I will start a thread here for any and all discussion of the NCAA tournament or even NIT etc. Lets start off with the bubble teams/fringe tournament teams.

There is a feel that this is going to be the year of the bubble for the very mediocre power conferences and the mids will be sent home. Unfortunately, I agree. Since the conferences realigned, it seems like the mids have fallen (mainly due to the fact all of the best and consistent ones were gobbled up to new conferences). This seems true again this year. The A10 is down and there really is not much substance from the mids this season. There are a few contenders though, should they fall during their conference tournaments

Illinois State- Big RPI numbers. Little substance. Ok SOS and ok non conference SOS. I really have not gotten a feel for if this team truly is good or not. I think the committee will send them to the NIT. The loss to Murray state (outside of the top 200) will likely be the dagger that kills this team. Since they are spiteful, they may even find a way to make them have an opening round road game. Glad the shockers won the MVC, though it likely pits them in an 8/9 game even though WSU realistically is as good as a 6 seed.

Middle Tennessee- This team screams of Drexel in 2011-2012. Good RPI numbers, ok SOS, great Non conference SOS, good enough wins (2-1 vs top 50, 4-1 vs top 100). However, I think the committee will look at 2 losses outside the top 150 and send them to the NIT should they not hold serve in the CUSA tournament. Sending this team to the NIT would be a travesty in my opinion

UT Arlington- Good RPI, Really good SOS, Very good non conference SOS. This is the type of team and schedule the committee claims they want to see from top tier mid majors. They are only 1-2 against the top 50 (tough loss @Arkansas) and another 1-1 against 51-100. Again though like Drexel in '11-'12 I think their bad conference will send them to the NIT due to the fact they have 3 losses to teams worse that rpi 150, even though all are in the top 200 (unlike MTSU's loss to UTEP). This is also a team I feel like should go dancing, but will head to the NIT should they not win the Sun Belt.

Nevada- Is the Mountain West considered mid major? Anyways, good RPI, Good SOS, not so great non conference SOS. 0-1 against the top 50 6-2 versus 51-100. 1 loss over rpi 150. I think this team is better than their numbers support, but they dont have enough big wins to overcome a deficient non conference SOS. If they dont win the mountain west, they look like NIT to me

Rhode Island- This will be an interesting team for selection sunday. Good RPI, Great SOS and fantastic non conference SOS. 2-4 vs the top 50 and 3-3 vs 51-100. 1 loss to a team just outside the top 100 (LaSalle) and 1 really really bad loss to Fordham (211). To me this is a better team to take than a .500 major conference team. They challenged themselves and won games. They lost a bunch of games, but really only have 1 bad loss. My gut says the committee will look at the Fordham loss and send them to the NIT despite having more than adequate wins, especially for a mid major. This is likely the fairest team to compare to the power conferences. I.e. a team with lots of chances and only a few wins.

WSU, UNCW, Gonzaga and St Mary's are all locks. Gonzaga has the ability to go deep, UNCW can certainly pull an upset but it will depend on matchup. St Mary's would also need the right matchup but I think they likely are going to get a higher seed and be a trendy team to get picked to be upset. WSU will have a winnable first game and likely be in the 8/9 game which means a 1 seed next. Not sure they have the ability to defeat any of the top seeds this season. Bad draw for them. 7/10 seed would be better for the shockers.