Offseason Field of 68 Projection Welcomes 6 New Teams

[SelectionSunday]

EDEN PRAIRIE, MN – My second go 'round at an offseason Field of 68 projection has just a handful+ of changes. New Mexico, Oral Roberts, Providence, Texas State, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin join the field.

My final preseason Field of 68 projection will come out in mid-October. Time is flying, the season will be here before we know it, NIL, pay for play, unpunished recent cheaters (Arizona, Kansas, LSU, etc.), and outright free agency be da*ned!

An *denotes projected automatic qualifier

MID-SUMMER FIELD OF 68 PROJECTION (8/3/22)
America East (1): Vermont

American (2): *Houston, Memphis

ACC (6): Duke, Miami, *North Carolina, Notre Dame, Virginia, Virginia Tech

ASUN (1): Jacksonville

Atlantic 10 (2): Dayton, *Saint Louis

Big East (6): *Creighton, Providence, Saint John’s, UConn, Villanova, Xavier

Big Sky (1): Montana

Big South (1): Gardner-Webb

Big Ten (7): *Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big XII (7): Baylor, *Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, TCU, Texas Tech

Big West (1): Long Beach

Colonial (1): UNC-Wilmington

Conference USA (1): UAB

Horizon (1): Northern Kentucky

Ivy (1): Penn

MAAC (1): Iona

MAC (1): Buffalo

MEAC (1): Norfolk

Missouri Valley (1): Drake

Mountain West (3): New Mexico, *San Diego State, Wyoming

NEC (1): LIU

OVC (1): Morehead

Pac 12 (4): *Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, UCLA

Patriot (1): Colgate

SEC (7): Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, *Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas A&M

SoCon (1): Furman

Southland (1): Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

SWAC (1): Texas Southern

Summit (1): Oral Roberts

Sun Belt (1): Texas State

WCC (2): *Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s

WAC (1): New Mexico State
----------------------------------
Last 4 In: Arizona State, New Mexico, Providence, Virginia Tech

First 4 Out: Florida State, Missouri State, North Texas, Ohio State

8 to Watch: BYU, Cincinnati, Loyola-Chicago, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Tulane, USC, West Virginia

Non-Power 6 At-Large Bids (5): Dayton, Memphis, New Mexico, Saint Mary’s, Wyoming

New to the Field (6): New Mexico, Oral Roberts, Providence, Texas State, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin

Dropped from the Field (6): Florida State, Georgia State, North Texas, Ohio State, Seton Hall, South Dakota
--------------------------------------------------------------
Final 4: Creighton, Houston, Kentucky, North Carolina

National Champion: North Carolina

NIT Champion: Seton Hall

CBI Champion: Toledo

The Basketball Classic Champion: Southern Utah
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New to Division I (5): Lindenwood (OVC), Queens (ASUN), Southern Indiana (OVC), Stonehill (NEC), Texas A&M-Commerce (Southland)

 

[Cayman]

Pitino's Lobos in the tournament in year 2? Did they get any big commitments from the transfer portal? He was always pretty good at that here.

Looks like @Virginia Tech is maybe the only opportunity for a decent non-conference win.

 

[BleedGopher]

Was I dreaming it or was uw not in at one point? Assuming my memory is correct, what did they do to get back in?

Go Gophers!!

 

[Fleckoff]

Did Ohio State have an injury? Also I think some very vocal Pitino haters are going to lose their shit if he gets the Lobos to the Dance before Ben gets there.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Was I dreaming it or was uw not in at one point? Assuming my memory is correct, what did they do to get back in?

Go Gophers!!

Bleed, you are correct. I had Badgers as NIT champions, but after looking at their roster again (and history) I concluded with 3 pretty solid pieces to build around (Wahl, Hepburn, Crowl) they'll find a way to get back in the tournament.

Another piece of that (I'm going on an island here) is I'm just not sold on Ohio State, so I sort of gave OSU's bid to the Badgers. Despite what looks like a down year in the Big Ten, I still think the conference will garner its usual 6 or 7 bids. But no more than that. ... can't see 8 this season.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Pitino's Lobos in the tournament in year 2? Did they get any big commitments from the transfer portal? He was always pretty good at that here.

Looks like @Virginia Tech is maybe the only opportunity for a decent non-conference win.

I'm banking on his guards (House & Mashburn) and a decent enough non-conference schedule to get them there, if they win a few of their key games (SMU, New Mexico State twice, Saint Mary's, Iona) and then perform well in a solid Mountain West. A bit of a gamble to take them, I know!

Virginia Tech looks like a bubble team. Definitely Gophers' best chance for a quality non-conference win.

 

[SomeGopherFan]

Lindenwood and Stonehill are going to reshape division 1 basketball.