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There are more teams than ever competing for dance cards to the NCAA Tournament in 2020, and we’re here to help sort out who’s in and who’s out from the bubble.
For some help, we scoured the Internet’s bracketologists to help us predict who will be heading to a first-and-second round city, and who’s hosting an NIT game.
Saint Mary’s Gaels vs. BYU Cougars
Saint Mary’s: 25-7, 12-5 WCC. NET 31, Ken Pom 37
BYU: 24-7, 13-3 WCC. NET 9, Ken Pom 12
ESPN: SMC: No. 8 seed. BYU: No. 5 seed
CBS: SMC: No. 8 seed BYU: No. 6 seed
With the bubble running pretty clean, Saint Mary’s can feel pretty safe even with a loss here. They did split with the Cougars during the regular season, and of course due to the double-bye in the WCC, BYU comes in better rested here. Meanwhile it would probably take a win over Gonzaga in the final to get BYU into a protected seed on the Top 4 lines.
San Francisco Dons vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs
Gonzaga: 29-2, 15-1 WCC. NET 2, Ken Pom 2
ESPN: No. 1 seed
CBS: No. 1 seed
If the Zags make the final, they’re still probably a No. 1 seed in the NCAA’s thanks to the meltdown of the Baylor Bears and the loss by San Diego State in the MWC final even if they lose. But if they fell out to the Dons, there’s still a chance they would fall off the top line. A win here puts them as a 1 seed for sure.
Wofford Terriers vs. ETSU Buccaneers
ETSU: 29-4, 18-2 SoCon. NET 40, Ken Pom 56
It’s pretty simple for the Buccaneers: win and you’re in with the automatic bid. And yes there’s a chance they could lose and still find a way to the field. They are 1-1 in Quadrant 1 games with a win over LSU, and 2-1 in Q2, but it just might not be enough to get in there. Both projections have them as the auto bid for the league, but it appears on the way out if they don’t hold on today.
And of course a win for Wofford takes a bid away from another would-be at-large. And no matter what Archie Miller says, it might be him.
Everyone else
A lot smaller midmajor games today, which means win your conference tournament or you’ve got four options: NIT, CBI, CIT, or clean out your locker.