Automatic Bids & Top 25

The Automatic Bids for March Madness are finally in place. It is arguable that some of the top 25 teams did not really have any incentive to win their respective conference tournaments but that does not diminish the value of earning an automatic bid into the NCAA Championship tournament starting March 17th.

So without further adieu, here are the 2009 Conference Champions:

1. Cornell (Ivy League)
2. Purdue (Big 10)
3. Duke (ACC)
4. Tennesse (SEC)
5. Akron (MAC)
6. Alabama State (SWAC)
7. Utah (Mountain West)
8. Temple (Atlantic 10)
9. Stephen F. Austin (Southland)
10. CS Northridge (Big West)
11. Missouri (Big 12)
12. Morgan State (MEAC)
13. Memphis (Conference-USA)
14. Utah St. (WAC)
15. Louisville (Big East)
16. Binghampton (American East)
17. Northern Iowa (Mississippi Valley)
18. East Tennessee St. (Atlantic Sun)
19. Robert Morris (NEC)
20. Morehead St. (Ohio Valley)
21. Portland St. (Big Sky)
22. American U (Patriot)
23. Radford (Big South)
24. Chattanooga (Southern)
25. VCU (Colonial)
26. North Dakota State (Summit)
27. West Kentucky (Sun Belt)
28. Cleveland St. (Horizon)
29. Gonzaga (West Coast)
30. Siena (MAAC)
31. USC (Pac-10)

* Notable performances: Duke, USC, Louisville and, Stephen F. Austin.

That fills 31 out of the 65 spots available for March Madness. In order to fill out the remaining 34 spots it is best to note the top 25 teams which did not win their conferences as they will be in the Tournament:

32. U. North Carolina
33. Pittsburgh
34. U. Connecticut
35. Oklahoma
36. Michigan State
37. Wake Forest
38. Villanova
39. Kansas
40. Washington
41. UCLA
42. Butler
43. Clemson
44. Syracuse
45. Xavier
46. LSU
47. Marquette
48. Florida State U.
49. Arizona St.
50. BYU

* Notables: UNC, Pittsburgh, UConn and Kansas

That leaves 15 more spots for teams like:
Illinois, California, Texas, Boston College, Creighton, Minnesota, Ohio State and California.

The final announcement should be made soon by the NCAA Committee. Right now one thing is for sure though, this year's tournament is going to be CRAZY!




Smashmauf!