In the thirty tournaments since the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, a total of 112 schools have made it past the first weekend and into the Sweet Sixteen. The remaining 239 have never made the Sweet Sixteen (in the modern era) and thus have Never Been Kissed. It is those schools we track in this space.
These schools are puckered and poised, hoping to hear Greg Gumbel call their name on Selection Sunday, hoping to catch fire and advance to the regional semifinals for the first time.
NBK Rankings:
| NBK Rank | TeamName | KenPom Rank | W-L | Rank in Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arkansas Little Rock | 42 | 26-3 | 1 (SB) |
| 2 | Yale | 51 | 20-6 | 1 (Ivy) |
| 3 | South Carolina | 53 | 23-6 | 5 (SEC) |
| 4 | Princeton | 56 | 20-5 | 2 (Ivy) |
| 5 | Stephen F. Austin | 60 | 22-5 | 1 (Slnd) |
| 6 | Monmouth | 63 | 24-6 | 1 (MAAC) |
| 7 | Iona | 85 | 18-10 | 2 (MAAC) |
| 8 | Oakland | 90 | 21-10 | 2 (Horz) |
| 9 | South Dakota St. | 68 | 23-7 | 1 (Sum) |
| 10 | Hawaii | 69 | 23-4 | 1 (BW) |
| 11 | Stony Brook | 75 | 23-6 | 1 (AE) |
| 12 | James Madison | 76 | 21-10 | 1 (CAA) |
| 13 | UNC Wilmington | 77 | 22-7 | 2 (CAA) |
| 14 | Akron | 86 | 22-7 | 1 (MAC) |
| 15 | Cal St. Bakersfield | 107 | 20-8 | 1 (WAC) |
| 16 | Belmont | 121 | 20-9 | 1 (OVC) |
SMU would be our top contender this year but they are serving a one-year postseason ban. Perhaps Larry Brown should bring Ed Manning down to Dallas to restore order.
Of eligible contenders, at this point only South Carolina appears to be a lock. The Gamecocks surfed a putrid non-conference schedule to a 15-0 start and have waged a decent SEC campaign with quality wins @ Texas A&M and home vs Florida and Vanderbilt. Joey Brackets has SC as a 7-seed.
Like last year, the Ivy League has held a lot of intrigue for the NBK. Yale stands atop the league by a half-game, and have not been to the tournament since 1962. But Princeton beat the Bulldogs in their only head-to-head meeting, and will likely knot things up and force a one-game playoff. Neither team appears to have enough juice for an at-large bid.
Arkansas-Little Rock tops the Sun Belt by a comfortable three games and should be a heavy favorite to win their conference tournament and go dancing. With only two top 100 (kenpom) wins they will need it.
Should they survive the Southland conference tournament, Stephen F. Austin could make some noise with a ball-hawking defense that leads the country in Turnover %.
Ken Pomeroy will be running his Log5 simulations on the conference tournaments over the next two weeks, and we will update the NBK rankings accordingly.
Happy Leap Day and Happy March!