Championship Week: Auto-bid Madness

[cyclones500]

MBB conference tournaments get underway this week. Here are my auto-bid guesses for conferences that begin postseason prior to next week.

Since seedings are still uncertain for leagues with regular season games left to play, I won’t tackle those right now. Perhaps next weekend...

For reference, here are brackets and schedules.

(If projected winner is not top seed, that team is noted in parentheses).
America East: Vermont
Atlantic Sun: Florida Gulf Coast
Big South: Coastal Carolina (High Point)
Colonial: Towson (Delaware)
Horizon: Green Bay
MAAC: Manhattan (Iona)
Missouri Valley: Wichita State
Northeast: Bryant (Robert Morris)
Ohio Valley: Belmont
Patriot: Boston U
Southern: Davidson
Summit: North Dakota State
West Coast: Gonzaga

Harvard can clinch Ivy outright with one win in final two games. (Ivy does not hold postseason tournament).

(Note: My success rate at predicting auto-bids is fairly low but oh well...)

 

[DiehardClone]

Nice work cyclones500. My cinderella team this year is the 20-6 Incarnate Word Cardinals of the Southland. I believe it's their first season in Division 1. That has to be the oddest sounding team name this side of NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology).

 

[MNCyGuy]

Outside of someone upsetting Gonzaga/BYU or Wichita State, are there really any league's with a potential bid stealer this year?

 

[Cy$]

Outside of someone upsetting Gonzaga/BYU or Wichita State, are there really any league's with a potential bid stealer this year?

Green Bay and Southern Miss, but that is a huge longshot.

We had a contest last year to predict the conference champs, we should do that this year

 

[djcubby]

There's always 1 or 2 teams that come out of nowhere to win their conference tourney. That's the beauty of March Madness. Any team in the mid-majors can grab a tourney spot if they get hot at the right time.

 

[cyclones500]

Green Bay and Southern Miss, but that is a huge longshot.

We had a contest last year to predict the conference champs, we should do that this year

I'd be in for that.

If so, I can work on the rest of my autos pre-bracketing.

 

[cyclones500]

Green Bay and Southern Miss, but that is a huge longshot.

True, list is pretty thin this year for multi-bid "mid-major" leagues.

 

[cyclones500]

We had a contest last year to predict the conference champs, we should do that this year

For anyone who wants to participate in the contest, here’s the blank slate. We’d probably have to get rolling on it asap in case there are early upsets. I thought about setting up something about a week ago then failed to do so.

To clarify for those perhaps unaware — this is auto-bid, conference tournament champions, not regular-season winners (Exception: Ivy League)

America East: 
American: 
Atlantic 10:
ACC: 
Atlantic Sun: 
Big 12:
Big East:
Big Sky:
Big South: 
Big Ten:
Big West: 
Colonial:
Conference USA: 
Horizon:
Ivy:
Metro Atlantic: 
Mid-American: 
Mid-Eastern: 
Missouri Valley:
Mountain West: 
Northeast:
Ohio Valley:
Pac-12: 
Patriot:
SEC: 
Southern: 
Soutland: 
SWAC: 
Summit:
Sun Belt: 
West Coast:
WAC: 

Note on SWAC: Four teams are ineligible to be auto-qualifier: Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Grambling, Mississippi Valley State and Southern ... but all are allowed in the conference tournament -- auto bid will go to team that advances furthest; tiebreaker is tournament seeding.

 

[MLawrence]

That has to be the oddest sounding team name this side of NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology).

I don't think NJIT is as strange as IUPUI: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

 

[Mumbai1986]

America East: Vermont
American: Louisville
Atlantic 10: UMASS
ACC: Duke
Atlantic Sun: Mercer
Big 12: Kansas
Big East: Villanova
Big Sky: Weber State
Big South: Winthrop
Big Ten: MSU
Big West: UC Santa Barbara
Colonial: Delaware
Conference USA: La Tech
Horizon: Green Bay
Ivy: Harvard
Metro Atlantic: Iona
Mid-American: Toledo
Mid-Eastern: North Carolina Central
Missouri Valley: Indiana State
Mountain West: SDSU
Northeast: Wagner
Ohio Valley: Belmont
Pac-12: Arizona
Patriot: Bucknell
SEC: Florida
Southern: Davidson
Soutland: Stephen F. Austin
SWAC: Southern
Summit: NDSU
Sun Belt: Georgia St.
West Coast: BYU
WAC: New Mexico State

