Two more automatic bids were handed out on Monday night. UNC Greensboro, the No. 1 seed in the Southern Conference, beat No. 7 seed Mercer 69-61 to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Spartans figure to be one of the higher seeded teams from the one-bid leagues in the NCAA Tournament. I have them as a No. 13 seed as of Tuesday.
The other automatic bid went to Appalachian State in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers were the fourth seed in the East Division but beat both divisional No. 1 seeds on their way to the title. I project Appalachian State to be in the First Four against North Carolina A&T with the winner to face projected overall No. 1 Gonzaga.
You don't have to wait until the field of 68 is announced to fill out your brackets. Play Conference Bracket Challenge presented by Hertz and pick the tournaments for a $10,000 cash prize or start a pool and compete against friends. No purchase necessary, see Rules for details.
Five more bids are going out Tuesday, including the aforementioned Zags taking on BYU for the West Coast Conference title. That is the highlight game of the night and the only one involving teams of at-large quality.
Bracketology top seeds
Check out Palm's latest bracket, full field of 68 and all the teams on the bubble on the Bracketology hub.
Cleveland State finished last in the Horizon League in 2019, but they brought in Dennis Gates to be the new coach and two years later, the Vikings are the regular season champion and one game away from going back to the NCAA Tournament. Cleveland State and Gonzaga are the only conference tournament top seeds playing for titles tonight.
The Vikings have NCAA Tournament appearances in 1986 and 2009 as a No. 14 seed and a No. 13 seed respectively and the won at least one game in each tournament. They beat No. 3 seed Indiana in 1986 on their way to the Sweet 16.
They have to get through Oakland first, led by Greg Kampe in his 37th year at the helm of the Grizzlies.
The Colonial Athletic Conference was hit by COVID-19 hard late in the season. It got to the point that only half the teams were able to play in the final week of the regular season. Two of those teams will play for the conference tournament title when No. 8 seed Elon takes on No. 6 seed Drexel. The Phoenix are looking for their first ever tournament berth.
Bryant is also looking for its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance in the Northeast Conference final tonight against Mount St. Mary's. A win by the second-seeded Bulldogs might give the NEC a chance to break its streak of consecutive appearances in the First Four, which stands at seven. No. 4 seed Mount St. Mary's would probably not be so fortunate.
Finally, the Summit League saw its top two teams get beat Monday, so the title game features No. 3 seed North Dakota State take on No. 4 seed Oral Roberts. For the Bison, a win would mean a second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and third consecutive Summit League Tournament title. Oral Roberts, an Elite Eight team in 1974, is looking to make its fifth NCAA Tournament.
One major conference tournament gets underway. Play begins in Greensboro, North Carolina, where six teams, including No. 10 seed Duke, hope to begin a five-game trek to an automatic bid.
