The Bracket Bouncer: Who can still get an at-large bid?

Good afternoon, BBN!

This time around we are going to look at which teams are NOT eliminated yet, since there are far more eliminated than uneliminated for an at-large berth at this point. For each conference that has an uneliminated team, listed are all the teams that are STILL ALIVE in their quest for one of the precious 36 at-large berths.

Let’s get to it.

AAC: Houston, Wichita State, SMU, Memphis

ACC: Virginia, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina, Syracuse

A-10: Richmond, VCU, Saint Louis

Big 12: Baylor, West Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas, TCU

Big East: Villanova, Creighton, Xavier, UConn, Seton Hall

Big Ten: Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Purdue, Iowa, Rutgers, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan State

Missouri Valley: Drake, Loyola Chicago

Mountain West: Utah State, Boise State, San Diego State

Ohio Valley: Belmont

Pac-12: UCLA, Oregon, USC, Arizona, and Colorado

SEC: Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, and Florida

West Coast: Gonzaga, BYU

Teams Remaining: 55

The plot has thickened in the last few weeks, as it is officially bubble season (though you can’t read John Gasaway’s Bubble Watch article anymore without an ESPN+ subscription, boohoo). Several teams got axed that used to be here, as we say an adios to Northwestern, Pittsburgh, Eastern Kentucky, and DUKE! Yessire, I’ve eliminated DUKE! They will have to win the ACC tourney to get in, joining Kentucky in the struggling blue-bloods boat. As bad as it is for Kentucky right now, the Blue Devils are going through the exact same thing, so that’s nice.

Indiana just BARELY stayed alive with a huge win over Iowa (again) last week to stay in the game. The Hoosiers are the most dare devilish of all bubble teams this year, tightroping across the .500 record line with huge wins over top-10 teams when you least expect it.

That’s all for this week! Sometime closer to March we’ll eliminate some more teams as we rumble towards Selection Sunday. Until then, go ‘Cats!