Field of 68 Projection (9/23/19)

Last one until Nov. 3. ... just in case we have key additions, defections, or suspensions/injuries before then. An * denotes automatic qualifier in multiple-bid conference.

FIELD OF 68
America East (1): Vermont

American (3): Cincinnati, Houston, *Memphis

ACC (7): *Duke, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Virginia

Atlantic Sun (1): Florida Gulf Coast

Atlantic 10 (2): *Davidson, VCU

Big East (5): Creighton, Georgetown, *Seton Hall, Villanova, Xavier

Big Sky (1): Montana

Big South (1): Winthrop

Big Ten (7): Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, *Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big XII (6): Baylor, *Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech

Big West (1): Hawaii

Colonial (1): NC-Wilmington

Conference USA (1): Western Kentucky

Horizon (1): Milwaukee

Ivy (1): Penn

MAAC (1): Iona

MAC (1): Kent State

MEAC (1): NCCU

Missouri Valley (2): Missouri State, *Northern Iowa

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

Northeast (1): LIU

Ohio Valley (1): Belmont

Pac 12 (4): Arizona, Colorado, *Oregon, Washington

Patriot (1): Bucknell

SEC (7): Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, *Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State

Southern (1): Wofford

Southland (1): Stephen F. Austin

SWAC (1): Texas Southern

Summit (1): South Dakota State

Sun Belt (1): Georgia State

West Coast (2): *Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s

WAC (1): New Mexico State
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Last 4 In: Creighton, VCU, Missouri State, Notre Dame (last team in)

First 4 Out: Penn State (first team out), Marquette, Wichita State, Dayton

Next 8 Out: Arizona State, BYU, College of Charleston, Minnesota, Oregon State, Providence, Tennessee, West Virginia

At-Larges From Outside American/ACC/Big East/Big Ten/Big XII/Pac 12/SEC (4): Missouri State, Saint Mary’s, Utah State, VCU
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Final 4: Kansas, Maryland, Michigan State, Seton Hall

National Champion: Michigan State

Colgate beat Bucknell last year and I believe most of their top players return while Bucknell lost Sestina to grad transfer to UK. I am expecting Colgate to come out of the Patriot League again.

I think two teams that are being underrated at this time are BYU and Providence. BYU adds Jake Toolson, who was the best player on a solid Utah Valley team. However, they need to survive the early season with the suspension to Yoeli Childs. Providence brings back their top three scores (including stud Alpha Diallo) and adds a good grad transfer in Luwane Pipkins. I think both are going dancing...

gopherguy15 said:

I think two teams that are being underrated at this time are BYU and Providence. BYU adds Jake Toolson, who was the best player on a solid Utah Valley team. However, they need to survive the early season with the suspension to Yoeli Childs. Providence brings back their top three scores (including stud Alpha Diallo) and adds a good grad transfer in Luwane Pipkins. I think both are going dancing...

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A lot of good teams in Big East this season. Was hard to leave teams like Providence and Marquette out. And agree with you on BYU. They have to somehow survive the Childs suspension, come out of it with a decent record.

SelectionSunday said:

A lot of good teams in Big East this season. Was hard to leave teams like Providence and Marquette out. And agree with you on BYU. They have to somehow survive the Childs suspension, come out of it with a decent record.

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SS, I always forget how the NCAA judges injuries/suspensions. Do they still give out bids if a team is dominant after a player returns? Or has that been minimized? I remember 10+ years ago when Iowa was missing their best player for half the season because of injury. Then he came back, and Iowa still received a pretty good seed (5 or 6?) in the NCAA tournament even though they finished 7-9 in the Big Ten (and even jumped some Big Ten teams with more wins) because their record with him was excellent. If I remember correctly, they got upset in the first round.