Last Four In: Rhode Island, Richmond, Mercer, Southern Illinois
First Four Out: Austin Peay, Fordham, Tennessee-Martin, Furman
For all the crazy, high-scoring games there were this weekend, the bracket participants don’t really change that much. Elon falls out but is replaced by conference mate, Richmond. That keeps the CAA at five bids.
The previously designated auto-bid holder in the Northeast Conference, Sacred Heart falls. So St. Francis moves up to take their place. The NEC seems to be in flux, with all their new membership from the last few seasons. It’s hard to deny that Merrimack may be the best team in the league, but they are ineligible due to transition rules.
The big news happens in the Big Sky, which also affects the seeds. Sacramento State beat Montana, solidifying their spot near the top. Weber State long snapped their way right out of the seeds, losing to Montana State. MSU gets the bump from there.
Something I don’t like doing, I’m bumping Holy Cross off the seed lines. Yes, they beat Lafayette, but in all honesty, the Leopards did almost everything wrong after leading the Crusaders with just four minutes left in their game. Holy Cross is lucky to have won, when they should have cruised comfortably. It’s a style points thing, but they’re from a traditionally weaker conference, so those things have play. They can make it up when they play Fordham. The other seed change is a bump for Chattanooga, who beat Mercer, 41-21. Mercer had been rolling everybody, but the Mocs showed differently. The SoCon looks like a lock for two teams in November’s playoffs and three seems very plausible. A fourth? Maybe. It’s not overly far-fetched.
Bids By Conference
**Atlantic Sun (0):
Big Sky (5): *Sacramento State, Montana State, Weber State, Idaho, Montana
Big South (1): *Campbell
Colonial (5): *New Hampshire, William & Mary, Delaware, Elon, Rhode Island, Richmond
Missouri Valley (3): *North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Southern Illinois
Northeast (1): *St. Francis
Ohio Valley (1): *Southeast Missouri
Patriot (1): *Holy Cross
Pioneer (1): *Davidson
Southern (3): *Chattanooga, Samford, Mercer
Southland (2): *Southeastern Louisiana, Incarnate Word
**Western (1): *Abilene Christian
* denotes an automatic qualifier
** one of the champions between the Atlantic Sun and Western combined, will also receive an automatic bid
