This article was originally published on our message board, with full discussion here: https://gopherhole.com/boards/threads/mid-summer-field-of-68-projection-feeling-the-sec-as-best-top-to-bottom-conference.115467/
My mid-summer Field of projection has the Big Ten, Big XII, and SEC leading the way with 9 NCAA Tournament bids apiece. Top to bottom, I’d currently rank the Power 5 conferences this way:
1 SEC (I don’t think it has a single totally crap team among its 16, not even Vanderbilt)
2 Big Ten (an argument could be made all but 3 of the 18 have NCAA potential)
3 Big XII (1 to 10 Dy-No-Mite, but there’s too much “meh” from 11-16)
4 ACC (will be much improved, but I think absolute max-out is 8 bids)
5 Big East (UConn & Creighton elite, and a bunch of solid teams, but Georgetown & DePaul are heavy anchors)
Of note, I have 13 of the 18 Big Ten teams either in the field or earning some kind of mention. The 5 left out are Maryland, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State, and Washington.
For this projection we’ll use Bart Torvik’s current summer rankings, which considers projected contributors, transfers, freshmen, and coaching changes. An * denotes the projected automatic qualifier in a multiple-bod conference.
FIELD OF 68 PROJECTION (August 3, 2024)
America East (1): Vermont (104)
American (1): Memphis (26)
ACC (6): *Duke (2), North Carolina (6), Wake Forest (32), Pitt (51), Louisville (62), Georgia Tech (96)
ASUN (1): Jacksonville (218)
Atlantic 10 (2): VCU (52), *Saint Joseph’s (80)
Big East (5): UConn (12), *Creighton (13), Saint John’s (15), Marquette (25), Xavier (37)
Big Sky (1): Weber State (168)
Big South (1): High Point (101)
Big Ten (9): *Purdue (16), Michigan State (17), Illinois (19), UCLA (24), Indiana (31), Michigan (33), Ohio State (34), Oregon (43), Nebraska (47)
Big XII (9): Houston (1), Iowa State (3), *Kansas (4), Arizona (10), Baylor (14), Texas Tech (20), BYU (28), Cincinnati (29), Kansas State (30)
Big West (1): UC-San Diego (145)
Coastal (1): UNC-Wilmington (169)
Conference USA (1): Louisiana Tech (111)
Horizon (1): Milwaukee (166)
Ivy (1): Cornell (172)
MAAC (1): Marist (215)
MAC (1): Ohio (121)
MEAC (1): NCCU (232)
Missouri Valley (1): Bradley (95)
Mountain West (3): New Mexico (54), Nevada (59), *Boise State (69)
NEC (1): Wagner (254)
OVC (1): Little Rock (271)
Patriot (1): Colgate (202)
SEC (9): Tennessee (5), Auburn (7), *Alabama (8), Texas (11), Texas A&M (21), Kentucky (23), Florida (35), Arkansas (36), Ole Miss (39)
SoCon (1): Samford (126)
Southland (1): McNeese (65)
SWAC (1): Texas Southern (236)
Summit (1): South Dakota State (191) — Saint Thomas (173) wins Summit Tournament but ineligible
Sun Belt (1): Arkansas State (106)
WCC (2): *Gonzaga (9), Saint Mary’s (38)
WAC (1): Grand Canyon (55)
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Last 4 In: BYU (28), Nebraska (47), VCU (52), New Mexico (54)
First 4 Out: Rutgers (18), Mississippi State (22), Providence (60), UAB (82)
A Dozen to Watch: Miami-Florida (27), Wisconsin (41), Villanova (44), Iowa (45), Clemson (46), TCU (49), USC (50), Oklahoma (56), Notre Dame (68), San Francisco (84), Washington State (86), Seton Hall (92)
Non-Power 5 At-Large Bids (4): Saint Mary’s (38), VCU (52), New Mexico (54), Nevada (59)