Editor's note: Teams preceded by their conference name are expected to win their league's automatic bid.
March 22/Knoxville, Tenn.
(1) Tennessee vs. (16) ATLANTIC SUN/Central Florida
(8) Xavier vs. (9) Illinois
March 22/Albuquerque, N.M.
(5) Rutgers vs. (12) New Mexico
(4) Texas vs. (13) MAC/Toledo
March 23/University Park, Pa.
(3) Penn State vs. (14) PATRIOT/Holy Cross
(6) Arkansas vs. (11) Saint Joseph's
March 22/Boulder, Colo.
(7) Colorado vs. (10) BYU
(2) North Carolina vs. (15) CAA/Delaware
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TEAM
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THUMBS UP
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THUMBS DOWN
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1. Tennessee
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No. 1 RPI, No. 1 SOS
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Three losses (Duke, UConn, Texas)
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2. North Carolina
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Eight-game win streak
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No. 33 SOS
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3. Penn State
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10 RPI Top 50 wins
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One sub-100 RPI loss
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4. Texas
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10-1 conference record
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No. 43 SOS
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5. Rutgers
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No. 18 in SOS
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1-4 vs. RPI Top 25
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6. Arkansas
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7-4 on road/neutral sites
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One sub-100 RPI loss
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7. Colorado
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8-2 on road/neutral sites
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No. 77 in SOS
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8. Xavier
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Nine RPI Top 100 wins
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0-1 vs. RPI Top 25
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9. Illinois
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No. 2 in SOS
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6-6 league record
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10. BYU
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Beat then-No. 12 Texas
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5-7 on road/neutral sites
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11. Saint Joseph's
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No. 28 in SOS
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0-4 vs. RPI Top 25
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12. New Mexico
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No. 42 RPI
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2-7 vs. RPI Top 100
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Note: SOS refers to strength of schedule; CollegeRPI.com used as reference; teams expected to be invited solely by virtue of their conference's automatic bid are not included in this analysis.
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Charlie Creme was a writer and editor at Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook for 11 years. Click here to send him a question about his bracket projections.