With the NCAA tournament field expanding from 65 to 68, here’s our breakdown by conference of which teams will go dancing come March, as well as my Final Four and national championship picks.
We’ve listed them in order of overall bids — and as you can see, it’ll be interesting to see which league establishes itself as elite this season. I think it could be any one of the Big East, ACC, Big 12, Big Ten or even the SEC.
NCAA tournament bids: League breakdown
Big East (7): Pittsburgh, Villanova, Syracuse, Georgetown, Marquette, West Virginia, UConn
ACC (6): Duke, North Carolina, Florida State, Virginia Tech, N.C. State, Clemson
Big 12 (6): Kansas State, Missouri, Kansas, Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M
Big Ten (6): Michigan State, Ohio State, Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue, Wisconsin
SEC (6): Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Georgia
Atlantic 10 (4): Temple, Xavier, Richmond, Dayton
Mountain West (4): San Diego State, BYU, UNLV, New Mexico
Pac-10 (3): Washington, UCLA, Arizona
West Coast (3): Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, Saint Mary’s
Conference USA (2): Memphis, UTEP
One-bid conferences
America East: Boston University
Atlantic Sun: Lipscomb
Big Sky: Weber State
Big South: Winthrop
Big West: UC Santa Barbara
Colonial: Old Dominion
Horizon: Butler
Ivy: Harvard
MAC: Kent State
MAAC: Fairfield
MEAC: Morgan State
Missouri Valley: Wichita State
Northeast: Quinnipiac
Ohio Valley: Murray State
Patriot: American
SoCon: Wofford
Southland: Texas State
Summit: Oakland
Sun Belt: Western Kentucky
SWAC: Jackson State
WAC: Utah State
Final Four
Duke, Michigan State, Ohio State, Missouri
National championship: Duke vs. Ohio State
National champion: Ohio State
