Missouri the Only New At-Large to Week 15 Field of 68 Projection

[SelectionSunday]

ROAD TO SELECTION SUNDAY, MN – There are six changes to the Field of 68 projection as we enter Week 15, suddenly it seems just three weeks away from the start of Championship Week. Only one of the six newbies is an at-large, Missouri, now one of the “last 4 in”. New automatic bid placeholders are NJIT (America East), Hawaii (Big West), College of Charleston (CAA), Morgan State (MEAC), and Cal Baptist (WAC).

Automatic qualifiers in multiple-bid conferences (noted with an *) hold the best conference record or, in the event of a tie, best NET ranking (in parentheses).

FIELD OF 68 PROJECTION (2/9/26)
America East (1): NJIT (306)

American (1): Tulsa (47)

ACC (8): *Duke (3), Virginia (16), Louisville (17), North Carolina (24), NC State (27), Clemson (30), SMU (34), Miami-Florida (37)

ASUN (1): Austin Peay (136)

Atlantic 10 (1): Saint Louis (15)

Big East (3): *UConn (8), Saint John’s (22), Villanova (32)

Big Sky (1): Portland State (120)

Big South (1): High Point (84)

Big Ten (10): *Michigan (1), Illinois (4), Purdue (10), Nebraska (11), Michigan State (12), Iowa (20), Indiana (33), UCLA (38), Wisconsin (43), USC (48)

Big XII (7): *Arizona (2), Iowa State (5), Houston (6), Kansas (13), BYU (18), Texas Tech (19), UCF (44)

Big West (1): Hawaii (90)

Coastal (1): College of Charleston (157)

Conference USA (1): Liberty (80)

Horizon (1): Wright State (130)

Ivy (1): Yale (65)

MAAC (1): Merrimack (197)

MAC (1): Miami-Ohio (50)

MEAC (1): Morgan State (355)

Missouri Valley (1): Belmont (56)

Mountain West (2): *Utah State (25), San Diego State (42)

NEC (1): LIU (187)

OVC (1): UT-Martin (177)

Patriot (1): Navy (159)

SEC (11): *Florida (9), Vanderbilt (14), Tennessee (21), Alabama (23), Arkansas (26), Kentucky (28), Auburn (31), Georgia (35), Texas (36), Texas A&M (39), Missouri (62)

SoCon (1): East Tennessee State (116)

Southland (1): Stephen F. Austin (76)

SWAC (1): Bethune-Cookman (235)

Summit (1): North Dakota State (129)

Sun Belt (1): Troy (115)

WCC (3): Gonzaga (7), Saint Mary’s (29), *Santa Clara (41)

WAC (1): Cal Baptist (110)
---------------------------------
Last 4 In: Missouri, UCLA, San Diego State, Miami-Florida (last team in)

First 4 Out: Cal (first team out), TCU, Virginia Tech, Ohio State

Next 7 Out (strongest to weakest): New Mexico, Boise State, VCU, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Seton Hall, Stanford

Last 4 Automatic Qualifiers: Merrimack (197), Bethune-Cookman (235), NJIT (306), Morgan State (355)

Non-Power 5 At-Large Bids (3): Gonzaga (7), Saint Mary’s (29), San Diego State (42)

Multiple-Bid Conferences (7): SEC (11), Big Ten (10), ACC (8), Big XII (7), Big East (3), WCC (3), Mountain West (2)

Movin On ‘In (6): Cal Baptist, College of Charleston, Hawaii, Missouri, Morgan State, NJIT

Droppin’ Out (6): New Mexico, UC-Irvine, UMES, UNC-Wilmington, Utah Valley, Vermont

Big Ten & Summit League Projected NCAA Tournament Seeds
#1 Michigan
#2 Illinois
#2 Nebraska
#3 Purdue
#3 Michigan State
#8 Iowa
#9 USC
#9 Wisconsin
#10 Indiana
#11 UCLA
#15 North Dakota State

Next Field of 68 Projection: Monday, February 16

 

[SelectionSunday]

"Record vs. the projected field" for the five B1G squads I have at least marginally on or around the bubble:

Indiana (4-7) -- IN
Ohio State (1-6) -- OUT
UCLA (1-5) -- LAST 4 IN
USC (3-4) -- IN
Wisconsin (2-6) -- IN

 

[SelectionSunday]

Teams I overvalued this week:
Miami-Florida (1-3 vs. the projected field)
San Diego State (0-4 vs. the projected field)

Teams I undervalued this week:
Cal (4-4 vs. the projected field)
Oklahoma State (4-4 vs. the projected field)