Field of 68 Projection (1/10/11)

All RPI references are courtesy of Jerry Palm's CollegeRPI.com. RPI ratings are through games played Sunday, January 9.

*Denotes current conference leader/best RPI in mutliple-bid league

FIELD OF 68
America East (1): Hartford (248)

ACC (5): *Duke (5), North Carolina (21), Miami-Florida (33), Boston College (40), Virginia Tech (60)

Atlantic Sun (1): Belmont (103)

Atlantic 10 (2): *Temple (20), Richmond (68)

Big East (10): Georgetown (3), *Syracuse (4), UConn (6), Notre Dame (9), Pitt (10), St. John's (12), West Virginia (15), Villanova (16), Louisville (42), Cincinnati (57)

Big Sky (1): Northern Colorado (138)

Big South (1): Coastal Carolina (80)

Big 10 (6): *Purdue (11), Ohio State (13), Illinois (19), Wisconsin (27), Minnesota (35), Michigan State (38)

Big 12 (6): Kansas (1), *Texas A&M (25), Kansas State (29), Texas (34), Oklahoma State (36), Mizzou (47)

Big West (1): Long Beach State (76)

Colonial (2): Old Dominion (28), *Hofstra (99)

Conference USA (2): Central Florida (17), *Tulane (192)

Horizon (1): Butler (26)

Ivy (1): Harvard (52)

MAAC (1): Fairfield (139)

MAC (1): Miami of Ohio (90)

MEAC (1): Hampton (89)

Missouri Valley (1): Missouri State (37)

Mountain West (3): *BYU (2), San Diego State (7), UNLV (24)

Northeast (1): Wagner (104)

Ohio Valley (1): Austin Peay (88)

Pac 10 (4): *Washington (22), Arizona (32), USC (55), Washington State (61)

Patriot (1): Bucknell (85)

SEC (5): Kentucky (8), *Florida (14), Vandy (18), Tennessee (23), Georgia (48)

Southern (1): College of Charleston (70)

Southland (1): Nicholls State (77)

SWAC (1): Jackson State (123)

Summit (1): Oakland (72)

Sun Belt (1): Florida Atlantic (116)

West Coast (2): Gonzaga (31), *St. Mary's (39)

WAC (2): Utah State (51), *Boise State (143)


Non-BCS At-Larges (7): San Diego State (7), Central Florida (17), UNLV (24), Old Dominion (28), Gonzaga (31), Utah State (51), Richmond (68)

Last 4 In: Miami-Florida (33), Utah State (51), Cincinnati (57), Washington State (61)

First 4 Out: Xavier (44), Wichita State (50), Dayton (53), UCLA (78)

Others on the Radar (8): Cleveland State (30), Portland (41), UAB (43), James Madison (63), Ole Miss (64), New Mexico (69), Florida State (82), NC State (106)

BCS Teams in the Field: 36 (52.9%)

Non-BCS Teams in the Field: 32 (47.1%)


Next Field of 68 Projection: Monday, January 17th or Monday, January 24th

What does NW need to do to even "get on the radar?" Thanks in advance.

Northwestern

Good question. For starters, the Wildcats need to beat a team in the top 50 of the RPI, preferably on the road.

Unlike the Gophers -- who if necessary can lean on the early-season UNC & WVU wins -- Northwestern has little margin for error because of its horrendously weak nonconference schedule. I'm afraid NW will need to get to 10 conference wins to feel secure about a NCAA bid, and that will be no easy task.

Has a league with two divisions ever gotten 5 teams in from one side and none from the other? Good lord the SEC West is awful. The SEC should just split into two conferences 'Football' and 'Basketball' to keep from embarassing each other in each sport, though I guess Florida, Georgia and Tennesee would sooner die then be in the basketball conference, even if is their stonger sport at the moment.

The SEC West is horrible. Only Ole Miss appears serviceable. The rest are awful, no argument here.

That said, the SEC East is pretty solid, even with Tennessee's recent struggles. I'll be surprised if all 5 of the SEC East teams currently in my field don't remain there come Selection Sunday. And South Carolina (the 6th team in the East) has the look of a plucky young team that will record a few upsets (see: Vanderbilt) along the way.

I'll take Arkansas in the West. They'll make the tourney if they can knock off another team or two from the East (they already beat Tenn) and win all their home games against the West. I think they are also the only school in the SEC that cares about both football and basketball, unless Tennessee women's basketball counts.