WestCoastFan wrote:
It's tough to speculate on exactly what record gets in because it also depends on how many teams steal autobids. At conference tournament time I'll be paying close attention to the ACC, A10, American, Mountain West, OVC, Pac 12 and maybe the MAAC as conferences where an unexpected team could grab the autobid and shrink the bubble.
The thing that really sucks about UNI/MoSt/Drake falling flat in non-conf is that this seems like a perfect year for mid-majors to grab at-larges. ACC is brutal(only 4 bids currently), AAC is brutal (other than Houston, which is the only current bid), the A-10 is meh (Davidson is the only current bid) and the Pac 12 is meh (four bids).
Bracketmatrix has the WCC has a four bid league (Gonzaga, BYU, San Francisco and St. Mary's) and the Mountain West as a two bid league (Colorado State and San Diego State) with two on the bubble (Wyoming and Boise State). OVC is also currently a two bid league (Murray State and Belmont), but that may change as Belmont is down late tonight.
Just seems like the MVC could have positioned itself well to fill the void the AAC and A-10 are leaving (both are usual multibid leagues). Instead, the only chance at a two-bid Valley is Loyola finishing strong and then getting upset in STL.