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NCAA & NIT Auto-Bids - Bubble Buster Thread

Buffnik

Buffnik

Real name isn't Nik
Club Member
Junta Member
NCAA tournament is a 68 team field with 32 automatic bids for conference tourney champions.

NIT tournament is a 32 team field with automatic bids for any regular season conference champs that lose in their conference tourney and don't make the Dance.

Unless the Buffs make another wild run in the Pac-12 tourney this year (or all hell breaks loose with the FBI investigation and a bunch of teams become ineligible), it looks like CU is working toward an NIT bid this post-season.

We really don't want Bubble Busters this year (teams that wouldn't otherwise make the Dance that win their conference tourney to get an auto-bid, pushing the season champ to the NIT).

Here are the conferences with each champ:
ConferenceSeason ChampTournament Champ
America EastVermontUMBC
American AthleticCincinnatiCincinnati
Atlantic 10Rhode IslandDavidson
ACCVirginiaVirginia
Atlantic SunFlorida Gulf CoastLipscomb
Big 12KansasKansas
Big EastXavierVillanova
Big SkyMontanaMontana
Big SouthUNC AshevilleRadford
Big TenMichigan StateMichigan
Big WestUC DavisCS Fullerton
ColonialCharlestonCharleston
Conference USAMiddle TennesseeMarshall
HorizonNorthern KentuckyWright State
IvyHarvardPenn
Metro Atlantic AthleticRiderIona
Mid-AmericanBuffaloBuffalo
Mid-Eastern AthleticBethune-CookmanNC Central
Missouri ValleyLoyola-ChicagoLoyola-Chicago
Mountain WestNevadaSan Diego State
NortheastWagnerLIU Brooklyn
Ohio ValleyMurray StateMurray State
Pac-12ArizonaArizona
PatriotBucknellBucknell
SECAuburnKentucky
SouthernUNC GreensboroUNC Greensboro
SouthlandSE LouisianaStephen F Austin
Southwestern AthleticGramblingTexas Southern
SummitSouth Dakota StateSouth Dakota State
Sun BeltLouisianaGeorgia State
West CoastGonzagaGonzaga
Western AthleticNew Mexico StateNew Mexico State
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
 
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Buffalo clinched the MAC last night. That's a 1-bid league with a wide open conference tourney we'll need to watch.
 
I checked out a predicted NIT bracket and it does not look good for the Buffs. All of those teams jammed ahead of us in the PAC12 standings will probably keep us out unless we do some damage in the PAC12 tournament. Hopefully some of those bubble teams in the PAC sneak into the dance so we can get into the NIT.
 
I really like Tad. I think he is the best coach CU has had that I remember. But how in the furk can you not be one of the top 100 teams? 68 NCAA bids and 32 NIT and CU is going to get stoned?
 
leftybuff said:
I really like Tad. I think he is the best coach CU has had that I remember. But how in the furk can you not be one of the top 100 teams? 68 NCAA bids and 32 NIT and CU is going to get stoned?
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Some of those 98 are definitely not too 100 teams. But your point is valid.
 
aghcsm said:
Some of those 98 are definitely not too 100 teams. But your point is valid.
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True, some of the auto bids are going to the Middle Tennessee Valley Midget Conference Champ type teams, and they will be cannon fodder for some ACC team, but still....
 
leftybuff said:
True, some of the auto bids are going to the Middle Tennessee Valley Midget Conference Champ type teams, and they will be cannon fodder for some ACC team, but still....
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CU ranks #79 on RPI and #114 on KenPom. Personally, I think that KenPom starts to fail when you get down in the ranks because it seems to over-value conference schedules. Programs like Wake Forest (11-18), Vanderbilt (11-19), Ole Miss (12-17) and DePaul (11-18) are all ranked ahead of CU, for example.

So, yes, CU is among the best 98. Beyond what CU does in the next 2 weeks, getting a bid to the NIT probably comes down to whether UCLA and Washington do enough to make the NCAA tourney. Would really help if the Pac-12 puts 5 teams in the Dance and CU is the next conference team in RPI. Even placing 4 would help (Arizona, USC, ASU and UCLA/Washington).
 
Buffnik said:
CU ranks #79 on RPI and #114 on KenPom. Personally, I think that KenPom starts to fail when you get down in the ranks because it seems to over-value conference schedules. Programs like Wake Forest (11-18), Vanderbilt (11-19), Ole Miss (12-17) and DePaul (11-18) are all ranked ahead of CU, for example.

So, yes, CU is among the best 98. Beyond what CU does in the next 2 weeks, getting a bid to the NIT probably comes down to whether UCLA and Washington do enough to make the NCAA tourney. Would really help if the Pac-12 puts 5 teams in the Dance and CU is the next conference team in RPI. Even placing 4 would help (Arizona, USC, ASU and UCLA/Washington).
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Well, personally, I would like to see CU run the table in the Conf. Tourney, beat AZ with a buzzer shot in the Champ. game, then see the AZ coach taken down by an FBI arrest squad as the CU fans flood center court....
 
leftybuff said:
Well, personally, I would like to see CU run the table in the Conf. Tourney, beat AZ with a buzzer shot in the Champ. game, then see the AZ coach taken down by an FBI arrest squad as the CU fans flood center court....
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Haha. I'd rather see that over USC, tbh.
 
