NCAA Tournament Projections: Week 3

Here it is – the third installment of our weekly NCAA Tournament projections. After another wild week, the projections have again been shaken up.

Just a reminder, automatic bids are given to the team currently leading the conference.

Let’s start with conferences that will absolutely be getting only one bid (these teams need to maintain their spots at the top to make the dance):
America East: Vermont
Atlantic Sun: East Tennessee State
Big Sky: Weber State
Big South: Winthrop
Big West: Long Beach State
Ivy: Yale
Metro Atlantic Athletic: Loyola (Md.)
Mid Continent: Oral Roberts
Mid-America: Akron
Mid-Eastern Athletic: Delaware State
Northeast: Central Connecticut State
Ohio Valley: Austin Peay
Patriot: Holy Cross
Southern: Davidson
Southland: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Southwest Athletic: Jackson State
Sunbelt: South Alabama

Now there are four conferences that are almost certainly only one bid conferences, assuming the team at the top of the standings now wins the conference tournament. Potential at-large teams will have to root like hell for these four teams, because if they don’t get their conferences automatic bids, they are likely to steal coveted at-large spots.

Conference USA: Memphis
Horizon: Butler
West Coast: Gonzaga
Western Athletic: Nevada

Now for the rest of the conferences (total current bids in parenthesis):

Atlantic 10 (1):
In – Rhode Island (automatic bid)
On the Cusp – Xavier
Long Climb Ahead – Massachusetts, George Washington

Atlantic Coast Conference (7):
In – Boston College (automatic bid), North Carolina, Duke, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia
On the Cusp – Maryland
Long Climb Ahead – Georgia Tech

Big 12 (6):
In – Texas A&M (automatic bid), Kansas, Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma State, Kansas State
On the Cusp – None
Long Climb Ahead – None

Big East (7):
In – Pittsburgh (automatic bid), Marquette, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova
On the Cusp – Providence, Louisville
Long Climb Ahead – None

Big Ten (5):
In – Wisconsin (automatic bid), Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan State, Illinois
On the Cusp – Michigan
Long Climb Ahead – None

Colonial Athletic (1):
In – Virginia Commonwealth (automatic bid)
On the Cusp – Drexel, Hofstra
Long Climb Ahead – Old Dominion

Missouri Valley (3):
In – Southern Illinois (automatic bid), Creighton, Missouri State
On the Cusp – Bradley, Northern Iowa
Long Climb Ahead – None

Mountain West (3):
In – Air Force (automatic bid), UNLV, BYU
On the Cusp – None
Long Climb Ahead – None

Pacific-10 (6):
In – UCLA (automatic bid), Oregon, Washington State, USC, Arizona, Stanford
On the Cusp – None
Long Road Ahead – None

Southeastern (5):
In – Florida (automatic bid), Kentucky, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Tennessee
On the Cusp –Georgia, Arkansas
Long Road Ahead – LSU

Final Six In: Syracuse, Illinois, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Michigan State, Missouri State
Final Six Out: Arkansas, Maryland, Xavier, Georgia, Providence, Michigan

What team did I miss? What team doesn’t deserve to be on the list? We want to know what you think. Post your comments below.