bukie

UMBC won at Vermont to win the America East. Their profile is potentially first four worthy, they're about even with Radford.

My Next 25 in field (I miscounted, there are 25 not 24): 21. Houston 22. Arizona (Pac-12) 23. TCU 24. Butler 25. Seton Hall 26. Creighton 27. Texas A&M 28. Virginia Tech 29. Nevada 30. Arkansas 31. USC 32. Providence 33. Miami FL 34. Texas 35. Missouri 36. Alabama 37. NC State 38. Kansas State 39. UCLA 40. St Bonaventure 41. Rhode Island (A-10) 42. Louisville 43. Florida State 44. Oklahoma 45. Arizona State I would slot the MWC champ behind Loyola, New Mexico State and Western Kentucky in the auto bid pecking order (so they would be 49, WKU 48, NMST 47, Loyola 46). And the other 8 potential bubble teams in order for what turns out to be no available bids, unless we bump teams already in the field: St Mary's Middle Tennessee New Mexico State Notre Dame Marquette Oklahoma State Baylor Syracuse Which means to me, NM State has to win the auto bid to get in the field.

The teams I don't like are Oklahoma and Arizona State. Both have a good result profile but both have been nothing near tournament teams for 2 months now.

My hot take alert for St. Bonaventure is I like their at-large profile better than Rhode Island, personally.

I get many uses of Twitter, but privacy is not one of them.

UC Davis lost in the Big West semis, so that auto bid will now go to the Cal State Fullerton/UC Irvine winner.

Duke and Xavier also lost in their respective conference semis, and UNC's win could prompt them to be bumped up some.

West Virginia beat Texas Tech, which tempts me to swap them on the S-Curve. In terms of other potential bid thieves, Memphis could still win the American, and St. Joe's/Davidson could still win the A-10.

There is now one more auto bid we need to seed, in the MWC, it'll be either San Diego State or New Mexico. That also means there is one less at-large bid to seed, so the 8 remaining teams in consideration now get at most one bid.

Just realized Bethune-Cookman lost in the MEAC quarters, but it doesn't really matter as the winner of that conference is the bottom of the barrel as is.

Now it's getting manageable. - Rank the 24 teams we have in the field - Rank the 8 teams up for potential consideration barring bid theft

Current S-Curve (42 teams) 1. Virginia 2. Villanova 3. Duke 4. Kansas 5. Xavier 6. Purdue 7. North Carolina 8. Cincinnati 9. Michigan State 10. Auburn 11. Michigan 12. Texas Tech 13. Tennessee 14. Gonzaga (WCC) 15. West Virginia 16. Wichita State 17. Clemson 18. Ohio State 19. Kentucky 20. Florida ... 47. Loyola Chicago (MVC) 48. WAC (New Mexico State) 49. CUSA (Western Kentucky) 50. Murray State (OVC) 51. South Dakota State (Summit) 52. America East (Vermont) 53. MAC (Buffalo) 54. UNC Greensboro (Southern) 55. Sun Belt (Louisiana) 56. Charleston (CAA) 57. Big Sky (Montana) 58. Bucknell (Patriot) 59. Big West (UC Davis) 60. Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun) 61. Wright State (Horizon) 62. Ivy (Penn) 63. Iona (MAAC) 64. Southland (Stephen F Austin) 65. Radford (Big South) 66. LIU-Brooklyn (NEC) 67. SWAC (Texas Southern) 68. MEAC (Hampton) Also currently in the field (24): Alabama Arizona Arizona State Arkansas Butler Creighton Florida State Kansas State Houston Louisville Miami FL Missouri NC State Nevada Oklahoma Providence Seton Hall Rhode Island St Bonaventure Texas TCU Texas A&M UCLA USC Virginia Tech Still in discussion for at most 2 bids (8 teams): Baylor Marquette Middle Tennessee New Mexico State Notre Dame Oklahoma State St Mary's Syracuse

In bid theft news, Nevada is trailing by 30 at the half in the MWC semis. Arizona is down 4 at the half to UCLA.

