Last Eight In: Butler, Clemson, Temple, VCU, UCF, Texas, Ohio State, Arizona State
First Eight Out: Oklahoma, Utah State, Furman, Belmont, UNC Greensboro, St. Mary’s, Toledo, Arkansas
In large part due to the Pac-12 being a two-bid at-large league, at most, there are a lot of spots open for mid-major teams to bust into the bracket. It helps that bubble teams like Butler, Clemson and Oklahoma are generally not playing their way into the bracket at this point. In years past teams like Belmont or Toledo have had very, very little chance of making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team. They would have to lose a game in the conference tournament to not garner the automatic bid and that loss is usually enough to spell the end of any tournament hopes. But this time around those losses could come against a very good team. If Belmont wins out and then loses to Murray State in the OVC final, that would be a team with five losses and their last loss would be against a strong Racers team. In the MAC there is even more forgiveness with a ranked Buffalo squad standing in the way. The Rockets boast the strongest RPI of a non-Buffalo squad in the MAC, but Kent State or Bowling Green could conceivably make a similar run in the MAC Tournament and have hopes for an at-large bid.
ACC: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech
American: Cincinnati, Houston, Temple, UCF
Big East: Butler, Marquette, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Villanova
Big 12: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech
Big Ten: Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin
Pac-12: Arizona State, Washington
SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee
A-10: Davidson, VCU
CAA: Hofstra
C-USA: Old Dominion
Horizon: Northern Kentucky
MAC: Buffalo
MVC: Loyola (IL)
MWC: Nevada
WCC: Gonzaga
America East: Vermont
A-Sun: Lipscomb
Big Sky: Montana
Big South: Radford
Big West: UC Irvine
Ivy League: Yale
MAAC: Rider
MEAC: Norfolk State
NEC: Wagner
OVC: Murray State
Patriot: Lehigh
Southern: Wofford
Southland: Sam Houston State
Summit: South Dakota State
Sun Belt: Texas State
SWAC: Prairie View A&M
WAC: New Mexico State
