Selection Sunday, the best sporting event that isn't a game all year long, is tomorrow and I can't wait. Because I always love taking a stab at these kind of things, I present you with my final guess as to how this crazy bracket will turn out:
One Bid Conferences (16)
America East: Albany
Atlantic Sun: Belmont
Big Sky: Weber State
Big South: Winthrop
Big West: Long Beach State/Cal Poly
Conference USA: Memphis
MAAC: Niagara
MAC: Miami (OH)
Mid-Continent: Oral Roberts (ORC)
MEAC: Florida A&M
NEC: Central Connecticut State
Ohio Valley: Eastern Kentucky
Patriot League: Holy Cross
SWAC: Texas A&M Corpus Christi/Northwestern State
Sun Belt: North Texas
WCC: Gonzaga
OK, we have 34 at-large bids to work with.
ACC:
Auto Bid: North Carolina/NC State
At-Large "Ins": Virginia, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Duke, Maryland, Georgia Tech
At-Large "Outs": Clemson, Florida State
At-Large Bids Used: 6
Atlantic Ten:
Auto Bid: George Washington
At-Large "Ins": Xavier
At-Large "Outs": Massachusetts
At-Large Bids Used: 7
Big East:
Auto Bid: Georgetown
At-Large "Ins": Pittsburgh, Marquette, Notre Dame, Louisville, Villanova, Syracuse
At-Large "Outs": West Virginia, DePaul, Providence
At-Large Bids Used: 13
Big Ten:
Auto Bid: Wisconsin/Ohio State
At-Large "Ins": Wisconsin/Ohio State, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois
At-Large "Outs: Michigan
At-Large Bids Used: 18
Big 12:
Auto Bid: Kansas/Texas
At-Large "Ins": Kansas/Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
At-Large "Outs": Kansas State
At-Large Bids Used: 21
CAA:
Auto Bid: VCU
At-Large "Ins": Old Dominion, Drexel
At-Large "Outs": NONE
At-Large Bids Used: 23
Horizon League:
Auto Bid: Wright State
At-Large "Ins": Butler
At-Large Bids Used: 24
Missouri Valley:
Auto Bid: Creighton
At-Large "Ins": Southern Illinois
At-Large "Outs": Missouri State, Bradley
At-Large Bids Used: 25
Mountain West:
Auto Bid: UNLV
At-Large "Ins": BYU
At-Large "Outs": Air Force
At-Large Bids Used: 26
Pac 10:
Auto Bid: Oregon
At-Large "Ins": UCLA, USC, Arizona, Washington State
At-Large "Outs": Stanford
At-Large Bids Used: 30
SEC:
Auto Bid: Florida/Arkansas
At-Large "Ins": Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee
At-Large "Outs": Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Mississippi, Georgia
At-Large Bids Used: 33
Southern:
Auto Bid: Davidson
At-Large "Ins": NONE
At-Large "Outs": Appalachian State
At-Large Bids Used:
WAC:
Auto Bid: New Mexico State
At-Large "Ins": Nevada
At-Large Bids Used: 34
This is all assuming that North Carolina and Florida win their conference tournaments tomorrow. A loss by either would take out a bid from the teams listed below. Here are my bottom four teams, the two with the most at stake cheering for UNC and Florida:
- Drexel
- Purdue
- Illinois
- Old Dominion
- West Virginia
- Stanford
- Missouri State
- Kansas State
Rock Chalk!