Bracket Notes:
Tulsa is back today as a projected bid thief. The Golden Hurricane have sole possession of first place in the American after beating Temple and watching Houston lose last night.
If we want to pretend that no bid thieves happen this year, then Wichita State is the last team in. As discussed all season, the annual average is 2.4 bids taken away per year due to Championship Week surprises. That tells us that the final two teams in today’s projected field would also need help to get in - Richmond and N.C. State.
Ohio State now has captured the final 4-seed thanks to Auburn’s home loss against Texas A&M. The Buckeyes also helped themselves out with another win against a tournament-bound team last night, Illinois.
Rutgers plays at Purdue this weekend in the bubble game of all bubble games. The Rutgers road/neutral struggles are well documented, and this is the final chance for an away win against anyone in the Top 190. However, this game is a make or break even more for the Boilermakers. Purdue sits at 14 losses, a loss here will put them on path to 16 losses. However, a win here will almost guarantee them a bid. So much at stake for Purdue.
The bubble is crowded. You can make the case for Texas, NC State, and Richmond - which I have today. But you can also make a case for Wichita State, Utah State, and Stanford. We covered the Rutgers/Purdue saga above, so I expect only one of those two to make it. Additionally you have Cincinnati, Memphis, and Tennessee all right there looking to make a final push as well. Lastly, if we somehow ended up with four bids stolen, there would be no room for any of these teams listed. The drama is real.
We have a couple of new conference leaders this morning besides Tulsa. We welcome Eastern Washington and N.C. Central to the field.
New Conference leaders since previous bracket. Represented below as Automatic Bids:
AAC - Tulsa
Big Sky - Eastern Washington
Big Ten - Wisconsin
MEAC - North Carolina Central
Bracket projections are based on 2019-20 NCAA Committee Principles and Selection Process. Projected Conference Champions are based on projected Auto-Bid winners.
At-Large Bids Stolen: 1 (Tulsa)
FIRST FOUR TEAMS OUT: Wichita State, Utah State, Stanford, Purdue
NEXT FOUR TEAMS OUT: Cincinnati, Memphis, Tennessee, South Carolina
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