Don’t worry, fans of mid-major schools: Miami (OH) made the NCAA Tournament despite losing in the MAC tournament, and despite the weird narratives being pushed by terminally football-pilled bloggers and “journalists.”
Broken down by league, the multi-bid mid-major leagues landed as just three leagues, which feels lower than usual:
WCC (3, same as Big East)
MAC (2)
Atlantic 10 (2)
And, if that does feel lower to you, too, that is because the Mountain West landed just one team in the field. A far cry from
the six-bid Mountain West two years ago. The usual super conferences had a load of teams (the SEC led with 10, Big Ten at nine, ACC and Big 12 with eight each). We are sad to see the Mountain West become a one-bid league, but applaud the A10 for graduating from a ZeroBid League to a two-bid league.
NCAA Tournament men’s bracket
East Region
Siena: As Duke was announced as the top-overall seed, the first mid-major squad of the day was named as Siena as the No. 16 seed that gets the uphill battle in the Round of 64.
Northern Iowa: Northern Iowa was helped by one of many upsets across the country when Belmont went down early in Arch Madness. UNI is the No. 12 and will face the regular season and tournament champs out of the Big East, No. 5 St. John’s and Slick Rick Pitino. Could be a tough one in store for UNI, but magic has happened for this program before. If UNI does it, though, they get a rematch with Kansas as a possibility.
Cal Baptist: An NMTC graduate, the Lancers are the No. 13 seed and will face No. 4 Kansas in the Round of 64 after surving a whacky WAC title game against Utah Valley.
South Florida: The American Athletic Conference champs snagged the No. 11 seed after a 25-8 regular season and will face Pat Kelsey and No. 6 Louisville.
North Dakota State: The Summit Plummet was bad for our NMTC friends, but NDSU hadn’t made the tournament for a while. For their troubles, the FCS power got the No. 14 seed and will face No. 3 Michigan State.
Furman: Furman took advantage of some SoCon shenanigans and snagged the league tournament title. The ’Dins get UConn in the 15-2 game.
West Region
LIU: The Sharks took the college world by storm with their awesome home crowd. The Sharks get the No. 16 seed and face No. 1 Arizona.
Utah State: The Aggies won the Mountain West in their final year in the league and drew Villanova as the No. 9 seed in what could be a VERY trendy upset pick. Sadly, Utah State is the only Mountain West rep this season.
High Point: High P is back in the tournament and will face Wisconsin in the 12-5 match-up.
Hawaii: The Rainbow Warriors won the Big West Conference Tournament and will get a shot at the SEC tournament champs, Arkansas, as the No. 13 seed. Could be another plucky upset if you’re looking for a 13-over-4 upset.
Kennesaw State: Kennesaw State comes out of the Conference USA and will have some traveling to do as they will travel to the Pacific northwest to face Gonzaga in the 3-14 game in Portland.
Queens: Another NMTC graduate, the Queens Royals will be the latest team that will try to upset the upset-prone Purdue Boilermakers in the 15-2 game in St. Louis.
Midwest Region
UMBC/Howard: We snagged our first play-in as the America East champs UMBC and the MEAC champs will face off to get the right to play Dusty May and Michigan.
Saint Louis: Despite losing to Dayton in the Atlantic 10 semifinals, Saint Louis did enough to get an at-large and earned the No. 9 seed to face No. 8 Ohio State.
Akron: Akron did well to remind fans that they have been, and are, the class of the MAC, winning the league tournament to steal the auto-qualifier (GREAT because it helped Auburn stay out).
Hofstra: The Pride will take on Alabama in the No. 13-4 game.
Miami (OH): After a beautiful, undefeated regular season, the Miami (OH) RedHawks were still given the at-large despite a MAC tournament quarterfinal loss to UMass. The committee didn’t make it easy as they will play in the First Four to make the tournament proper in the 11-seed play-in game. At least two-bid MAC became official. Miami was not the final team into the field, but didn’t get cleared of the First Four in its home state.
Wright State: Wright State earned the No. 14 seed and will try to give Ryan Odom and Virginia a taste of Odom’s own upset magic.
Santa Clara: The second out of the WCC to make the field, Santa Clara enters its first NCAA Tournament since Steve Nash. Head coach Herb Sendek is back for the first time since his coaching days at Arizona State. The Broncos will face Kentucky in the 10-7 game eying an upset.
Tennessee State: Nolan Smith did wonders with Tennessee State and will get a tough one against No. 2 Iowa State, which spent much of the regular season ranked in the top five of the AP poll.
South Region
Prairie View A&M/Lehigh: And we got our last 16-seed play-in. The winner gets Florida.
McNeese: McNeese didn’t miss a beat and made the tournament the first year post-Will Wade. The Cowboys will face Vanderbilt.
Troy: The Sun Belt champs will get the No. 13 seed and face N0. 4 Nebraska, which has seen a resurgence under head coach Fred Hoiberg. Can the Trojans deny the Cornhuskers their first-ever NCAA Tournament win?
VCU: VCU locked in its bid by winning the A10 tournament, and was RIGHT on the bubble per most metrics. The land at No. 11 and will face No. 6 North Carolina.
Penn: In Fran McCraffery’s first season at the helm, Penn is back and will face Brad Underwood and Illinois in the 3-14 match-up. The Ivy has seen some Cinderellas before, could Penn be next?
Saint Mary’s: Three-bid WCC is official. SMC lands at the No. 7 seed and will face Texas A&M. Expect myself and too many others to believe in SMC only to be crushed.
Idaho: The Vandals hadn’t made an NCAA Tournament in decades and did so finally. For their troubles, the Big Sky champs get the No. 15 seed and will face Houston. Look for Idaho’s own personal Jokic-lite to try to break Houston’s defense as much as he can.