Goose said:
Good, because it's pretty likely that we're locked into 8/9 against ASU and facing #1 Arizona after that if we win.
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I have no issues with that-we can make a bit of a run if we can get by ASU. #APayersProgram is a disaster right now.
 
Arizona beats Stanford to win the Pac-12 regular season title.
 
Tweet that came across my timeline made me LOL. Something like “if Nebraska had brand recognition, there wouldn’t even be a question about them making the tourney.”

3DE48A13-68A1-4A68-AD36-40F24A4BBE3A.png
 
TDforTD said:
Tweet that came across my timeline made me LOL. Something like “if Nebraska had brand recognition, there wouldn’t even be a question about them making the tourney.”

View attachment 25111
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I think they've got fewer Top 50 wins than CU. There's no excuse for a Power 6 program to have such a bad schedule that it is left out for that reason instead of for its record. If the Huskers are in the NIT then Miles only has himself and the schedule he put together to blame.
 
We've got our first bubble buster.

Rider lost to Saint Peter's in the MAAC tourney.
 
leftybuff said:
I really like Tad. I think he is the best coach CU has had that I remember. But how in the furk can you not be one of the top 100 teams? 68 NCAA bids and 32 NIT and CU is going to get stoned?
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Here's a quick summary from my memory augmented with sports-reference.com, in short, it's historically been really easy for Colorado basketball to not be a top 100 team.

I remember getting interested in CU basketball with Joe Harrington and the NIT run his first year ('91). Then it looks like he didn't get back to a tournament (NIT again) until '95, he recruited Chauncey that year and resigned halfway through the next season ('96), so Joe made it two NITs in 6 seasons (I give him full credit for '96).

Ricardo Patton took over and his first full season ('97) was the Chauncey's sophmore season where the Buffs beat Indiana before losing to North Carolina in the NCAA tourney. Between then and the disaster of '07 (7-20 record) there were 4 NIT berths and 1 more NCAA berth. So in 11 seasons Ricardo had 4 NITs, 2 NCAAs and 5 seasons without a postseason tourney.

I don't recall what exactly came apart at the seams for Patton, but he left the program in about as good of condition as the football program was post Hawkins.

Bzdelik had 3 seasons with no tourneys, but he had the program on the right trajectory so Boyle had pieces to work with when he took over (Alec Burks, Corey Higgins, Austin Dufalt, Levi Knutson, Nate Tomlinson, Marcus Relphorde). I really hope Bzdelik is in another head coaching job in the NCAA again soon (if he wants it), he also made Wake Forest incrementally better each of his seasons there, but it wasn't a quick enough turn around for that program to be happy.

Boyle has gone NIT, NCAA, NCAA, NCAA, CBI, NCAA, NIT, in his 7 seasons. Pre-Tad, the Buffs found a way not to be one of the best 100 teams in the nation 60% (12/20) of the time. If the Buffs end up in the CIT/CBI this season then Boyle will fall to being 75% successful at getting to NIT or NCAA, with 2/3rds of those being NCAA.
 
Atlantic Sun and Big South conferences have completed their tourneys with bubble busters. Both will send their regular season champs to the NIT.

That's 2/32 NIT bids set.
 
We're up to 3 NIT auto-bids after LIU Brooklyn upset Wagner in the NEC final yesterday.

Also, congrats to South Dakota State for winning the Summit tourney and regular season. They were a very tough opponent when they came to Boulder this year.
 
What region will the FBI Feds be in? bada bing, bada bang! HEY OH!
 
Buffnik said:
We're up to 3 NIT auto-bids after LIU Brooklyn upset Wagner in the NEC final yesterday.

Also, congrats to South Dakota State for winning the Summit tourney and regular season. They were a very tough opponent when they came to Boulder this year.
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2nd best team Buffs played in non conference after Xavier. By a pretty wide margin. That's a team that some P5 team is not going to be happy to be facing in round 1.
 
Matin led Georgia past Missouri, 62-60. Michael Porter had little impact, but Johntay kept Missouri in it. Lots of 3s.
 
tante said:
View attachment 25144
here is a projected bracket matrix where I added the current rpi of the teams. CU is at 76
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I have a hard time seeing teams like South Dakota getting an NIT bid-unless ratings truly don't matter for ESPN. I'd think you'd much rather have a P7 team like an us or Boston College in that spot than a small school you don't have to take. UNC looks like they're capable of winning the Big Sky tourney-they whipped a bad Northern Arizona team yesterday and they're currently embarrassing Weber State. Jeff Linder has done a hell of a job there the last two years.
 
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