What teams are still alive in their conference tournaments that could steal an at-large bid?
As we sit nervously for the next day and a half until the committee announces the field for the 2024 NCAA Tournament, all we Spartan faithful can do in the meantime is keep an eye on some of the other action from Champ Week. There are a number of conferences that will crown champions today and tomorrow that still have a team alive that could eat up a bubble spot. If enough of them end up winning their conference’s auto-bid, there is a scenario where Tom Izzo’s record 25 consecutive tournament appearances could end.
Currently, ESPN Bracketology (my personal choice of reference) has MSU as one of the last four byes and a 10-seed. Let’s take a look at some of the teams still alive for their conference crowns.
MEAC: #4 Howard faces #6 Delaware State in Saturday’s final. Could #1 Norfolk State (22-11 overall) still get a bid?
MWC: #5 San Diego State faces #6 New Mexico in Saturday’s final. Latest ESPN Bracketology has five teams from the MWC in the field including SDSU, but not UNM.
MAAC: #2 Fairfield faces #4 Saint Peter’s in Saturday’s final. Could #1 Quinnipiac (24-9) still get a bid?
MAC: #2 Akron faces #8 Kent State in Saturday’s final. Could #1 Toledo (20-12) or #2 Akron (23-10) still get a bid if Kent State wins?
CUSA: #3 Western Kentucky faces #5 UTEP in Saturday’s final. Could #1 Sam Houston (21-12 or #2 Louisiana Tech (22-10) still get a bid?
ACC: #1 North Carolina faces #10 NC State in Saturday’s final. Safe to say NC State would steal an at-large if they win, so… go Tar Heels.
Big West: #2 UC Davis faces #4 Long Beach State in Saturday’s final. Could #1 UC Irvine (24-9) still get a bid?
Pac 12: #3 Colorado faces #4 Oregon in Saturday’s final. Latest ESPN Bracketology has three Pac 12 teams in including Colorado but not Oregon. Would an Oregon win make it four or knock out Colorado?
WAC: #1 Grand Canyon faces #3 Texas Arlington in Saturday’s final. Could GCU (28-4) still get a bid if they lose?
IVY: The top four – Princeton, Cornell, Yale, and Brown – are in the semifinals today. Could #1 Princeton (24-3) still get a bid if they do not win?
A10: The top four are all out as the semifinals pit #5 VCU against #7 St. Joseph’s and #6 Duquesne against #9 St. Bonaventure. Richmond and Loyola Chicago tied for the regular season crown (both 15-3 in conference and 23-9 overall), while 24th-ranked Dayton came in 3rd one game back (24-7 overall). ESPN Bracketology only has Dayton and the eventual winner of this tournament in the field.
SEC: Semifinals are #3 Auburn vs. #9 Mississippi State and #6 Florida vs. #7 Texas A&M. ESPN Bracketology currently has all of them in the field, so maybe nothing to see here.
AAC: #11 Temple is on to the semifinals to take on #2 Florida Atlantic, while #1 South Florida faces #4 UAB. Could USF (24-6) still get a bid without winning the conference tournament?
B1G: #1 Purdue faces #5 Wisconsin and #2 Illinois faces #3 Nebraska in today’s semifinals. ESPN Bracketology has all four in along with Northwestern and MSU to make 6 bids from our conference.
In addition to the tournaments still going on, the following teams that did not win their regular season crowns have won their conference tournaments and earned an auto bid, leaving the question if any of those conferences will see a second team make it.
MVC: Drake. Indiana State (28-6) was #1.
Big South: Longwood. High Point (25-8) was #1… doubtful.
Atlantic Sun: Stetson. Eastern Kentucky (17-14) was #1… doubtful.
Sun Belt: James Madison. Appalachian State (27-6) was #1.