The Big Ten and American Athletic Conference finished up their regular seasons on Sunday and announced their conference tournament brackets. Purdue is the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten after finishing a perfect season at Mackey Arena with a 78-70 win over Wisconsin. The Boilermakers are still the overall No. 1 seed in the bracket today.
South Florida is the top seed in the AAC Tournament but probably has to win it to play in the Big Dance. The Bulls went 16-2 in conference play but just 7-4 in nonconference play, which included Quad 4 losses to Maine and Central Michigan at home. Their nonconference SOS is 319th this morning and their overall SOS is 181st. You need to have a gaudy record to overcome that.
Also not helping the Bulls is the fact that they played FAU and Memphis once each, although they won both games. They could face both again in the conference tournament.
In the Missouri Valley, Drake beat Indiana State 84-80 to win the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It's a tough blow for the top-seeded Sycamores, who were eyeing their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2011. Now, their chances for an at-large bid are extremely slim. They took a couple of bad losses during the week they were ranked in the polls and probably have not done enough otherwise to get in the field. There is some hope, though: In 2019, Belmont got an at-large bid with a notably worse tournament résumé than the one Indiana State has this season.
Michigan State is back on bubble following a 65-64 loss at Indiana. The Spartans dropped to 18-13 on the season and will be the 8-seed in the Big Ten Tournament. They will face Minnesota and could have a nervous Selection Sunday if they fall to the Gophers. A win gives Sparty another shot at Purdue.
The 7/10 game in the Big Ten tourney features bubble teams Iowa and Ohio State. It is possible that both teams will miss the NCAA Tournament, but the loser certainly will. The winner will face Illinois with a chance at a high-quality win.
The two other Big Ten bubble teams, Nebraska and Northwestern, received double byes as the 3-seed and 4-seed, respectively.
There are two conference championship games today. Top seed Samford takes on 7-seed East Tennessee State for the Southern Conference Tournament title. James Madison, the 2-seed in the Sun Belt Tournament, goes against 4-seed Arkansas State for the championship. You may recall that the Dukes started the season with a win at Michigan State; however, a win today is their only path to the NCAA Tournament.
Check out Palm's latest bracket, Bubble Watch and full field of 68 at the Bracketology hub.
Bracketology top seeds
Check out Palm's latest bracket, Bubble Watch and full field of 68 at the Bracketology hub.
