizona (10 ea), North Carolina (11), and Baylor and Cincinnati (12 ea).
The biggest disappointment to me, a die hard Indiana Hoosier fan, is the preseason 17th ranked team, I.U., is now 18-11, right up there with all the other previous NCAA champs currently outside the top 25. But before winning three in-a-row, I.U. was 15-11. That’s lousy. Who are these people who thought I.U. was one of the best 25 teams in America? If I.U. is a top 25 team, it certainly wasn’t apparent until recently. I.U. fans are currently living in a state of “hypomania.” They are happy for the recent improvements, but not to the level of mania, an imagined sense of euphoria. Reality tells them they could crash and burn at any time.
Auburn and Duke are definitely the two best teams in the country. Cooper Flagg for Duke and Johni Broome for Auburn are great talents and could be co-players of the year. I hope the NCAA can arrange the brackets so Duke and Auburn play each other in the championship game. That would be special. I don’t know where Florida, Houston, Tennessee, and Alabama, ranked 3rd to 6th, fit in this scenario, but they will be given a fair chance to be spoilers.
Several teams, who are usually middle-of-the-conference-standings teams, have found their way into the top 25 by winning more games than expected. St. John’s (24-4), Clemson (22-5), Maryland (21-6), Memphis (22-5), and Mississippi State (19-8) have worked their way into the top 25 after being ignored by preseason polls.
The 2024-‘25 college basketball season has been unusual in the number of previous champions who are finding wins an elusive commodity. Teams are good one game and lousy the next. I think this obvious bipolarity is the way of today’s college basketball world. The pressure on coaches to win is enormous, and when fans “boo” egos get bruised and anger surfaces. Technical fouls, ejections, and fines are assessed for unacceptable behavior just aggravating the situation. Players are pressured to perform, too. With Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) payments running into the millions of dollars, athletes aren’t always able to meet fan expectations or play like the NIL money they’re paid.
College basketball is a good example of bipolar behavior. Coaches, players and especially fans are manic when they win and depressed after a loss. Too many usually mania-laden teams are experiencing the lows and darkness of multiple losses. Plus losses translate into exclusion from from March Madness, the ultimate reward for success in college basketball, further deepening the depression to the point of making irrational and foolish decisions or pronouncements, eg. “Coach So-and-So has got to go!”
It will be interesting to see how this season plays out; who’s in the tournament, who’s out! There will be a lot of disappointed teams, I fear, with the rankings being what they are. We fans need a good dose of lithium to control our bipolar tendencies before we actually become symptomatic.
