It's always a lot of fun watching as the conference tournaments unfold and seeing the conferences with just one NCAA bid celebrate their tournament championship wins as if they had just won the National Championship at that point. Teams (below) that actually have more than one bid to the NCAA tournament are a lot more fortunate than those smaller conferences. The eight power conferences with teams still on the bubble for at-large bids are listed below, as well as teams in those conferences that already have wrapped up their NCAA tournament bids and are just waiting until Sunday evening at 6pm when the brackets are announced.
On the Bubble
ACC = Boston College (19-11, 9-7)
Clemson (20-10, 9-7)
Virginia Tech (19-10, 9-7)
Big East = none on the bubble
Big Ten = Illinois (19-12, 9-9)
Michigan State (17-13, 9-9)
Michigan (19-12, 9-9)
Big XII = Colorado (20-12, 8-8)
Colonial = George Mason (26-6, 16-2)
Pac 10 = Washington (20-10, 11-7)
Washington State (19-11, 9-9)
SEC = Tennessee (18-13, 8-8)
Georgia (20-10, 9-7)
Mountain West = New Mexico (20-11, 8-8)
Colorado State (19-11, 9-7)
Atlantic 10 = Richmond (24-7, 13-3)
Conference Tournament Champions that have already punched their tickets...
Atlantic Sun = Belmont (30-4)
Big Sky = Northern Colorado (21-10, 1st ever NCAA bid!)
Big South = North Carolian-Asheville (19-13, 2nd ever NCAA bid!)
Colonial = Old Dominion (27-6)
Horizon = Butler (23-9, lost National Championship to Duke, 61-59)
Mid-Atlantic (MAAC) = St. Peter's (20-13, 1st NCAA bid in 16 years!)
Missouri Valley = Indiana State (20-13)
Northeast = Long Island (27-5)
Ohio Valley = Morehead State (24-9)
Southern = Wofford (21-12)
Summit = Oakland (25-9)
Sun Belt = Arkansas-Little Rock (19-16, 1st NCAA bid in 21 years!)
West Coast = Gonzaga (24-9, 13th straight NCAA appearance)
Conferences that will crown their automatic bid champions this weekend...(my pick)
America East = (Boston)
Big West = (Long Beach State)
Conference USA = (UAB) Memphis and UTEP will be at-large bids
Ivy League = Harvard at Princeton in one-game playoff on Saturday at 4pm (Princeton)
Mid-Eastern (MEAC) = (Bethune-Cookman)
Patriot = Bucknell
Southland = McNeese State
Southwestern (SWAC) = (Texas Southern)
Western (WAC) = (Utah State)
It's now Thursday of Championship Week. We will know Sunday at 6pm on CBS who the 68 teams are that will be heading to the NCAA Tournament. I'm like a little kid at Christmas during the month of March! I'm ready to open gifts Sunday evening! Tune back to my blog Monday morning for my first analyzation of the 2011 NCAA Tournament!
While watching the Penn State/IU game, I couldn't believe talk of Penn State getting a bid. No way. I don't think Michigan State deserves it either.
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