Why are we so fascinated by undefeated teams each December? It can't possibly matter this much, can it?
Look at last season. Washington, TCU and Colorado State all made it to Dec. 28 without a loss, but none of those squads so much as reached the NCAA tournament. So, sure, sometimes this fixation on the zero in the loss column is indeed much ado about not much.
Then again, the past two national champions have both reached mid-December without a loss. Last season, Duke didn't lose until Jan. 11, and in 2013-14 eventual national champion Connecticut made it to Dec. 18 before dropping its first game. That feels like an awfully suggestive coincidence. Maybe there's something to this undefeated stuff after all.
The most likely explanation is that every December we're faced with some undefeated teams that are for real, and others that are not. Here's my effort to sort out who's who and what's what among this season's eight remaining undefeated teams.