NC State and Nebraska are among the teams that improved their standing in our latest field of 64 projection. Find out how the races for national seeds, hosts and at-large spots are shaping up in this conference-by-conference look.
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-> There are 30 automatic bids awarded to conference champions (the Ivy League canceled its season and will not have an automatic qualifier this year). These 11 are safe bets to be one-bid leagues, regardless of how their conference tournaments shake out (we’ve moved the America East, Mountain West and Southland into this category this week after their top contenders saw their prospects dim considerably):
Sure-fire one-bid leagues: America East, Atlantic 10, MAC, Mountain West, NEC, OVC, Patriot, SWAC, Southland, Summit, WAC
The following eight conferences are likely to be one-bid leagues, but each has at least one team with at least a shot at an at-large bid, though the poor RPIs of the rest of their conference mates figure to drag some of them down below at-large range as the season continues.
Likely one-bid leagues (potential at-large teams in parentheses):
Atlantic Sun (Liberty and Florida Gulf Coast)
Big East (UConn, Creighton)
Big South (USC Upstate)
Colonial (Northeastern)
Horizon (Wright State)
MAAC (Fairfield)
SoCon (Western Carolina, Samford)
Sun Belt (South Alabama, Georgia Southern, Louisiana)
- Creighton (14-8 overall, 6-1 Big East, No. 59 RPI) went 3-1 at Georgetown last week but still dropped 13 spots to No. 59 in the RPI. UConn (18-14 overall, 4-2 Big East, No. 37 RPI) returned from a COVID pause to split four games with Xavier, but its challenging nonconference schedule continues to prop up its RPI, keeping the Huskies in solid at-large position if they can win the Big East regular season title.