About half of all conference tournaments will be under way by the end of the weekend. For many heavyweights from non-power conferences, the best and maybe only way to guarantee a trip to the NCAA Tournament is to take care of business in their conference tournaments.
In major conferences such as the Big East and ACC, regular-season champs will almost always receive an invitation to the Big Dance — unless their program is banned from post-season play or a member of the Pac-10 this season. However, the same isn’t true for other conferences. In the WAC, CAA and Missouri Valley conferences, the regular-season champs need to win the automatic bid or else they’ll be sweating it out during the NCAA Tournament selection show.
When favorites from non-power conferences lose, the selection committee members must compare teams with great records but few quality wins with teams that have middle-of-the-road records but a handful of great wins. Take a shot at deciding for yourself whether the power conference teams should receive an at-large bid over some conference leaders that might not score an automatic bid.
In the latest Mock Tournament, all but two of these teams are projected to be in the field, though at least one of them would be in serious trouble if it doesn’t win its conference’s automatic bid.
Team A: (overall: 24-5, conference: 12-2)
RPI: 36
Strength of schedule: 119
Conference rank: 13
Record vs. RPI top 50: 4-3
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 2
Record in neutral/road games: 9-4
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 18 (neutral court) twice vs. and at 45, at 50, vs. 63 (neutral court) at 73
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): at 203, at 181
Team B: (overall: 20-9, conference: 8-7)
RPI: 57
Strength of schedule: 69
Conference rank: 4
Record vs. RPI top 50: 2-5
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 1
Record in neutral/road games: 7-5
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 5 (neutral court), vs. 44
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): vs. 136, twice vs. and at 62, vs. 52
Team C: (overall: 23-5, conference: 14-1)
RPI: 44
Strength of schedule: 131
Conference rank: 11
Record vs. RPI top 50: 2-1
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 1
Record in neutral/road games: 9-3
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): at 41, at 50, at 67, at 69
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): at 146, at 64, vs. 69
Team D: (overall: 18-12, conference: 10-7)
RPI: 73
Strength of schedule: 47
Conference rank: 5
Record vs. RPI top 50: 4-7
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 3
Record in neutral/road games: 6-8
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 12, at 18, at 24, vs. 26
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): vs. 150 (neutral court), at 108, vs. 107 (neutral court), at 93, vs. 76
Team E: (overall: 23-6, conference: 11-4)
RPI: 41
Strength of schedule: 101
Conference rank: 11
Record vs. RPI top 50: 1-4
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 1
Record in neutral/road games: 11-3
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 17, vs. 63, at 67
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): at 123, vs. 67
Team F: (overall: 20-8, conference: 11-7)
RPI: 61
Strength of schedule: 140
Conference rank: 12
Record vs. RPI top 50: 3-1
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 4
Record in neutral/road games: 5-7
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 28, vs. 30, vs. 39, vs. 59, vs. 68
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): at 251, at 156, at 152, at 125, twice vs. and at 72
Team G: (overall: 23-6, conference: 13-2)
RPI: 33
Strength of schedule: 105
Conference rank: 10
Record vs. RPI top 50: 1-1
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 2
Record in neutral/road games: 8-4
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 22, vs. 51
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): at 150, at 120, at 80, at 72, at 69
Team H: (overall: 20-10, conference: 9-8)
RPI: 65
Strength of schedule: 54
Conference rank: 2
Record vs. RPI top 50: 4-4
Losses to teams outside RPI top 100: 3
Record in neutral/road games: 3-7
Best wins (teams listed by RPI): vs. 6, vs. 9, at 14, vs. 49, vs. 63, vs. 66
Worst losses (teams listed by RPI): vs. 181, at 151, vs. 108 (neutral court), vs,. 78, at 63
