AT-LARGE (13 TEAMS/8 SLOTS)
Duke (12-2) ACC
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
1
|
9
|
2-1
|
3-1
|
5-1
|
at Jacksonville (28)
|
Virginia (11-3) ACC
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
2
|
3
|
3-3
|
3-3
|
5-3
|
—
|
Notre Dame (9-2) ACC
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
3
|
7
|
2-2
|
3-2
|
5-2
|
— |
Johns Hopkins (11-5) Big Ten
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
5
|
5
|
1-2
|
2-3
|
5-4
|
at Loyola (22)
|
Yale (9-4) Ivy League
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
7
|
15
|
0-0
|
2-2
|
4-4
|
|
Cornell (11-3) Ivy League
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
8
|
21
|
0-0
|
1-2
|
4-2
|
at Harvard (33)
|
Penn State (9-4) Big Ten
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
9
|
6
|
1-1
|
3-1
|
6-3
|
Marquette (39)
|
Denver (10-4) Big East
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
10
|
16
|
0-1
|
0-3
|
4-3
|
at Air Force (24)
|
Penn (7-6) Ivy League
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
11
|
11
|
0-1
|
2-3
|
3-5
|
at Brown (31)
|
Rutgers (8-6) Big Ten
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
12
|
10
|
0-3
|
0-4
|
3-5
|
at Ohio State (26)
|
North Carolina (7-6) ACC
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
13
|
14
|
1-3
|
1-4
|
1-4
|
Syracuse (21), at Ohio State (26)
|
Michigan (8-6) Big Ten
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
14
|
7
|
1-3
|
2-4
|
2-5
|
Marquette (39)
|
Villanova (10-5) Big East
RPI
|
SOS
|
T5
|
T10
|
T20
|
21+L
|
15
|
23
|
0-0
|
1-4
|
2-4
|
Brown (31)
|
Random tidbit: Duke is the only team in the top eight of the RPI not to lose at home this season. The Blue Devils’ losses came at Notre Dame and Jacksonville. Penn State and Denver, which sit in the top 10 heading into the weekend, also are undefeated at home. … Virginia is in the clubhouse, so its profile won’t change much in the next couple days. … Notre Dame can tack on another top-20 victory when it visits North Carolina on Saturday. …
Johns Hopkins makes a lot of sense as a No. 5 or No. 6 seed, regardless of how the weekend plays out. … Yale’s case for a home game is a lot better after its 22-15 victory over Cornell. A quick look at the profiles of the Bulldogs and the Big Red makes it hard to argue Cornell ahead of Yale, at least for now. …
Did Cornell cost itself a postseason home game with its loss to Yale? Possibly. The Big Red could find themselves on a bus to Georgetown, Johns Hopkins or Penn State next week, depending on this weekend’s results. … If it comes down to Penn State and Cornell for the last seeded spot, the Nittany Lions’ 10-6 victory in Ithaca on March 11 will be part of the conversation. So will its defeats of Hopkins, Penn and Yale. …
Count Denver among the teams pulling for the Notre Dame-Maryland-Yale parlay. Of course, the Pioneers could just take matters into their own hands and win their first Big East tournament since 2015. … A Penn victory over Princeton on Friday would have been doubly good for the Quakers, improving their own profile while sweeping aside a possible bid snatcher. Instead, it was doubly bad. Princeton plays on, and Penn needs some help. …
Rutgers is up three spots in the RPI since Sunday. The Scarlet Knights can thank victories over conference finalists in six different leagues: Loyola, Marist, Michigan, Princeton, Stony Brook and Utah. … It’s the same refrain for North Carolina: Without a victory over Notre Dame, the Tar Heels’ case for an at-large just isn’t that strong. …
Michigan is trying to become the third team to beat Maryland twice in a season in coach John Tillman’s 13-year tenure. The others: 2014 Notre Dame and 2019 Johns Hopkins. … There just isn’t quite enough on Villanova’s resume to get it into the field this season.
BRACKET
A few notes worth remembering …
* First-round conference matchups will be avoided, which can lead to some movement for the unseeded teams.
* This year marks the first season of Atlantic 10 play, while the Northeast and Southern conferences no longer sponsor the sport. That means the number of play-in games will be reduced from two to one, and the two lowest-ranked automatic qualifying teams will participate. The rankings will be determined by the committee and not specifically by the RPI.
* Limiting air travel remains a priority for the NCAA, so this won’t necessarily be a 1-through-16 bracket. Historically, the NCAA tries to bracket the field so only two teams must travel more than 400 miles for a first-round game, though it isn’t a completely inflexible rule.
* Quarterfinal host Albany would be funneled into its home site if it reaches the NCAA tournament.
* This exercise is an attempt to project what the NCAA committee would do based on its history and on this season’s results to date. It is not an attempt to predict future results or suggest what the committee should do.
Annapolis, Md.
(1) Duke vs. CAA/Delaware-MAAC/Marist
(8) BIG EAST/Georgetown vs. Cornell
Albany, N.Y.
(5) Penn State vs. PATRIOT/Army
(4) BIG TEN/Maryland vs. AMERICA EAST/Bryant
Albany, N.Y.
(3) Notre Dame vs. ATLANTIC SUN/Utah
(6) Johns Hopkins vs. IVY/Princeton
Annapolis, Md.
(7) Yale vs. Denver
(2) Virginia vs. ATLANTIC 10/Richmond
Last three in: Yale, Cornell, Denver
First three out: Penn, Michigan, North Carolina
Moving in: Army, Princeton
Moving out: Boston University, Penn
Conference call: ACC (3), Big Ten (3), Ivy (3), Big East (2)