Next 12: 13. Gonzaga (WCC) 14. West Virginia 15. Tennessee 16. Ohio State 17. Wichita State 18. Clemson 19. Florida 20. Houston 21. Nevada 22. Kentucky 23. TCU 24. Butler Bottom 12 Auto bids: 58. Charleston (CAA) 57. Bucknell (Patriot) 56. UNC Greensboro (Southern) 55. Big Sky (Montana) 54. MAC (Buffalo) 53. South Dakota State (Summit) 52. CUSA (Old Dominion) 51. America East (Vermont) 50. Sun Belt (Louisiana) 49. Murray State (OVC) 48. WAC (New Mexico State) 47. Loyola Chicago (MVC) Top 12 in consideration: St Bonaventure Alabama Providence Virginia Tech Louisville USC UCLA St. Mary's Kansas State NC State Middle Tennessee New Mexico State Bottom 20 in consideration: Boise State Notre Dame Nebraska Marquette Utah Temple Oregon Mississippi State BYU Rider Washington Maryland UCF Georgia Penn State Colorado South Carolina Stanford LSU Boston College

I'm all in on Bote until the "I'm on a bote" memes get old.

Something oddly satisfying about hearing Auburn getting beat down. Can't put my finger on it, specifically...

I'll be out of meetings at some point today and weigh in and organize everything.

Dumb question but bottom 20 still in consideration, is that the last 20 teams we are keeping in consideration, or the 20 teams I want to eliminate from consideration? ELIMINATE

So, still plenty to pare down. Next steps: - top 12 teams that are in the field and not seeded - bottom 12 auto bids that are not seeded - top 12 still in consideration - bottom 20 still in consideration

Current S-Curve (22 teams) 1. Virginia 2. Villanova 3. Duke 4. Kansas 5. Xavier 6. Purdue 7. North Carolina 8. Cincinnati 9. Michigan State 10. Auburn 11. Michigan 12. Texas Tech ... 59. Big West (UC Davis) 60. Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun) 61. Wright State (Horizon) 62. Ivy (Penn) 63. Iona (MAAC) 64. Southland (Stephen F Austin) 65. Radford (Big South) 66. LIU-Brooklyn (NEC) 67. SWAC (Texas Southern) 68. MEAC (Bethune-Cookman) Also currently in the field (21): Arizona Arkansas Butler Clemson Creighton Florida Gonzaga (WCC) Houston Kentucky Miami FL Missouri Nevada Ohio State Oklahoma Seton Hall Rhode Island TCU Tennessee Texas A&M West Virginia Wichita State Auto bids to seed yet (12): America East (Vermont) Big Sky (Montana) Bucknell (Patriot) Charleston (CAA) CUSA (Old Dominion) Loyola Chicago (MVC) MAC (Buffalo) Murray State (OVC) South Dakota State (Summit) Sun Belt (Louisiana) UNC Greensboro (Southern) WAC (New Mexico State) Still in discussion for at most 13 bids (39 teams): Alabama Arizona State BYU Baylor Boise State Boston College Colorado Florida State Georgia Kansas State LSU Louisville Marquette Maryland Middle Tennessee Mississippi State Nebraska New Mexico State NC State Notre Dame Oklahoma State Oregon Penn State Providence Rider St Bonaventure St Mary's South Carolina Stanford Syracuse Temple Texas UCF UCLA USC Utah Virginia Tech Washington Western Kentucky

No auto bids today, but MTSU lost in the CUSA quarters, which probably steals a bid from someone, possibly MTSU.

I'll compile the data and organize everything later today. Until then, everyone enjoy announcers declaring that every team playing is a tournament team.

I know nothing means anything, but it's still fun to watch the Cubs beat the Dodgers and Indians on back to back days with effective outings from Darvish and Quintana .

I officially hate every team's profile after, say, Florida.

My 5-16: 5. Cincinnati 6. Purdue 7. Xavier 8. North Carolina 9. Michigan State 10. Michigan 11. Auburn 12. Texas Tech 13. Gonzaga 14. Tennessee 15. Wichita State 16. Clemson My one bid leagues: MEAC (Bethune-Cookman) SWAC (Texas Southern) LIU-Brooklyn (NEC) Southland (Stephen F Austin) Radford (Big South) Ivy (Penn) Iona (MAAC) Lipscomb (A-Sun) Wright State (Horizon) Big West (UC Davis) Charleston (Southern) Big Sky (Montana) South Dakota State (Summit) Murray State (OVC) Loyola (MVC) Pac-12 (Arizona) WCC (Gonzaga) Bottom 20: Tulsa UNC Greensboro Washington Northeastern Temple BYU Buffalo Boston College Belmont St. John's South Dakota South Dakota State Louisiana Old Dominion Oregon LSU Charleston Murray State Western Kentucky San Diego State Next 12: Arizona Houston Miami FL Florida Seton Hall TCU Rhode Island Oklahoma Missouri Texas A&M Arkansas St. Bonaventure