276 AND COUNTING!!!
-That is the number of teams who entered today who still have a shot at making the dance, and theoretically still have a shot at winning it all. As the Atlantic Sun, Colonial, Horizon, Metro Atlantic, Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley, SoCon and West Coast Conference tournaments all play out, we’ll have fewer tomorrow.
-Northern Iowa had no trouble disposing of Drake in the MVC Quarterfinals. They’re safely in the NCAA Tournament no matter what and are merely playing for seeding now. They’re the only team that is safe, though. Everyone else in the league will need to win the conference tournament in order to capture a bid.
-Old Dominion also appears to be in fairly good shape out of the Colonial. Still, a loss in the quarterfinals would come against Towson, who knocked off UNC Wilmington in the opening round. That’s not the kind of loss that looks good on a tournament resume, and their stock would go down significantly if they can’t win at least one game in the conference tourney.
-Butler out of the Horizon and Gonzaga out of the West Coast are also safely in regardless of what happens. Saint Mary’s has a shot at an at-large, but if they lose in the semifinals I believe they’ll be out. As always, the bubble will tighten up during Championship week and they don’t want to leave anything to chance.
Bracket Projections and S Curve rankings should be coming later, so stay tuned….
