If anyone expected me to write about the Miami (OH) vs. Auburn debate in this prelude I’m sorry to tell you I exhausted all my time and energy on that subject during our last podcast. I urge everyone to go watch/listen if they haven’t already, but if you don’t, here is a quick spark notes.

Miami (OH) = Good Team. Auburn (ISR) = Bad Team. Sometimes in sports you just have to put down the excel sheets and just let the kids play. We can ignore the fact about a fourth of these athletes are now old enough to rent a car without a “young driver” fee.

The funniest part about this whole thing is we at Section 400 have comfortably had both Auburn and Miami (OH) in our field as at-large teams since February. Auburn has found it’s way all around the bubble lately, but considering the opportunity the Tigers have in front of them Saturday in Tuscaloosa and the dirtiness of the bubble itself, Steven Pearl’s team is once again in, for now.

The Tigers officially die with a loss at Alabama, and the same could be said for newly in VCU, who really needs an A-10 Final run to be under consideration. Ohio State is the safest of the ‘Last Four In’, while Santa Clara can confirm it’s placement as a tournament team with an upset of either St. Mary’s or Gonzaga in the WCC bracket.

It’s also important to note our field has just one representative from the Mountain West. Things are going to get murky.

First Four Out: New Mexico, Indiana, Virginia Tech, San Diego State

• New Mexico earned a home win over San Diego State to claim the No. 2 spot in the conference and the official ‘First Team Out’ spot in our bracketology. The Lobos have a golden opportunity in the final game of the regular season when they travel to Utah State. If they can win that, New Mexico may be safely in the field.
• Thank god Indiana had a great football season because this basketball season may have been enough to make the fans turn their home into another riot filled Midwestern state.
• The only thing more ass than the way the Hokies have suffered losses this season is the state of the bubble. Virginia Tech has the most buzzer-beater losses in the country, but is still in the thick of it thanks to the bubble being nothing short of complete buns.
• San Diego State sucks. CBS still has financial ties to the conference, and as long as Turner is running the show come March, the Aztecs will ALWAYS be around.

 

• Last Four In: Auburn, Santa Clara, Ohio State, VCU

• Steven Pearl traded his quarter zip for a suit in Auburn’s drudging of LSU on Tuesday. Whether that means the Tigers are all business moving forward or Pearl is trying out job interview outfits remains to be seen. Somehow, someway, Auburn probably finds itself in the field with a victory over Alabama and two wins against not-so-great competition in the SEC Tournament.
• Santa Clara hasn’t taken advantage of the stranglehold it had on a tournament bid from early season sucsess, but considering the failures of the programs on the bubble, the Broncos deserve to go dancing.
• Ohio State’s home wins over Purdue and Wisconsin in the month of February should be enough to keep the Buckeyes in the field. A home loss on the final day of the regular season against Indiana could complicate things though.
• LET VCU DANCE. PLEASE!

16 seeds: Merrimack*, Long Island*/Howard*, Austin Peay*, Bethune-Cookman*/Montana*

15 seeds: Robert Morris*, East Tennessee State*, UT Martin*, UMBC*

14 seeds: UC Irvine*, Navy*, Yale*, Troy*

13 seeds: North Dakota State*, Cal Baptist*, UNC Wilmington*, High Point*

12 seeds: Liberty*, Belmont*, Akron*, Stephen F. Austin*

11 seeds: Texas, USF*, Santa Clara/VCU, Auburn/Ohio State

10 seeds: Miami (OH), SMU, TCU, Missouri

9 seeds: Texas A&M, St. Mary’s, UCLA, NC State

8 seeds: Clemson, Utah State*, Georgia, Kentucky

7 seeds: Iowa, Miami (FL), Wisconsin, Villanova

6 seeds: Tennessee, BYU, Louisville, UCF

5 seeds: Alabama, North Carolina, St. John’s, Arkansas

4 seeds: Purdue, Vanderbilt, Gonzaga*, Nebraska

3 seeds: Texas Tech, Michigan State, Illinois, Virginia

2 seeds: Florida *(5) , Iowa State* (6), Kansas (7), Houston (8)

1 seeds: Duke* (1) , Arizona* (2), Michigan* (3) , UConn* (4)

 

* conference champion