NCAA Tournament Selection Committee Will Have Less

Yeah.  two schools of thought.  On the one hand, grow your team, gain confidence, then face the fiercest enemies fully prepared.  The alternative plan, is trial by fire - to play through a juggernaut of a schedule.  Some messages only truly get learned through the tough battles - whether they be learned in defeat or hard earned victories.  Geno prefers the latter, and he sometimes takes it to the extreme.  Brenda takes the polar opposite view, also to the extreme.

Facts would support the idea that both are right, and probably the best approach is to blend them as best as can be forecasted.  

The year Stewie was a senior ... the NCAA could have lined up the toughest foes in the country for every game and that team would have been undefeated.  They were simply that much better than everyone else.  So, we cannot use them to prove either side.

The next year was a ferocious schedule and the team shocked everyone in going through it unscathed, but then didn't have the edge when they needed it most and fell in the FF.  Not sure what that proves, because they grew huge amounts during that season, but then fell short at the very point that all of that tough scheduling was intended to prepare them for.  

Last season we could argue that the team was vastly better by the end, but had already taken the three losses and would have to take a tougher road to a FF that never happened.  Were those challenges too early ... or were they needed to get to where they ended?

This year, with the youngest team ever and with frosh needed to make key contributions ... we'll never know how they'd have done against MSST and Louisville or even Baylor.  Maybe they'd have come through great and we'd be even more assured of their ability to begin the Paige era with dreams of another four in a row.  Or maybe we'd have 2-3 losses and be wondering about whether the team could pull it together before SCar.  Might the promise develop before tourney time from our probable 3 seed?  

Probably different team and player personalities have different answers.  I am convinced that Bueckers would rise to the challenge, but would others?  Would a bigger challenge have helped Aaliyah?  Maybe, but she looked very nervous as a starter.  Maybe she just needed to get that under her belt and move on.  Nika ... seems like she just needs time to acclimate.  I think she's tough as nails.  Aubrey is just coming into her own now.  Would that have happened earlier, or did she need this time to get there?  Hopefully Anna is also turning the corner.  Likely, the coaches are also learning how to mix the pieces and what works best.