February 3 Field of 68 Projection: 11 Big Ten Teams In The Field

[SelectionSunday]

An * denotes the conference leader in a multiple-bid conference. NET ranking is in parentheses.

FIELD OF 68 (through games played February 2)
America East (1): Vermont (87)

American (4): Houston (35), Wichita State (37), Memphis (51), *Tulsa (60)

ACC (4): Duke (6), *Louisville (7), Florida State (15), Virginia (58)

ASUN (1): North Florida (184)

Atlantic 10 (2): *Dayton (5), Rhode Island (40)

Big East (6): Butler (12), Villanova (13), Creighton (14), *Seton Hall (16), Marquette (25), Xavier *47)

Big Sky (1): Eastern Washington (156)

Big South (1): Winthrop (114)

Big Ten (11): *Michigan State (10), Maryland (11), Ohio State (20), Iowa (21), Penn State (24), Rutgers (28), Illinois (30), Michigan (31), Wisconsin (32), Purdue (39), Indiana (52)

Big XII (4): *Baylor (2), Kansas (4), West Virginia (9), Oklahoma (49)

Big West(1): UC-Irvine (112)

Colonial (1): William & Mary (159)

Conference USA (1): North Texas (94)

Horizon (1): Wright State (118)

Ivy (1): Yale (50)

MAAC (1): Monmouth (202)

MAC (1): Bowling Green (135)

MEAC (1): North Carolina A&T (257)

Missouri Valley (1): Northern Iowa (43)

Mountain West (1): San Diego State (1)

NEC (1): Robert Morris (219)

OVC (1): Austin Peay (137)

Pac 12 (5): Arizona (8), Colorado (17), *Oregon (18), Stanford (23), USC (45)

Patriot (1): Colgate (125)

SEC (5): Auburn (19), *LSU (22), Kentucky (27), Arkansas (34), Florida (42)

SoCon (2): East Tennessee State (54), Furman (84)

Southland (1): Stephen F. Austin (82)

SWAC (1): Texas Southern (217)

Summit (1): South Dakota State (127)

Sun Belt (1): Little Rock (138)

WCC (3): *Gonzaga (3), BYU (26), Saint Mary's (33)

WAC (1): New Mexico State (115)
________________________________________
Last 4 In: Memphis (51), Indiana (52), East Tennessee State (54), Virginia (58)

First 8 Out: Texas Tech (29), VCU (36), Mississippi State (38), Alabama (41), Minnesota (44), Cincinnati (46), Georgetown (48), Arizona State (57)

Non-Power 7 At-Larges (4): BYU (26), Saint Mary's (33), Rhode Island (40), East Tennessee State (54)

Movin' On In (8): Bowling Green, Eastern Washington, Furman, North Carolina A&T, North Florida, Texas Southern, Tulsa, Xavier

Movin' On Out (8): Akron, Alabama, Liberty, Montana, Norfolk State, NC State, Prairie View A&M, Virginia Tech

Next Field of 68 Projection: Monday, February 10

 

[KillmeNow]

Our ooc losses and wins are not looking very good far too deeply into conference play, with Oklahoma being the only one barely in the Top 50 of the NET, so I am guessing we are going to have to get into the tourney via winning more Conf games than we lose, and that includes the Conf tourney I think, we might need 2 wins there, I mean, depending on what we do in the regular season of course. 4 of our 5 conf wins are good wins for sure, with one being a road win, but we need more of those if we're not going to beat the Mich St's at home. A win over UW would tie us up with them in conf, and I'm guessing the entire conference outside of Wisconsin will be cheering for us to do just that, lol. I'm not sure we can afford to lose that game?


This could be a very important 6 game stretch coming up. 4 of the 6 are home games, with the road game vs NW probably a required win. And the road game vs PSU is a possibility as well. Could we pull off a 6 game win streak? I would be very happy with 5-1, and ok with 4-2, but I think that is the worst we can do going into our last 2 game road trip. With a 6 game win streak going into Madison, that could be a very intense game? I'll even say that could be included in that 6 game stretch, meaning we could lose a game we should win as long as we make it up by beating UW in Madison. Then the last 2 games should be a guaranteed 1-1 or better. So if those 2 plus where we are now, have us at 6-7, 5-2 would get us to 11-9, which might mean we only need 1 win in the conf tourney? Going 6-1 over those 7 game would put us at 12-8 and then I'd say we were in no matter what. Can we win 2 more road games and all of our remaining home games? I'd like to believe we can, and if this was the football team I'd be a lot more confident about it happening. But this bb team just seems to lose at least 1-2 games we should have won. I'd say the Purdue game is arguably 1 we already should have won?

 

[SelectionSunday]

UPDATED AFTER ILLINOIS GAME:

Gophers are 11-10, 5-6 Big Ten. 9 games remain. The Wisconsin game likely is the swing game in the season. Need 6 wins. Here they are:

Category #1
Win 1 of 3: Wisconsin, @ Penn State, @ Wisconsin

Category #2
Win 1 of 2: Iowa, Maryland

Category #3
Win all 4: Indiana, @ Northwestern, @ Indiana, Nebraska

And yes, I understand sweeping Indiana would be difficult, but it's doable. The reason for sweep is I think the Hoosiers are the most likely Big Ten team to be sharing the bubble with the Gophers at the end of the season, hence a head-to-head sweep would be significant, as it would be with either Wisconsin and/or Penn State, as both of those teams are much better positioned to make the NCAA than the Gophers are.

 

[bizzle22]

We differ on on 2.

I have Mississippi State and Cincinnati IN.

I have Purdue and Furman OUT.

I have ETSU getting the auto bid over Furman due to a better NET ranking, though I understand why you have Furman (H2H win over ETSU) getting the auto bid in yours.

Last Four IN: Xavier, Cincinnati, Mississippi State, Memphis
First Four OUT: Minnesota, Texas, Richmond, Arizona State