Championship week is heating up and a few teams have already claimed spots in the field of 65.
Who’s In?
This is a list of the teams that have already qualified for the tournament with approximate seed listed in parenthesis.
Atlantic Sun Champion – East Tennessee State (15)
Big South Champion – Winthrop (16)
Ivy League Champion – Cornell (12 or 13)
Ohio Valley Champion - Murray State (13)
One bid conferences…
America East
Boston, Stony Brook, New Hampshire, or Vermont
Stony Brook won the regular season, but Vermont is the team to beat.
Big Sky
Portland State, Montana, Weber State, or Northern Colorado
Weber State was the regular season champ and is the favorite to win the Big Sky’s bid.
Big West
Pacific, UC Santa Barbara, CS Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Davis, Cal Poly, UC Irvine, CS Northridge
The tournament starts on Wednesday with the top 8 teams in conference play (teams above) eligible. UC Santa Barbara and Pacific will be the two heavy favorites.
Mid Eastern
All teams are still alive. Tournament starts Tuesday 3/9.
Morgan State is the odds on favorite having gone 15-1 during the regular season.
Northeast
Mount St. Mary’s, Quinnipiac, Long Island, or Robert Morris
Quinnipiac and Robert Morris split the regular season title.
Patriot
American, Lehigh, Holy Cross, or Lafayette
The winner of the Patriot league may be a play-in candidate. Lehigh is the favorite.
Southern
Western Carolina, Wofford, Appalachian State, or Charleston
These were the top four teams in the league this year and they all advanced to the conference semis. Wofford is the favorite to win the league.
Southland
Stephen F. Austin, UT Arlington, Corpus Christi, UTSA, Sam Houston State, Nicholls, SE LA, Texas State
The tournament starts on Wednesday with the top 8 teams in conference play (teams above) eligible. Sam Houston State will be the heavy favorite.
SWAC
Jackson State, Grambling State, Prairie View, Texas Southern, Alabama State, Alabama A & M, Mississippi Valley State, and Arkansas Pine Bluff
The tournament starts on Wednesday with the top 8 teams in conference play (teams above) eligible. Jackson State was the regular season champ, but Arkansas Pine Bluff will be tough to beat in the tournament. The winner of this conference could be a play-in candidate.
Summit
Oakland, IUPUI, South Dakota State, IPFW, Oral Roberts, North Dakota State
The winner of today’s game between South Dakota State and IPFW will advance to play Oakland tomorrow. The winner of today’s game between Oral Roberts and North Dakota State will advance to play IUPUI. Oakland is the heavy favorite after going 17-1 in regular season conference play and would be in the 12-14 seeding range.
Sun Belt
Troy, South Alabama, Western Kentucky, Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee, Denver, North Texas, UL Monroe
Troy, Middle Tennessee, and North Texas tied with the best regular season conference records. Western Kentucky is the most dangerous team and my pick to win the tournament.
Possible Two Bid Conferences…
Colonial
Old Dominion, VCU, William & Mary, or Northeastern
All the remaining teams should all play somewhere in the post season. This could potentially be a two bid conference, but it seems unlikely. Old Dominion would likely be one of the first teams out if they lost today, but don’t be surprised if Old Dominion makes it into the tournament by winning today and losing in the title game.
Horizon
Wright State needs to upset Butler on Tuesday to take the conference’s auto-bid. A loss would send Wright State to the NIT, but Butler is in the NCAA tournament win or lose.
Metro Atlantic
Siena, Rider, Niagara, or Fairfield
Siena could possibly make this a two team conference by losing the title game to Fairfield. If Siena losses to Rider or Niagara then they’d likely be out of the tournament since neither team is in the top 100 of the RPI.
Mid American
All teams are still alive.
Kent State is the favorite to win the league and has a comparable resume to Old Dominion and Siena. Although there has been little talk about Kent State as a potential bubble team they should receive some at large consideration, if they advance to the title game and lose to Akron. Kent State will automatically be invited to the NIT, if they do not receive an NCAA bid, as the regular season MAC Champion.
Missouri Valley
Northern Iowa is in win or lose. Wichita State has an outside chance at an at large bid, but really needs to defeat Northern Iowa in the title game today as a loss will likely leave them on the outside looking in.
WAC
Utah State, Nevada, New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech, Fresno State, Idaho, San Jose State, Boise State
The tournament starts on Thursday with the top 8 teams in conference play (teams above) eligible. Utah State has in all likelihood earned a bid, but to be save they’ll want to knock off Boise State in the first round of the tournament. Nevada and New Mexico State have decent resumes with RPIs in the 60s, but even if they face each other in the semis and the winner loses to Utah State in the title game it probably would not be enough to earn an at large bid.
West Coast
Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, Saint Mary’s, Portland
Gonzaga is in. St. Mary’s has an outside shot to make the NCAA tournament by defeating Portland and losing the title game to Gonzaga. Portland and Loyola Marymount need to win the WCC tournament to earn a bid.
Likely Multiple Bid Conferences…
Atlantic 10
Fordham and LaSalle are ineligible for the conference tournament. The top 12 seeds begin play on Tuesday. Temple and Xavier are locks for the tournament. Richmond should be in, but a potential loss to Massachusetts would greatly damage their RPI and resume. A loss to Charlotte would hurt, but still leave Richmond with a strong enough resume that they should remain in the bracket unless a lot of underdogs steal at large bids. Dayton and Rhode Island need to make runs to the title game to potentially earn an at large bid. Saint Louis could potentially join the at large discussion with victories over Rhode Island and Temple if they lost the title game to Xavier, but would likely still be NIT bound. All other teams need to win the tournament.
There are numerous scenarios to cover in the other multiple bid leagues such as the Big East, Big 12, CUSA, Mountain West, and Pac 10, but the games played today will not affect these conferences so I’ll go into more detail about them tomorrow.
The Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, and SEC conferences are still playing games for conference tournament seedings and likely to receive multiple bids…
- Jason Aufderhaar - RotoKingdom Staff Writer
The founder of RotoKingdom.net has almost 20 years of fantasy sports experience. Jason is a two time winner of RotoKingdom's 20 Team Die Hard I baseball league, winning in 2002 and 2005. In 2006, Jason won RotoKingdom's 20 Team Die Hard I basketball league. That year he was also the individual champion of a 20 team website challenge baseball league versus competitors in the industry. Jason has written NBA, NFL, and NHL articles for OPEN Sports (FOX) and Fanball.