South Bend:
1. Notre Dame (ACC)
16. North Carolina A&T (MEAC)
8. South Dakota State
9. Missouri
Iowa City:
5. Oregon State
12. Bucknell (Patriot)
4. Iowa
13. Tennessee Tech (OVC)
A quick methodology note, as you may have noticed Tennessee Tech and North Carolina A&T are newcomers to the field. We’ve hit the point in the conference season where it makes sense to go with conference leaders when assuming the auto-bid out of one-bid leagues. That made far less sense when a bunch of teams were 2-0 or 1-1, so I had been using the RPI. That will explain the rush of new mid-majors into the field and I will be using standings going forward.
Milwaukee:
3. Marquette (Big East)
14. Stephen F. Austin (Southland)
6. Miami
11. Utah
Waco:
7. Indiana
10. Auburn
2. Baylor (Big 12)
15. Mercer (SoCon)
Indiana is another team that has suffered a string of conference losses (three out of four to be exact). Add that hideous loss to Grambling and the Hoosiers would be in a lot of trouble if not for wins over Michigan State, South Dakota, and Butler. Indiana probably needs to go .500 over its next four games to stay in the field. A signature win over Maryland or at Rutgers would be gravy.