Louisville:
1. Louisville
16. Grambling (SWAC)
8. Oregon State
9. Auburn
Iowa City:
5. Gonzaga (WCC)
12. Maine (America East)
4. Iowa (Big Ten)
13. Quinnipiac (MAAC)
Gonzaga is going to have the same problem that South Dakota has, only it is in a better position to start. The Bulldogs have beaten Rutgers and Stanford — two wins that already look great and should age to be even better. They’re also in a conference with a Saint Mary’s team that is at least on the at-large radar. That said, it’s going to be hard for the Bulldogs to improve their position too much going forward. Beating up on Portland and San Francisco can only get you so far as 6 and 7 seeds from major conferences likely leapfrog you.
Berkeley:
6. Miami
11. South Florida
3. California
14. UC Davis (Big West)
Waco
7. South Dakota State
10. LSU
2. Baylor (Big 12)
15. Mercer (SoCon)
The bad news for LSU is that its win at Florida State is doing a ton of heavy lifting right now. The good news is that the Tigers play six games in January against RPI top 100 teams. The opportunities to move up are certainly there. As for Miami, the Hurricanes have a bunch of quality wins, but none that really stands out to show they should be considered as a host. And how good are wins over Colorado and Nebraska going to look at the end of the season? Tough to say. The Hurricanes should probably try to beat some of the teams picked to finish above them in the ACC to bolster their resume.