Context Alert!
Here are the teams that received the automatic bids last year.
Quote:
Big Sky: Eastern Washington
Big West: UC Irvine
CAA: Hofstra
Horizon League: Youngstown State
Ivy: Yale
MAC: Toledo
Missouri Valley: Bradley
Ohio Valley: Morehead State
Sun Belt: Southern Miss
SWAC: Alcorn State
WAC: Utah Valley
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And the teams that would have received automatic bids using the 2024 criteria.
Quote:
ACC: Clemson, Virginia Tech (North Carolina declined an invitation)
Big 12: Oklahoma State, Texas Tech
Big East: Villanova, Seton Hall
Big Ten: Rutgers, Ohio State
Pac-12: Oregon, Colorado
SEC: Florida, Vanderbilt
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I am not sure how significant this will be tbh. This policy only became a rule in 2017 from what I can tell so this is not breaking with longstanding tradition. All of the schools that would have gotten automatic bids in 2024 made the tournament in 2023 with the exception of Texas Tech which was 16-16 (5-13 Big 12) and Ohio State which was 16-19 (5-15 Big Ten). I get why it sucks for the mid major schools but maybe Texas Tech or Ohio State would be too embarrassed to take the invitation in the same way UNC did last year.
I mean the semis and finals are not even going to be in MSG this year. It will be held in Hinkle Fieldhouse on the Butler campus in Indianapolis. WTH?
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"The blind soldier fought for me in this war. The least I can do now is fight for him. I have eyes. He hasn’t. I have a voice on the radio, he hasn’t. I was born a white man. And until a colored man is a full citizen, like me, I haven’t the leisure to enjoy the freedom that colored man risked his life to maintain for me. I don’t own what I have until he owns an equal share of it. Until somebody beats me and blinds me, I am in his debt."- Orson Welles August 11, 1946
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