In March, 68 teams will be invited to the NCAA Men's Tournament. Each conference champion will get an automatic invitation, and a committee determines the rest.
I've established my own power rankings. This ranking below doesn't necessarily include the 68 "best" teams, but it does rank the teams that I believe have the best chance of making the tournament. It includes:
The top 50 teams in RPI.*
Any team outside of the RPI Top 50 that has at least 19 wins.
The best team (measured by overall winning percentage) in each conference.
There are 73 teams that qualify. By each team is their won-loss record the power number I've given them. If they are one of the 32 conference leaders, they are designated with a C.
Arizona 22-2, 85.5, C
Auburn 23-2, 85.4, C
Gonzaga 21-2, 82.8, C
Kentucky 21-5, 81.3
Kansas 21-4, 81.0, C
Purdue 22-4, 80.5, C
Duke 22-4, 80.5, C
Villanova 20-6, 80.3, C
Baylor 21-4, 80.1
Houston 20-4, 80.0, C
Murray St. 24-2, 79.3, C
Tennessee 19-6, 78.2
Colorado St, 20-3, 77.6, C
UCLA 17-5, 77.2,
Providence 21-3, 75.7
LSU 18-7, 75.5
South Dakota St, 23-4, 75.2, C
Texas Tech, 19-6, 74.9
USC 21-4, 74.8
Ohio 22-4, 74.7, C
Chattanooga 22-5, 74.2, C
New Mexico St, 20-4, 73.9, C
San Francisco, 21-6, 73.8
Vermont 20-5, 73.8 C
Arkansas 20-6, 73.4
St. Mary's 20-6, 73.3
Belmont 22-5,, 73.3
BYU, 19-8, 72.9
Wisconsin, 20-5, 72.7
Illinois, 18-6, 72.6
Ohio State 16-6, 72.5
Wyoming 21-4, 71.9
Boise St. 19-6, 71.9
Iona 21-5, 71.8, C
Davidson 21-4, 71.8, C
SMU 18-5, 71.8
North Texas 18-4, 71.6, C
Xavier 17-7, 71.5
UAB 19-6, 71.3
Alabama 16-9, 71.2
Michigan St., 18-7, 71.1
Toledo 20-6, 70.9
UConn 17-7, 70.8
Texas 19-7, 70.5
Loyola Chicago 19-5, 70.5, C
San Diego St, 16-6, 69.1
Missouri State 20-8, 69.0
North Carolina, 18-7, 68.9
Wake Forest 20-7, 68.8
Memphis, 15-8, 68.3
VCU, 17-7, 68.0,
Miami (Fla), 18-7, 67.9
Towson 19-7, 67.2, C
Marquette 16-9, 66.1
Hofstra, 180-9, 66.0
Montana State, 20-5, 65.4 C
Seattle 19-6, 65.2
Seton Hall 15-8, 65.0
Middle Tennessee, 17-7, 65.0
Notre Dame 18-7, 64.6
Wagner 17-3, 64.4 C
Morehead St, 19-8, 63.8
Liberty, 18-9, 63.1, C
Texas State, 17-6, 62.9, C
Norfolk State 17-5, 61.9, C
North Dakota State 19-8, 9, 61.6
Long Beach State 14-9, 61.3, C
Longwood, 19-6, 58.4 C
Princeton 17-5, 57.4 C
Cleveland State 17-7, 57.1 C
Southern, 15-10, 55.0 C
Boston U, 18-9, 52.7 C
Nicholls, 16-9, 52.3 C
*The RPI is an index that includes a team's winning's percentage, the combined winning percentage of their opponents, and the combined winning percentage of their opponents' opponents.
James Leroy Wilson writes The MVP Chase, Daily Miracles, The Daily Bible Chapter, and JL Cells. Thanks for your subscriptions and support!