January 31 Update

Now in:
Nebraska
Florida
Iona
Michigan State
Georgia
Youngstown State

Now out:
Indiana
St. Joseph's
Rutgers
Oklahoma :(
Georgia Tech
Wisconsin-Green Bay

Conferences with multiple bids:
SEC: 8
ACC: 7
Big Ten: 7
Big 12: 5
PAC 12: 4
West Coast: 3
American: 2
Big East: 2
MAC: 2
MAAC: 2
MAAAC: 0

January 27 Update: Some Stuff Happened

Back from vacation and still catching up. Baylor lost to Kansas? What?

New charts are in the tabs above. They look like this:

Now in: 
USC
St. Joseph's
DePaul
Oklahoma
Dayton
Rutgers
Georgia Tech
Central Michigan
Colorado State
Green Bay
Liberty
Central Arkansas
Robert Morris

Now out:
Nebraska
Oregon State
Marquette
Michigan State
BYU
Washington State
Creighton
George Washington
Fresno State
Winthrop
St. Francis (NY)
Cleveland State
Stephen F. Austin


Conferences with multiple bids:
ACC: 8
SEC: 6
Big 12: 6
Big Ten: 6
Pac 12: 4
American: 3
West Coast: 3
Big East: 2
Atlantic 10: 2
MAC: 2

January 16 Update: the Marist Exception

I know that Marist lost to Iona (by two points, on Iona's court). I know that this makes Iona undefeated in the MAAC, while Marist is now a one-conference-loss team.  I know that this means that Iona should be credited as the conference leader in the MAAC and therefore the holder of the conference's automatic bid.  My method of assigning automatic bids is to take the team with the best record in the conference regardless of likelihood of winning the conference tournament.  I know this. And yet it feels wrong somehow to credit the MAAC bid to some team other than the Marist Red Foxes.  The winner of the MAAC conference tournament every year since 2006 has been Marist, and in each of those years they have been the 1-seed going into the tournament. So I am making an exception to my methodology and crediting the MAAC's automatic bid to Marist until they lose in the conference tournament, regardless of what happens from now on in the MAAC regular season.  They could lose the rest of the regular season games and I wouldn't care.  Brian Giorgis's team is not missing this tournament.

Now in:
Michigan
St. John's
Oregon State

Now out:
Rutgers
Florida
St. Joseph's

Conferences with multiple bids:
Big Ten: 8
ACC: 7
SEC: 6
Big 12: 5
PAC 12: 5
West Coast: 4
Big East: 3
American: 2

January 13 Update

Now in:
Michigan State
Marquette
Nebraska
North Dakota
Navy
Fresno State
Cleveland State
Stephen F. Austin
James Madison

Now out:
Sacramento State
Villanova
Colorado
Arkansas
Holy Cross
Delaware
Wisconsin-Green Bay
Colorado State
Central Arkansas

Conferences with multiple bids:
SEC: 7
Big Ten: 7
ACC: 7
Big 12: 5
PAC 12: 4
West Coast: 4
American: 3
Atlantic 10: 2
Big East: 2

January 10 Update

Now in:
Texas A&M
Texas
North Carolina
BYU
Rutgers
Southern U.
Cal Poly

Now out:
USC
Nebraska
Auburn
Georgia
Temple
Texas Southern
Hawaii

Conferences with multiple bids:
SEC: 8
ACC: 7
Big Ten: 5
PAC 12: 5
Big 12: 5
West Coast: 4
American: 3
Big East: 2
Atlantic 10: 2

January 6 Update: UCLA Loses Two Games, North Carolina Drops Out

We are still at a point in the season where RPI rankings exhibit large swings with each unexpected win or loss.  James Madison University was just a week ago ranked 42nd in RPI, but today after one loss they are ranked 63rd.  The S-Factor had JMU in the tournament a week ago (RPI 42 is usually on the cusp of an at-large berth), but they dropped out after their loss to North Carolina.

James Madison's Gulf Coast Showcase first round opponent UCLA was just a week ago ranked 24th, but today after two losses, they are 53rd.  The Bruins went from being a top-25 team to a sub-50 team, which matters to the S-Factor because wins over opponents in the top-50 and the top-25 are worth more.

North Carolina had wins over both James Madison and UCLA on their books, which used to give them two top-25 wins and three top-50 wins. But then UCLA lost two games, and now the Tar Heels' only top 50 win is against South Carolina. That puts them out of the tournament for now, but playing in the stacked ACC will give them plenty more opportunities to score meaningful wins.  Of course, the Tar Heels could have had another top-50 win to partially offset the RPI drop of their opponents this weekend, but they lost to Maryland at home.

This has been this week's installment of "How Could My Team Have Fallen So Far In Your Stupid Rankings?"

Now in: 
Penn State
Auburn
Florida
USC
Washington
George Washington
Creighton
Central Arkansas

Now out:
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Marquette
Oregon
Minnesota
Georgia Tech
DePaul
Northwestern State

Conferences with multiple bids:
SEC: 9
Big Ten: 6
PAC 12: 6
ACC: 6
Big 12: 4
West Coast: 3
American: 3
Big East: 2
Atlantic 10: 2

January 3 Update: A New Year, a New Conference Season

Also new charts in the above tabs.

Now in:
Oklahoma
West Virginia
DePaul
Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders
Arkansas State
Tennessee-Martin
Northwestern State

Now out:
Auburn
James Madison
Mississippi State
UTEP
Western Kentucky
Sam Houston State
Murray State

Conferences with multiple bids:
ACC: 8
SEC: 7
Big Ten: 6
Big 12: 5
PAC 12: 5
Big East: 3
West Coast: 3
American: 3