CONFERENCES WITH AT LEAST FOUR BIDS

Big East (8): Louisville, Georgetown, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Villanova, Cincinnati

Big Ten (7): Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota

Atlantic 10 (5): St. Louis, VCU, Butler, Temple, La Salle

Mountain West (5): New Mexico, Colorado State, UNLV, San Diego State, Boise State

Big 12 (5): Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Oklahoma

Pacific-12 (5): UCLA, Arizona, Oregon, California, Colorado

ACC (4): Miami, Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State

Cut down!

Five teams on the wrong side of the tournament bubble:

Kentucky: The defending NCAA champs were done in by a weak SEC, a loss to Vanderbilt in the conference tournament and a 7-9 record against the RPI top 100 (14-2 against the rest).

Southern Miss: A 25-9 record and 31 RPI weren't enough for this Conference USA squad. The Golden Eagles are proof that good wins matter a lot. They had zero against RPI top 50 teams.

Maryland: The Terrapins, conversely, are proof big wins (Duke twice, N.C. State) don't mean everything. A 305 nonconference strength of schedule killed them.

Virginia: Had some big wins (Duke, North Carolina, Wisconsin) but seven losses to teams below 100 in the RPI sealed Cavaliers' fate.

Iowa: Hawkeyes would have made things interesting with Big Ten tournament win over Michigan State. But it was just another loss (0-6) against an RPI top 25 team, the story of their season.