 

[Cyclonin]

America East: Stony Brook
American: Louisville
Atlantic 10: VCU
ACC: Syracuse
Atlantic Sun: FGCU
Big 12: Kansas
Big East: Nova
Big Sky: North Dakota
Big South: VMI
Big Ten: Wisconsin
Big West: UC Santa Barbara
Colonial: Delaware
Conference USA: La Tech
Horizon: Green Bay
Ivy: Harvard
Metro Atlantic: Iona
Mid-American: Western Michigan
Mid-Eastern: North Carolina Central
Missouri Valley: Wichita St
Mountain West: New Mexico
Northeast: Central Connecticut State
Ohio Valley: Belmont
Pac-12: UCLA
Patriot: Bucknell
SEC: Florida
Southern: Davidson
Soutland: Stephen F. Austin
SWAC: Southern
Summit: NDSU
Sun Belt: Georgia St.
West Coast: BYU
WAC: New Mexico State

 

[JD720]

My cinderella team this year is the 20-6 Incarnate Word Cardinals of the Southland. I believe it's their first season in Division 1.

They are not eligible for the tourney until 2018.

 

[cyclones500]

America East: Vermont
American: UConn
Atlantic 10: VCU
ACC: Duke
Atlantic Sun: Florida Gulf Coast
Big 12: Kansas
Big East: Villanova
Big Sky: Weber State
Big South: Coastal Carolina
Big Ten: Michigan State
Big West: UCSB
Colonial: Towson
Conference USA: UTEP
Horizon: Green Bay
Ivy: Harvard
Metro Atlantic: Manhattan
Mid-American: Toledo
Mid-Eastern: N.C. Central
Missouri Valley: Wichita State
Mountain West: San Diego State
Northeast: Bryant
Ohio Valley: Belmont
Pac-12: UCLA
Patriot: Boston U
SEC: Florida
Southern: Davidson
Soutland: Stephen F. Austin
SWAC: Texas Southern
Summit: North Dakota State
Sun Belt: Western Kentucky
West Coast: Gonzaga
WAC: New Mexico State

 

[cyclones500]

Additional note on SWAC: Since Southern and three others are ineligible, but can play in conference tournament, do we score auto-bid as the team that wins or team that receives the auto-bid?

Here's how it will work as far as NCAA qualifier: SWAC allows ineligible teams to play in conference tournament

I did mine as NCAA-qualifier, so I didn't rule out Southern winning conference tournament. (Or, for simplicity, we could have it both ways, I guess)

 

[cyclones500]

They are not eligible for the tourney until 2018.

True. A few other new D-1 teams aren't eligible this year, too, because of transition, but can't find list at quick glance.

 

[Cyclonin]

Id say who wins the tourney.

 

[cyclones500]

Id say who wins the tourney.

Sounds good, let's do it that way. I'll stick with my pick either way (and probably regret it!).

 

[cyclones500]

I nominate IHavNoCyCash to keep track of the entries. :smile:

 

[CoKane]

Not sure if I'm too late or not, but here it goes

America East: Vermont
American: UConn
Atlantic 10: Saint Louis
ACC: Duke
Atlantic Sun: Mercer
Big 12: Kansas
Big East: Creighton
Big Sky: Weber
Big South: VMI
Big Ten: Wisconsin
Big West: UC Santa Barbara
Colonial: Towson
Conference USA: Louisiana Tech
Horizon: Green Bay
Ivy: Harvard
Metro Atlantic: Iona
Mid-American: Toledo
Mid-Eastern: NC Central
Missouri Valley: Wichita State
Mountain West: San Deigo State
Northeast: Robert Morris
Ohio Valley: Belmont
Pac-12: UCLA
Patriot: Boston U
SEC: Flordia
Southern: Davidson
Soutland: Stephan F Austin
SWAC: Alabama State
Summit: North Dakota State
Sun Belt: Western Kentucky( they always seem to be in even when they are in the bottom of the conference)
West Coast: BYU
WAC: New Mexico State

 

[cyclones500]

I have the entries saved and will keep tabs on it.