NCAA Tournament Projections: Week 5

The projections are continuing to change. As the regular season starts to wind down things are shaking out and teams on the bubble are falling fast. But, there are still plenty of teams jockeying for one of the final coveted spots in the Big Dance.

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: Pennsylvania
Metro Atlantic Athletic: Marist
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

The following conferences will be one-bid conferences if the current leader wins the conference. If the current leader does not win the conference tournament, they are likely to be two-bid conferences.

Conference USA: Memphis
Western Athletic: Nevada

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

Atlantic 10 (2):
In – Rhode Island (automatic bid), Xavier
On the Cusp – None
Long Climb Ahead – Massachusetts

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

Big 12 (5):
In – Texas A&M (automatic bid), Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State, Kansas State
On the Cusp – Texas Tech
Long Climb Ahead – None

Big East (6):
In – Pittsburgh (automatic bid), Marquette, Notre Dame, Georgetown, West Virginia, Villanova
On the Cusp – Louisville
Long Climb Ahead – Syracuse, Providence

Big Ten (5):
In – Wisconsin (automatic bid), Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan State, Illinois
On the Cusp – Purdue
Long Climb Ahead – Michigan

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

Horizon (2):
In – Wright State (automatic bid), Butler
On the Cusp – None
Long Climb Ahead – None

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

Mountain West (3):
In – BYU (automatic bid), UNLV, Air Force
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 – Mississippi

West Coast Conference (1):
In – Santa Clara (automatic bid)
On the Cusp – Gonzaga
Long Road Ahead – None

Final Four In: Kansas State, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Illinois
First Four Out: Purdue, Texas Tech, Missouri State, Louisville

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.