My 65 Teams that are in the Tournament

The GM gave you his 65 earlier today. I was fortunate enough to be able to watch Duke, Stephen F. Austin and Mississippi State win their respective conference tournaments before I was able to post mine. As of right now there is only one more automatic bid to give out. The Big Ten bid. That goes to either Purdue or Ohio State and I don't need to wait for that to end because I have both of those teams in anyway. The only thing that may change is their seeds and well I am in the same boat as the GM and I don't feel like torturing myself trying to figure out who is going to play who.

My list may be a little different then the GM's but to be honest I haven't really looked at his list only because I don't want to cheat. I want my own list and if it ends up being the same as his well then we must think a like.

Fans, the GM is a very organized, look at all the numbers and statistics kind of guy and I am more of an eye test, who is the better looking team kind of guy and that may be where most of the differences are. I think the GM and I would both agree on the fact that there are really only a few spots left anymore. I am ready to give you my last 4 in and my first 4 out. Since Mississippi State won that's all I really feel is debatable but those 4 spots are really up for grabs. There is potential for me getting all 4 wrong.

Let's get after it!

As the GM said, the 31 conference champions are on the right side bar. Obviously they are in and that also means I have half the field filled already. Boo Ya!

Now I have to give you my locks for being in. I am just going to look at each conference and list the teams that I would consider locks.

Xavier
Dayton
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Clemson
Boston College
Florida State
Oklahoma
Kansas
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas A&M
Pittsburgh
Connecticut
Villanova
Syracuse
Marquette
West Virginia
Michigan State
Illinois
Ohio State/Purdue
Butler
BYU
Washington
UCLA
Arizona State
California
Tennessee
LSU

That's a total of 29 teams that I feel are locked in that didn't win their conference tournaments. These teams aren't sweating right now they are just waiting for their seed, location and opponent.

It's time to do some math. 31 conference champs + 29 locks = 60 teams in.

All that means is that I'm fairly confident I'm going to get that many right. After that who the hell knows. Only the committee that is sitting in that room in Indianapolis right now. That's who.

Now I am going to give you my bubble teams in the order that I am putting them in. This way, I can highlight my last four in and last four out just as the GM did earlier today.

61. Wisconsin
62. Maryland
63. Minnesota
64. Creighton
65. San Diego State

66. Saint Mary's
67. Florida
68. Arizona
69. South Carolina

70. Penn State
71. Auburn
72. New Mexico
73. Michigan

Those teams are kind of close but at the same time not really. They could've played their way in but it was a long shot going in. None of them really did anything to make a case for the dance. The NIT is going to be darn good this year!

There ya have it, I am not sure I'm going to go 65 for 65 but I hope I'm close. We will never know if I have my last 8 out ranked correctly but if they don't make it, it doesn't matter.

This tournament is going to be AWESOME BABY! Listen to the podcast to get the GM and I's analysis.