After the first two months of competition on the hardwood, we are now coming down to the most critical part of any of the 341 Division-I men’s program’s or 338 women’s program’s seasons – conference play.

At the conclusion of the conference tournaments, each team’s postseason fate is left in the hands of the selection committee, all of them hoping for a chance to go dancing in the NCAA Tournament.

With a team’s postseason hope, and possibly the overall fate of the program, in the hands of the committee, they are faced with this looming question: Which holds more weight on the tournament resume, non-conference or conference wins?

Of course, if a team takes its conference tournament they receive an automatic bid into the tournament. Also, if a team holds a strong conference record they are also very likely to receive a bid.

There are also teams that had a so-so conference schedule or failed to win their tournament, yet blazed through their non-conference games, which have a great chance of getting into the tourney. This logic has been put to work for a significant amount of schools in major conferences. For example, the Big Ten’s Michigan State men’s program finished 9-9 in conference play but still advanced to the tournament as a No. 9 seed.

Yet, the selection committee snubs plenty of deserving teams from both power (ACC, Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC) and non-power (WAC, WCC , A-10, etc.) conferences from the big dance, but in the power conferences a school is more likely to get a second chance in the tournament. For most of the mid-majors, their conference tourney is do or die. St. Mary’s of the WCC finished 23-8 and 11-3 in their conference but wasn’t able to earn a bid into the tournament.

In situations like these, the selection committee should take a look at the larger body of work for the smaller conference teams rather than only winning its tournament outright.

The committee should also take the strength of the conference itself into consideration during their decision-making process. In the power conferences- especially the ACC, Big East and SEC- there are plenty of teams that would be deserving of a spot in the dance. The ACC’s Virginia Tech went 9-7 in a conference that saw four tournament bids, yet the Hokies did not qualify last season.

The Wolfpack will likely fall into this bubble conundrum if it cannot take the conference tournament this year or compile a record above .500 in the conference. With perennial powerhouses Duke and UNC as the ACC’s front-runners and others, such as Virginia and Florida State, if it can pull itself out of its non-conference grave, are projected to receive bids to the tournament.

The Pack went 11-4 in non-conference play and scored key wins over Texas and Princeton, but unless it finishes in the top four to five in the ACC, it might have to settle for the NIT or sitting at home in Raleigh.

The Wolfpack Women will have a tougher ladder to climb to convince the selection committee this season, as it is likely that the Pack will need to finish in the top six. With four ACC teams sitting in the women’s top-25 ranking and starting off 0-3 in conference play, the Pack will need to get off of its slide starting with a solid performance against Boston College to impress the committee.