Zietlow: I understand why Winthrop hasn’t made the Top 25 yet. But it’s time it did
What I’m about to say isn’t a direct call to Associated Press voters, or to any analysts at ESPN, or even to the casual fans who are just starting to learn about the team that resides just south of the Carolinas border. This, instead, is merely the early declaration of an idea that writers across America will likely soon espouse — one equally justified by wins and analytics and the virtuous notion of fairness that spins the college basketball world round.
Without further ado, here it is:
It’s time.
Yes, it’s time for the Winthrop men’s basketball team to be considered one of the Top 25 teams in the country.
I’m not going to be building a case for the Eagles in this column. They’ve already done that themselves: They’re ranked second in College Insider’s mid-major poll (behind Gonzaga), a ranking justified by their easy victory over Furman and their early-season wins over UNC-Greensboro and Little Rock. They’re undefeated through 13 games, a feat never done before by a Winthrop or Big South Conference team — and they’ve stayed invulnerable in a year when that’s especially not easy, with all their conference games being played back-to-back.
I’m also not going to be dissecting their unique style of play, a characteristic that makes them formidable against any Power Five opponent within an eight-hour bus ride of Rock Hill. After all, let’s face it: If you’re reading this, you’ve likely already read about their depth and their asymmetrical backcourt and their D2-turned-D1 prospects and their Tennessee transfer big man and their Skip Prosser mentee of a coach who almost left for a bigger job at UMass in 2017 before changing his plans at the last second and deciding to stay in Rock Hill.
And believe me, the last thing I want for this to be is a milquetoast write-up about the little guy not getting his due attention or respect. Yes, if Winthrop stays undefeated for, say, another four weeks and doesn’t crack the AP’s Top 25, you can expect me and others to argue that Winthrop’s lack of national media attention plays into and thus validates the harsh and very real inequity in college sports — one that the Winthrop basketball program has felt for decades, and one that the rest of the country briefly woke up to when the Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina football teams were dismissed in the College Football Playoff discussion a month ago.
But that’s not what I’m arguing in this column, at this time. I understand why Winthrop hasn’t been voted into the nation’s Top 25 yet.
I’m just saying the time to do so is now.
Why am I so accommodating in my stance? I’m not sure exactly. I guess I just sorta “get it.” After all, this is life in mid-major conferences everywhere — and it’s particularly so in the Big South Conference, which has only had one team ever finish the regular season with a national ranking (which was Winthrop in the 2006-07 season).
There’s also the fact that, despite what people are trained to believe, any national rankings are less a commendation of a particular team in a particular year, and more of a nod to the team’s program history. In other words, Top 25 voters value excellence over a period of years more than they’d like to admit. And that’s OK. In fact, I’m not entirely sure that’s a bad thing.
Don’t get me wrong: It’s exhausting, for example, for programs like Gonzaga or Davidson to have to put together consecutive near-perfect seasons to get any preseason Top 25 love. (I can’t help but think back to Davidson’s 2008-09 team to illustrate this example. That team rode the coattails of and received the preseason hype that really belonged to the players from the year before it, who, after all, were a Steph Curry 3-pointer away from upsetting Kansas and heading to the Final Four.)
But at least that recognition for mid-majors is possible in college basketball. Gonzaga is perfect proof. There’s a way. The way is hard — Winthrop, for example, keeps winning and its NET ranking keeps dropping because of its conference competition — but unlike in the highest level of college football, non-Power Five teams can find a way to build nationwide fanbases and regularly have seats at the game’s most important tables.
It just takes time.
Winthrop is on that mid-major ascension right now: Last year, the Eagles won 14 games in a row at one point and won their conference tournament championship before having to cancel their plane tickets to the NCAA Tournament due to the threat of COVID-19. They haven’t lost since February 2020. Before that, coach Pat Kelsey sent his team to four straight conference tournament finals between 2013 and 2017. And before Kelsey, there was Gregg Marshall, who did his part in delivering Winthrop national recognition, which included an NCAA Tournament win in 2007, which is still viewed as one of the most special events in Rock Hill sports history.
I know all this “shouldn’t” mean anything for this 2020-21 team and how it’s viewed in the eyes of national writers. But it does. And this resume takes a while to cultivate.
So voters can take their time. Fans of mid-major teams are incredibly patient. Kelsey, who often has to balance being the school’s national advocate while also making sure his team remains hungry and humble, knows how this enterprise works.
Even Winthrop’s players are understanding: They’re cognizant that while Top 25 attention is important — it would amazingly improve the team’s seeding in the NCAA Tournament if they are fortunate to earn an automatic bid — they also know that a lack of attention gives the team an important competitor’s edge.
“Personally, I definitely think that we should be there,” junior guard Micheal Anumba told reporters after his team’s win over Longwood on Thursday. “But as Coach always says, they just don’t know. They just don’t know how good we are. And we gotta wake them up.”
Again, the general indecisiveness surrounding a team like Winthrop makes sense. Believe me, it does. I understand it. Others do, too.
But there’s no reason to delay. Nothing the Eagles will do the rest of the regular season will outdo what they’ve already done — and they’ve done plenty to deserve Top 25 recognition.
So it’s time they got it.
This story was originally published January 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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