Field of 68 Projection (through March 9): 8 bids still up for grabs

[SelectionSunday]

Field of 68 Projection (through March 9): 7 bids still up for grabs

RPI is noted in parentheses. ALL CAPS bold/italic = already earned automatic bid.

FIELD OF 68 (2 days 'til Selection Sunday)
Automatic Bids/Top Remaining Seed In Conference Tournament (32)
America East: Vermont (49)
American: SMU (15)
ACC: North Carolina (3)
Atlantic Sun: FLORIDA GULF COAST (84)
Atlantic 10: Dayton (21)
Big East: Villanova (1)
Big Sky: North Dakota (167)
Big South: WINTHROP (69)
B1G: Purdue (18)
Big XII: West Virginia (24)
Big West: UC Irvine (133)
Colonial: NORTH CAROLINA-WILMINGTON (25)
Conference USA: Middle Tennessee (35)
Horizon: NORTHERN KENTUCKY (89)
Ivy: Princeton (52)
MAAC: IONA (90)
MAC: Akron (58)
MEAC: North Carolina Central (214)
Missouri Valley: WICHITA STATE (29)
Mountain West: Nevada (34)
Northeast: MOUNT SAINT MARY'S (149)
Ohio Valley: JACKSONVILLE STATE (147)
Pac 12: Oregon (9)
Patriot: BUCKNELL (62)
SEC: Kentucky (5)
Southern: EAST TENNESSEE STATE (57)
Southland: New Orleans (177)
SWAC: Texas Southern (117)
Summit: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (150)
Sun Belt: Texas-Arlington (36)
West Coast: GONZAGA (7)
WAC: Bakersfield (78)

Locks (29)
Kansas (2) -- season complete
Florida (4)
Louisville (6) -- season complete
Arizona (8)
Baylor (10) -- season complete
Florida State (11)
Duke (12)
Cincinnati (13)
Butler (14) -- season complete
Saint Mary's (16) -- season complete
UCLA (17)
Virginia (19) -- season complete
Minnesota (20)
VCU (22)
Notre Dame (23)
Iowa State (26)
Maryland (27)
Creighton (28)
Arkansas (30)
South Carolina (33)
Wisconsin (37)
Seton Hall (39)
Miami (40) -- season complete
Oklahoma State (41) -- season complete
Michigan (44)
Virginia Tech (46) -- season complete
Michigan State (48)
Northwestern (53)
Marquette (59) -- season complete

(* denotes currently in Field of 68)

STRONG BUBBLERS/IN WITH 1 MORE WIN (3)
*Xavier (31)
*Vanderbilt (43)
*Kansas State (55)

Just Above, On, Or Below The Bubble (13)
*Illinois State (32) -- season complete
*Wake Forest (38) -- season complete
*USC (42) -- season complete
Rhode Island (45)
Georgia (50)
Houston (51)
Cal (54)
*Providence (56) -- season complete
TCU (65)
Ole Miss (70)
Indiana (76)
Iowa (79) -- season complete
Syracuse (87) -- season complete
____________________

Last 4 In: Illinois State (32), Wake Forest (38), USC (42), Providence (56)

First 4 Out: Rhode Island (45), Cal (54), Indiana (76), Syracuse (87)

Others Considered (5): Georgia (50), Houston (51), TCU (65), Ole Miss (70), Iowa (79)

Non-Power 6 At-Larges (4): Cincinnati (13), Saint Mary's (16), VCU (22), Illinois State (32)

BUBBLE TEAMS WITH WINS OVER AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS
Cal (1): South Dakota State
Illinois State (1): Wichita State
TCU (1): Jacksonville State
Wake Forest (1): Bucknell

GOPHERS PROJECTED SEED, OPPONENT, LOCATION
#5 Gophers vs. #12 Vermont, Orlando

GOPHERS VS. THE PROJECTED FIELD (8-6)
Texas-Arlington (W)
Mount Saint Mary's (W)
Arkansas (W)
@ Florida State (L)
vs. Vanderbilt (W)
Michigan State (L)
@ Purdue (W)
@ Northwestern (W)
@ Michigan State (L)
Wisconsin (L)
Maryland (L)
Michigan (W)
@ Maryland (W)
@ Wisconsin (L)

 

[SelectionSunday]

My initial headline is wrong. Can you fix it?

7 available bids, not 8. Thanks!

 

[Holy Man]

You're being tough on KState. Looks like Palm has them in already after the Baylor win. Syracuse still near and Vandy has one huge one left. Palm says no way on them if they don't take Florida down for a third time. I'm not seeing it.

If Indiana stays hot from three watch out. They were good yesterday.

 

[bizzle22]

I'm really starting to wonder about Vandy. Especially if they don't beat the Gators today. A team with 15 losses has never made the tournament as an at-large. (I didn't actually look that up, but saw a tweet from Jerry Palm who I assume has done his homework.) To break precedent and let in a team with 15 losses I would hope there would be some real meat on the bone. And there just isn't with Vandy if you really look at their schedule. Basically they played some pretty good teams in non-conference and lost just about all those games. The only meaningful non-conf win is at home over Iowa State. Other than that they have the sweep of Florida, a win in Fayetteville (Razorbacks beat them in Nashville, and a win over South Carolina. That's all solid, but it doesn't scream to me "break precedent and get these guys in." Throw in the loss by 20 to Mizzou (might be the worst major conference basketball team this year) and I'm just not all that impressed.

I realize the bubble is pretty weak this year. I just can't get over the fact that if they lose today it would mean that they were pretty darn close to not even being NIT-eligible.