Preseason rankings are a great glimpse of a college basketball season ahead. But we can only measure what we see right now. And that lens is limited.

Over the next five months, however, some of the top teams in the country -- and a couple of mid-majors -- will hit a mark that might be more indicative of a team's ceiling: 30 wins.

Why does that number matter?

Since 2013-14 -- and we're eliminating the 2019-20 season that ended without an NCAA tournament as well as the 2020-21 campaign that featured imbalanced schedules due to the pandemic -- seven of the 10 national champions had won at least 28 games by the time they reached Selection Sunday. Ninety-three teams reached the 30-win mark by the end of those respective seasons in that stretch, too.

Teams can always get hot and make a run i

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