The Breitbart Sports exclusive “Middle 50” ranks the teams not in the AP top 25, but fighting for the final 25 spots in the NCAA tournament (26th to 50th below). The 51st through 75th ranked teams below are desperate to get into the NCAA tournament, but are in position to take NIT bids not claimed by regular season conference winners. Right now Alec Brown (pictured courtesy of Green Bay Athletics) has the Phoenix at 49th just ahead of teams like Providence for a final bid if they do not win the Horizon League.
Based on our rankings, the 26th through 50th placed teams below would make the NCAA based on about 18 teams getting an automatic bid even though they are not really one of the best 68 teams in the country. That covers the 13- through 16-seeded teams. Breitbart Sports ranks Harvard (Ivy League) and Green Bay 47th and 49th, indicating we believe they should sneak in even if they do not win their Leagues. However, this is actually impossible for Harvard since the Ivy League bases the NCAA bid on the regular season, and if Harvard lost their final two to drop out of first in the Ivy, they would also definitely drop out of the top 50 and into the NIT (51st to 75th).
| Rnk | Likely NCAA teams | Notes on opportunities |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Ohio St | 7-8 since 15-0 start with just Sat home game vs Michigan St |
| 27 | UCLA | will be high seed – at Washington (Thu), Wash St. (Sat) |
| 28 | VCU | Saturday’s win vs. St. Louis puts in solid shape |
| 29 | Texas | Lost 3 of last 4, but all tough opponents |
| 30 | Arizona St | chance to improve seed Tues at Oregon |
| 31 | Gonzaga | (auto NIT) finished with demolishion of St. Mary’s on Sat |
| 32 | Massachusetts | closes at home vs. St. Louis Sat |
| 33 | Oklahoma St | Now safe after Mon blowout of K-State, Sat win over Kansas |
| 34 | Kansas St | wants win vs. Baylor Sat after being blown out by OKSt. Mon |
| 35 | George Washington | need home win Wed vs. St. Joes after 3-4 February |
| 36 | Pittsburgh | bad home loss Mon to NCState adds pressure at Clemson Sat |
| 37 | Stanford | just needs 1 with Colorado (Wed), Utah (Sat) coming to town |
| 38 | Xavier | bad loss at Seton Hall Mon offset by upset of Creighton Sat |
| 39 | BYU | finished 8-1 including beating Gonzaga |
| 40 | Baylor | need at least 1 win between Tue Iowa St and Sat K-State |
| 41 | Colorado | needs to rebound after consecutive double digit losses |
| 42 | California | needs to close with at least 1 win vs Utah (Wed), Colorado (sat) |
| 43 | Southern Miss | finale at Tulane to try to finish with 5 straight wins |
| 44 | Tennessee | winnable games at Aub (Wed), Mizzou (Sat) |
| 45 | Minnesota | 3-7 finish with only Penn State left (Sunday) |
| 46 | Arkansas | winnable games Wed (Miss), Sat (at Ala) could give 7-0 finish |
| 47 | HARVARD | in now, but losses at Yale and Brown Fri/Sat would mean NIT |
| 48 | Oregon | hosting Arizona and Arizona St. after 5-game win streak |
| 49 | GREEN BAY | (NIT guar) 4-2 vs kenpom top 100 including beating Virginia |
| 50 | Dayton | may need upset at St. Louis Wednesday |
Providence, Florida State and St. John’s are all scrambling to move up just a couple of spots to claim an NCAA bid. It would probably take conference tournament wins to get many of the 51st to 75th place teams into the tournament, but right now these teams all look like they are in solid position to go the the NIT tournament even if they do not get the NCAA bid:
| Rnk | NIT Likely teams | Chance to move up to NCAA |
|---|---|---|
| 51 | Providence | may need upset at Creighton Sat to go NCAA |
| 52 | Florida St | Close at home against Syracuse for shot |
| 53 | St. John’s | at Marquette Saturday last game to make statement |
| 54 | Nebraska | win at Indiana Wed or vs. Wisconsin Sunday gives them shot |
| 55 | Utah | closes with games at Cal and Stanford – 2 upsets give a chance |
| 56 | Louisiana Tech | won at Oklahoma in OT earlier in season, but prob. not enough |
| 57 | NORTH DAKOTA St | (NIT guar) at Notre Dame was only big win |
| 58 | Missouri | at Tennessee to close season Saturday |
| 59 | Marquette | must wins at Prov Tues, vs. St. John’s for a chance/swept Gtown |
| 60 | Georgetown | big upset Tue vs. Creighton or at Villanova Sat gives chance |
| 61 | BELMONT | (NIT guar) will hope road wins at UNC and Middle Tennessee enough |
| 62 | Indiana | wins at Iowa, OSU give chance if they win Sat at Michigan |
| 63 | LSU | 3-5 since beating Kentucky, Arkansas at home |
| 64 | West Virginia | closes at Oklahoma Wed and vs. Kansas |
| 65 | TOLEDO | respectable 10-pt loss at Kansas only gave vs kenpom top 50 |
| 66 | Illinois | beating Michigan Tues and at Iowa Sat would be 5 straight |
| 67 | Richmond | 2 straight losses mean need wins vs VCU Thur, at Dayton Sat |
| 68 | Southern Miss | La Tech at home only big win |
| 69 | Boise St | 4-1 streak included win over New Mexico |
| 70 | Georgia | even win at LSU Sat would not be nearly enough |
| 71 | Clemson | close at home vs Pitt |
| 72 | Washington | even a sweep of UCLA, USC at home probably not enough |
| 73 | Saint Mary’s | blown out at home vs. Gonzaga to end hopes |
| 74 | St. Bonaventure | 3-game losing streak ended hopes |
| 75 | Ohio | losses to Buffalo, Kent State ended hopes |
Florida Gulf Coast, High Point, NC Central and Robert Morris are not in the top 100, but have already clinched at least a spot in the NIT tournament by winning their regular season conference title. Here are the final 25 teams fighting to sneak into the NIT unless they win their conference tournament to go to the NCAA.
76. Indiana St
77. San Francisco
78. Texas A&M
79. UNLV
80. Oregon St
81. Manhattan
82. Middle Tennessee
83. STEPHEN F. AUSTIN (NIT guar)
84. Cleveland St
85. UTEP
86. GEORGIA ST (NIT Guar)
87. Western Michigan
88. IONA (NIT guar)
89. DELAWARE (NIT Guar)
90. VERMONT (NIT Guar)
91. Boston University
92. NC State
93. Missouri St
94. Purdue
95. Akron
96. Maryland
97. Eastern Michigan
98. New Mexico State
99. Vanderbilt
100. DAVIDSON (NIT Guar)
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