Photo Credit: David Manning/USA TODAY Sports
The clock is ticking on teams hoping to capture one of the 36 at-large bids, hoping their bubble won’t burst on Selection Sunday when the field of 68 is announced.
At the moment, teams such as Oklahoma State and Baylor are safe. ESPN’s Bracketologist Joe Lunardi currently has Arkansas, Oregon, Tennessee and Minnesota as the last four in. Meanwhile, Lunardi has Providence, Nebraska, St. John’s and Florida State as his first four out with Missouri, Dayton, Georgetown and Louisiana Tech also missing the cut.
There are 32 automatic bids awarded to the NCAA tournament, which are determined in the conference tournaments. On the other hand, the 36 at-large bids are a subjective invitation based on the team’s résumé with categories such as record, RPI and strength of schedule.
Teams receiving at-large bids are often seeded higher than teams who received an automatic bid, making it unlikely they will be anything less than a #12 seed.
The Selection Committee uses an S-curve system to rank each team 1-68. Meaning, 1-4 will be the #1 seeds (the no. 1 seed line), 5-8 are #2 seeds (no. 2 seed line) and so on. The overall #1 will have the weakest #2 in their bracket, the strongest #3 and onward to ensure each of the four regions are equally strong.
As we sit currently, Lunardi has Arizona, Florida, Wichita State and Kansas as #1 seeds, however this is subject to change.
Many at-large teams will have to sweat it out, while higher seeded teams fight to keep their spots as conference tournaments begin.
