I absolutely love this time of year. Major League Baseball is around the corner and while my Royals have NEVER been competitive during my lifetime, it is always exciting.
But the real reason for the excitement though is the NCAA Tournament and the best month and 3 days of sports a year. From the day conference championship tournaments start going all the way to the National Championship game I am in Heaven. There are at least 5 great games on per day and I am a basketball fan first and Kansas fan second so I love every bit of this.
So, every once and awhile I am going to take a look at one of the things that makes this time of year so exciting, the bubble. As Jayhawks fans we haven't had to deal with the anticpation of being a "Bubble Team" come Selection Sunday and are only ever worried about seeding, but for many of the teams out there it is an annual meeting with the bubble.
First off, let's take a look at the NCAA Tournament breakdown:
31 Conference Champions (30 of the conferences use the conference tournament champion for the automatic bid with the Ivy League being the lone exception)
34 At-Large Teams (chosen by the Selection Committee, wehere "Bubble Teams" come into play)
According to these standings, let's take a look at who would be each conference's automatic bid.
America East: Vermont (11-1)
Atlantic Ten: Xavier (8-3)
ACC: Boston College (9-2)
Atlantic Sun: East Tennessee State (13-2)
Big 12: Texas A&M (9-1)
Big East: Pittsburgh (10-1)
Big Sky: Weber State (8-4)
Big South: Winthrop (11-0)
Big Ten: Wisconsin (10-1)
Big West: Long Beach State (8-2)
CAA: Virginia Commonwealth (13-2)
Conference USA: Memphis (11-0)
Horizon League: Wright State (11-2)
Ivy League: Pennsylvania (5-1)
MAAC: Marist (11-4)
Mid-Continent Conference: Oral Roberts (11-1)
MAC: Toledo/Akron (9-2)
MEAC: Delaware State (10-2)
Missouri Valley: Southern Illinois (12-3)
Mountain West: BYU (9-2)
NEAC: Central Connecticut State (12-1)
Ohio Valley: Austin Peay (14-2)
Pac 10: UCLA (10-2)
Patriot League: Holy Cross/Bucknell (10-1)
SEC: Florida (10-0)
Southern Conference: Davidson (12-1)
Southland Conference: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (9-1)
SWAC: Mississippi Valley State (9-3)
Sun Belt: South Alabama (13-2)
WCC: Gonzaga (8-2)
WAC: Nevada (10-1)
(Note: Numbers to the left of the teams is a tally of the 34 schools we can let in so we can keep track of them easily...Also, the numbers are in no particular order)
That leaves 34 spots in the Tournament open.
Here are the obvious choices:
- Ohio State
- Kansas
- North Carolina
- Marquette
- Butler
- Washington State
- Kentucky
- USC
- Oregon
- Arizona
- Air Force
- Indiana
- Georgetown
- Oklahoma State
- Duke
- Virginia Tech
- Virginia
- Clemson
- Kansas State
- Texas
- Creighton
- Villanova
- Florida State
- Notre Dame
- West Virginia
- Missouri State
- UNLV
- Tennessee
- Louisville
Maryland
Texas Tech
Syracuse
Providence
Iowa
Illinois
Michigan
Michigan State
Purdue
Wichita State
Bradley
Northern Iowa
Stanford
Vanderbilt
Georgia
Alabama
LSU
Ole Miss
Arkansas
New Mexico State
If you are counting at home, that is 20 teams fighting for what is basically 5 spots. I say basically because it is only February 12th and there is an entire month for a team between #8-#29 (especially #17-#29) to drop out of the tournament. Here are the 5 that if Selection Sunday was today would be invited to the Tournament in my opinion.
- Vanderbilt
- Stanford
- Michigan State
- Illinois
- Wichita State
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Texas Tech
- Syracuse
- Maryland
- New Mexico State
- Bradley
- Providence
- Ole Miss
- Iowa
- LSU
- Purdue
- Arkansas
- Michigan
- Northern Iowa
I can't wait!!!!
Rock Chalk!