Automatic Qualifiers (9)
Updated Saturday 5/5/18 at 11:00 a.m. ET
|
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5W
|
T10
|
T20
|
26+ L
|
Maryland |
1 |
3 |
1-1 |
3-1 |
8-2 |
— |
Albany |
2 |
25 |
1-1 |
1-1 |
4-1 |
UMBC (42) |
Yale |
4 |
14 |
1-0 |
1-0 |
4-2 |
— |
Loyola |
6 |
17 |
0-1 |
1-2 |
3-3 |
— |
Denver |
8 |
19 |
0-2 |
0-2 |
3-2 |
— |
UMass |
23 |
48 |
0-2 |
0-2 |
0-2 |
Harvard (29), Army (39) |
Saint Joseph’s |
30 |
61 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
1-0 |
St. John’s (43), Providence (45), Fairfield (49) |
Richmond |
31 |
40 |
0-2 |
0-3 |
1-3 |
UMBC (42), Furman (56) |
Detroit Mercy |
44 |
63 |
0-1 |
0-1 |
0-2 |
Jacksonville (34), Quinnipiac (52), Air Force (55) |
Maryland will likely end up at No. 1 in strength of schedule by the end of the weekend. It’s more clear than ever a victory over Johns Hopkins gets the Terrapins the top seed. … It took Albany more than three quarters to pull away from UMass Lowell in the America East semifinals. Plenty of borderline teams will be rooting for the Great Danes to have an easier time of it Saturday against Vermont. …
Book a game off Cold Spring Lane for Loyola next weekend. Last night did nothing to imperil the Greyhounds’ chances of earning a first-round home game. … Yale trucked Penn in the Ivy League semifinals. The Bulldogs have outscored opponents 109-46 on their six-game winning streak and are a victory away from a sixth Ivy League tournament title in seven years. …
Denver is playing for a first-round home game against Georgetown in Saturday’s Big East final. … UMass hosts Towson in the Colonial final. The Minutemen won the first game 8-4, so declaring it a first-to-five-wins sort of game isn’t much of an exaggeration. …
The Northeast Conference is guaranteed of sending a team to its first NCAA tournament appearance. Finalists Saint Joseph’s and Robert Morris have never been. … Richmond had to like seeing its Southern Conference title game opponent Jacksonville need overtime to dispatch High Point. The Spiders had little trouble handling Furman in the first semifinal. … Detroit Mercy enters the projected field after Metro Atlantic top seed Quinnipiac lost to Canisius in the semifinals. Whoever wins is a near-lock to go on the road in the play-in game.
At-Large Bids (15 teams/8 spots)
|
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5W
|
T10
|
T20
|
26+ L
|
Notre Dame |
3 |
2 |
1-2 |
4-3 |
5-3 |
— |
Duke |
5 |
6 |
1-1 |
4-2 |
4-3 |
— |
Johns Hopkins |
7 |
8 |
0-1 |
2-2 |
5-3 |
— |
Virginia |
9 |
3 |
0-3 |
2-5 |
3-5 |
— |
Syracuse |
10 |
1 |
2-1 |
2-2 |
3-6 |
— |
Villanova |
12 |
15 |
101 |
102 |
304 |
Brown (33) |
Rutgers |
13 |
12 |
0-2 |
1-3 |
2-4 |
Princeton (28), Army (39) |
Cornell |
14 |
20 |
0-2 |
1-2 |
3-2 |
Princeton (28), Colgate (40) |
Bucknell |
15 |
29 |
1-0 |
2-0 |
2-2 |
Richmong (31), Boston U. (32) |
Navy |
16 |
21 |
0-2 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
Lehigh (27), Jacksonville (34) |
Ohio State |
17 |
7 |
1-1 |
1-4 |
2-5 |
Towson (26) |
Georgetown |
18 |
27 |
0-0 |
0-2 |
2-2 |
Drexel (37) |
Vermont |
19 |
58 |
0-1 |
0-2 |
0-2 |
Stony Brook (36) |
Penn State |
20 |
12 |
0-1 |
1-1 |
3-4 |
— |
North Carolina |
22 |
9 |
1-2 |
2-5 |
2-5 |
Richmond (31), Hofstra (41) |
Notre Dame is looking at something in the 4-6 range in terms of seeding so long as it beats Army on Saturday. … Duke’s likely seed range is 2-4 if it can handle Boston University on Sunday. … Johns Hopkins probably sewed up a home game in the NCAA tournament with its victory over Ohio State. The Blue Jays could end up in the 4-6 seeding range with a victory over Maryland, perhaps higher with some help. …
It turns out there was basically no RPI penalty for Virginia tied to a midweek game against VMI. It helped that none of the borderline teams actually won Thursday. The Cavaliers will be a tournament team in coach Lars Tiffany’s second season. … Thursday’s results were also great for Penn, but it needs to beat Yale on Friday to avoid a losing record and retain any chance at an at-large.
Looking at the last two or three spots, it’s increasingly difficult to see Villanova left out despite its loss to Georgetown in the Big East semifinals. Nonetheless, the Wildcats are definitely rooting for Albany, Denver and Yale over the next few days. … Syracuse probably gets in even with a loss to Colgate, but the Orange would be wise not to chance it. …
Rutgers needed a victory over Maryland to get something especially notable on the board. It didn’t happen. … Thursday’s biggest winner might have been Bucknell. Those two high-end road victories (Yale and Loyola) look better and better. … Cornell remained in the hunt for a bid after silencing Brown 7-4 behind Christian Knight’s 19 saves. The Big Red gets Yale in Sunday’s Ivy final — a game it probably needs to squeeze into the field. ... Penn is no longer listed. At 7-8 after Friday’s ugly 21-6 loss to Yale, the Quakers are ineligible for selection.
The notorious “eye test” is not in the selection criteria, which is a shame for Ohio State. The Buckeyes are probably the most dangerous team of the bunch vying for the last few spots. … Georgetown’s bounceback season continued with a second victory over Villanova, but the Hoyas still need to win the Big East to get in. … Ditto with Vermont in the America East. … It’s not happening for Penn State or North Carolina, though both would have had interesting cases with one more notable victory.
PROJECTED BRACKET
A few reminders on piecing together the bracket:
-
The committee seeds the top eight teams and then assigns the unseeded teams based on geography in an attempt to limit air travel while trying to maintain bracket integrity.
-
Conference matchups are to be avoided in the first round.
-
If applicable, quarterfinal host schools are funneled into their own site. Hofstra and Navy are this year’s quarterfinal hosts.
-
Of the nine automatic qualifiers, the two with the weakest resumes are assigned to the preliminary round game the Wednesday before the first round. At-large teams are not selected for play-in games.
Annapolis, Md.
(1) BIG TEN/Maryland vs. SOUTHERN/Richmond-METRO ATLANTIC/Detroit Mercy
(8) BIG EAST/Denver vs. Syracuse
Hempstead, N.Y.
(5) AMERICA EAST/Albany vs. Bucknell
(4) Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
Hempstead, N.Y.
(3) IVY/Yale vs. COLONIAL/UMass
(6) PATRIOT/Loyola vs. Villanova
Annapolis, Md.
(7) Johns Hopkins vs. Virginia
(2) Duke vs. NORTHEAST/Saint Joseph’s
Last four in: Virginia, Villanova, Ohio State, Bucknell
First four out: Cornell, Rutgers, Penn State, Navy
Multi-bid conferences: Atlantic Coast (4), Big Ten (3), Big East (2), Patriot (2)
Moving in: Bucknell
Moving out: Penn