Here is my Field of 68, through games of February 24, 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): Stony Brook
ACC (5): Miami, North Carolina State, Duke, North Carolina, Virginia
Atlantic Sun (1): Mercer
Atlantic Ten (5): Butler, Virginia Commonwealth, La Salle, Saint Louis, Temple
Big East (8): Syracuse, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Villanova
Big Sky (1): Montana
Big South (1): Charleston Southern
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): Norfolk State
Missouri Valley (2): Creighton, Wichita State
Mountain West (5): New Mexico, UNLV, Colorado State, San Diego State, Boise State
Northeast (1): Robert Morris
Ohio Valley (1): Belmont
Pac 12 (5): Oregon, Arizona, UCLA, Colorado, California
Patriot (1): Bucknell
SEC (3): Florida, 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: Virginia, Boise State, Kentucky, St Mary’s
First four out: Maryland, Iowa, Arizona State, Tennessee
Others considered: St. John’s, Southern Miss, Indiana State, Northern Iowa, Arkansas
A few notes about this week’s field:
There were not too may changes in this week’s field from last week’s, all things considered. Maryland ended up being the very last team out of the field, as it came down to the Terps and Boise State for the final spot. In the end, Boise State’s ability to get more road wins was the difference.
Northern Iowa and Arkansas both lost games this week to drop from my First Four Out down to Others Considered, though I still believe both teams are worth keeping an eye on. Tennessee took a step up after a 4OT win over Texas A&M, but still has a lot of work to do if they want to make the field. Kentucky did make it in after beating Missouri, though that win is not overly impressive given that Missouri has been dreadful on the road all season.
Saint Mary’s also picked up their best win on the season so far by beating Creighton, though the BlueJays are not as solidly in the field as they used to be anymore. The Gaels cannot afford any slip-ups before the WCC title game, and even then, that might not be enough.
Finally, here is my S-Curve of the 68 teams:
1. Indiana
2. Duke
3. Gonzaga
4. Miami
5. Michigan
6. Michigan State
7. Florida
8. Kansas
9. Georgetown
10. Louisville
11. Arizona
12. Syracuse
13. Kansas State
14. New Mexico
15. Oklahoma State
16. Wisconsin
17. Marquette
18. Colorado State
19. Memphis
20. Saint Louis
21. Ohio State
22. Pittsburgh
23. VCU
24. Butler
25. UCLA
26. Illinois
27. UNLV
28. Notre Dame
29. Oregon
30. Akron
31. North Carolina
32. Oklahoma
33. Wichita State
34. Minnesota
35. San Diego State
36. California
37. Colorado
38. Creighton
39. North Carolina State
40. La Salle
41. Cincinnati
42. Villanova
43. Missouri
44. Temple
45. Belmont
46. Iowa State
47. Middle Tennessee
48. Virginia
49. Kentucky
50. Saint Mary’s
51. Boise State
52. Louisiana Tech
53. Valparaiso
54. Stephen F. Austin
55. Davidson
56. Harvard
57. Montana
58. South Dakota State
59. Bucknell
60. Northeastern
61. Long Beach State
62. Loyola
63. Mercer
64. Stony Brook
65. Charleston Southern
66. Robert Morris
67. Southern
68. Norfolk State