March Madness Preview: Bid Stealers

With the NCAA Tournament approaching in these upcoming weeks, let's take a look at what to expect going in. Last season brought us a unique tournament, where we saw five bid stealers win conference titles to sneak into the tournament. Along with those, were many upsets throughout the tournament. In the first round, we witnessed: Yale, Grand Canyon, James Madison, NC State, Oakland, and Oregon come out with upset victories as double digit seeds. The most notable of the bid stealers and upsets, was the run that NC State went on. Winning the ACC and entering the tournament as an 11 seed, the Wolfpack found their rhythm all the way to the Final Four. This is a prime example of what March Madness brings to the table.

As the conference tournaments get started this week and next, the field will start to become more telling.

Going into this season, we could easily see a similar story to last season as there is gaining parity in the game. There could surely be a plethora of bid stealers for yet another year.

Potential Bid Stealers:

AAC - North Texas, UAB

A-10 - George Mason, Loyola Chicago, St. Joes

ACC - North Carolina

Big East - Villanova

Big West - UC Irvine

Mountain West - Boise St, Colorado St

WCC - San Fransisco

If any of these teams were to win their conference tournaments, they would most likely be stealing a bid from a bubble team. Of course we could see another NC State case this season, but it is rare in these major conferences. These will be key to what bubble teams will be in and out. If you are rooting for a bubble team, I would hope they perform well in their conference tournament, and root for the favorites in the bid stealer tournaments. Once the tournaments finish up on Selection Sunday, we will be able to gage which major teams are thriving, and which mid majors are primed for a classic March Madness upset.