College Basketball Week 13: 5 biggest takeaways

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Feb 2, 2017; Provo, UT, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Nigel Williams-Goss (5) celebrates after scoring during the second half against the Brigham Young Cougars at Marriott Center. The Bulldogs won 85-75. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Projecting the national champions using adjusted efficiency

Despite all of this week’s chaos, in March people across the country will get together and attempt to predict how the NCAA Tournament will go down by filling out their bracket. The process is always fruitless because attempting to find predictability in utter chaos is nearly impossible. However, if we use history as our guide, it might be a little easier to at least nail down the future national champion.

Using KenPom’s pre-March Madness adjusted efficiency numbers, I went back and looked at the worst offense and defense to win the NCAA Tournament since 2001-02. Carmelo Anthony’s 2003 Syracuse team holds the title of worst offense with a 110.56 adjusted efficiency rating while Duke’s 2015 squad posted a 93.31 adjusted defensive efficiency rating. Just seven teams in the country meet both standards this season:

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Obviously there is plenty of time left before Selection Sunday for these numbers to change. Duke is finally sorting out its best lineups, Kansas could figure out its defensive woes and Kentucky might get back to playing like it was earlier this season. As of now, though, only these seven teams meet the criteria. For anyone else to cut down the nets, they’ll either have to improve before the First Four tips off or they’ll have to break the mold.