Here is another example for you....

An SEC football team worries only about winning 8 games in conference play, and winning 1 meaningful OOC game in most years. A game can be lost and still have a shot. So, we are still at the 8 game conference wins including the title game.

Then, said team has a month or longer to prepare to play for a national title.

Now Basketball...Plays two games a week in the regular season. Plays in conference tourney, in which they will play at least 3 games in 3 days with minimal time to prepare for their next opponent. Fast forward to the NCAA tourney....round 1 games on Thursday, round of 32 on Saturday...minimal preparation time, short player recovery time.... And so on throughout the entire tourney....tougher than football

Now Baseball....5-6 games a week, in most cases 5 games in a 7 day stretch...cannot lose to small programs...scholarship limit handcuffs...must qualify for conference tourney...make the NCAA field and you play at least 4 games in 4 days in regional...if you lose a game, that could be 5 games in 4 days...Super Regionals...3 games in 3 days....College World Series...2 weeks of testing your arms...if you make it the ought that, then another 3 games to decide the champion...