HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2692
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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02-15-17 01:30 AM - Post#221870
In response to bradley
The best 68 teams don't make the tournament. Often, conference champs are ranked lower, which leapfrogs lower ranked teams into those spots you seem to consider reserved for top 68 squads. For instance, there look to be roughly 20 conferences that don't have any teams rated in the top 68. Those champions - and any tournament underdog champions in the other larger school conferences - fill spots, resulting in less at large openings. I'm sure someone has historical results and can identify the ranking of the final at large slot handed out. I've got to think that ranking is somewhere around 45th to 50th or so. That's why the last at large bid often lands as an 11th/12th seed. I believe that last year KenPom #50 Michigan may have been the last at large selection, earning an 11th seed.
Thus, for the Ivies to get a second bid, the non-conference tournament winner needs to be a top 50 team, not top 68.
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