Bubble Watch Heading Into March 8th

Congratulations to Harvard, who earned the first automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament by winning at Yale. According to the Bubble Watch I've been keeping here, that makes them the 23rd team overall to clinch a place in the NCAA Tournament. That leaves 45 bids still to be handed out.

At least one more bid will be handed out on Saturday, as Belmont and Eastern Kentucky will play for the Ohio Valley title. In addition, it's likely that a few more at-large bids will be sealed. Remember that a full calendar of conference tournament action can be found here. Conference tournament previews are being filled in over time. The next batch will be posted either Sunday night or Monday morning.

The bubble remains 16 teams fighting for 8 bids. Expect the bubble to get stronger over the next week (it usually does), so no team on the bubble should feel comfortable with their position.

Teams that move up a group are colored green while teams that drop a group are colored red. Here is how the bubble stands as we head into March 8th:

Tournament locks (23 teams):
Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia, Creighton, Villanova, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Harvard, Wichita State, San Diego State, Arizona, UCLA, Florida, Kentucky

Automatic bids yet to be awarded (31, of which 22 are not projected to be won by teams currently locked into the Tournament):
AAC, America East, ACC, Atlantic Sun, A-10, Big East, Big Sky, Big South, Big Ten, Big 12, Big West, Colonial, CUSA, Horizon, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, MVC, MWC, NEC, OVC, Pac-12, Patriot, SEC, SoCon, Southland, Summit, Sun Belt, SWAC, WCC, WAC

Teams that look safe (8):
SMU, UMass, Saint Louis, VCU, Iowa, Ohio State, Kansas State, New Mexico

Teams definitely in the Tournament... for now (10):
Memphis, Pittsburgh, George Washington, Saint Joseph's, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Gonzaga

The Bubble (16 teams for 8 bids):
Clemson, Florida State,  Dayton, Georgetown, Providence, St. John's, Xavier, Minnesota, Nebraska, Toledo, California, Utah, Stanford, Arkansas, Tennessee, BYU

Best of the rest (11):
Marquette, Indiana, West Virginia, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, Green Bay, Stephen F Austin, North Dakota State, Missouri, Georgia, LSU

Long shots (14):
Maryland, NC State, Richmond, Illinois, Middle Tennessee, UTEP, Ohio, Indiana State, Boise State, UNLV, Oregon State, Washington, Mississippi, Saint Mary's