Here is my Field of 68, through games of February 10, broken down by conference. Note that the winner of the conference is the team that I feel is the best team in the conference, which may at times not be the first place team.
America East (1): Vermont
ACC (5): Miami, North Carolina State, Duke, North Carolina, Virginia
Atlantic Sun (1): Florida Gulf Coast
Atlantic Ten (5): Butler, Virginia Commonwealth, La Salle, Saint Louis, Temple
Big East (7): Syracuse, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Notre Dame
Big Sky (1): Montana
Big South (1): UNC-Asheville
Big Ten (7): Michigan, Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois
Big Twelve (5): Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Iowa State
Big West (1): Long Beach State
Colonial (1): Northeastern
Conference USA (1): Memphis
Horizon (1): Valparaiso
Ivy (1): Harvard
Metro Atlantic (1): Loyola
MAC (1): Akron
MEAC (1): North Carolina Central
Missouri Valley (3): Creighton, Wichita State, Indiana State
Mountain West (5): New Mexico, UNLV, Colorado State, San Diego State, Boise State
Northeast (1): Robert Morris
Ohio Valley (1): Belmont
Pac 12 (4): Oregon, Arizona, UCLA, Colorado
Patriot (1): Bucknell
SEC (4): Florida, Ole Miss, Missouri, Kentucky
Southern (1): Davidson
Southland (1): Stephen F Austin
SWAC (1): Southern
Summit (1): South Dakota State
Sun Belt (1): Middle Tennessee
West Coast (2): Gonzaga, St. Mary’s
WAC (1): Louisiana Tech
Last four in: North Carolina, North Carolina St, St Mary’s, Temple
First four out: Iowa, Baylor, Villanova, Arizona State
Others considered: Maryland, UMass, Charlotte, Xavier, Air Force, Wyoming, Stanford, California, North Dakota State
A few notes about this week’s field:
This week’s field was surprisingly easier than last week. That being said, one of the biggest moves I saw was in the ACC, where Virginia now looks like the third best team in the conference, and both UNC and NC State are moving squarely onto the bubble. The A-10 also saw the schizophrenic Temple team slide back into the field — but I just don’t trust this team to keep winning games.
In the Big Ten, Illinois made a huge move with their two marquee wins over Indiana and Minnesota, while Iowa slid back out of the field. The Missouri Valley saw both Creighton and Wichita State losing games, with the Shockers suddenly looking more like a bubble team than a protected seed.
The Pac 12 continues to exceed my expectations for the league. Colorado had another road win Sunday night to squarely put them in the field. Cal is also suddenly on my radar after a huge win at Arizona — though it remains to be seen if they can stay there.
Also out west, Air Force went 0-2 on the week to drop almost off the board entirely. BYU did the same and in fact is completely off my board at the moment. On the other hand, I am starting to take a closer look at North Dakota State and South Dakota State. If one of these two wins out to the Summit championship and loses to the other there, I definitely think the committee will give the loser a serious look.
Finally, here is my S-Curve of these 68 teams:
1. Indiana
2. Duke
3. Michigan
4. Miami
5. Florida
6. Gonzaga
7. Syracuse
8. Michigan State
9. Arizona
10. Kansas State
11. Ohio State
12. Kansas
13. Louisville
14. Butler
15. Notre Dame
16. Wisconsin
17. Oklahoma State
18. New Mexico
19. Pittsburgh
20. Colorado State
21. VCU
22. Georgetown
23. Marquette
24. Creighton
25. Oklahoma
26. Oregon
27. Memphis
28. Cincinnati
29. San Diego State
30. Missouri
31. Belmont
32. Minnesota
33. Akron
34. St. Louis
35. Illinois
36. Virginia
37. Wichita State
38. UNLV
39. UCLA
40. Kentucky
41. Boise State
42. La Salle
43. Ole Miss
44. Colorado
45. Indiana State
46. Iowa State
47. North Carolina
48. N C State
49. St. Mary’s
50. South Dakota St
51. Temple
52. Middle Tennessee
53. Stephen F Austin
54. Louisiana Tech
55. Valparaiso
56. Bucknell
57. Montana
58. Harvard
59. Northeastern
60. Davidson
61. Florida Gulf Coast
62. Long Beach State
63. Loyola
64. Robert Morris
65. Vermont
66. UNC-Asheville
67. North Carolina Central
68. Southern