Auto-Bid Watch: 1/25/2008

From January to March, Auto-Bid watch will keep an eye on which teams are heading into conference tourney-time with a good shot at locking up the auto-bid. Using conference RPI ratings, we focus on the middle of the pack, trying to sort contenders from pretenders.

1. ACC
2. Pac 10
3. Big East
4. Big 12
5. SEC
6. Big 10
7. Atlantic 10
8. Missouri Valley
9. Mountain West
10. Horizon

11. Conference-USA: Memphis up top, at 5-0, but UCF (4-0) and Houston (3-0) are hanging tough. The latter two teams meet in Florida on Feb. 2nd. Memphis will be hosting Gonzaga OOC on Saturday, followed by a trip to Houston.

12. West Coast Conference: Gonzaga 4-0 and Saint Mary's 3-0. The two WCC powerhouses don't meet until Feb. 4, and the Zags will visit Memphis in the meantime.

13. Mid-American: Kent State and Akron are keeping pace in the East, at 4-1 apiece, though the first head-to-head was won by the Flashes. The next one in that rivalry takes place in early March. In the meantime, the Flashes take on Western Michigan on Sunday, a school that leads the West division, also at 4-1.

14. Colonial: VCU is the clear class of the Association, sitting at 7-1 with some good wins. Behind them is a knot of 6-2 teams that might beat each other into submission and leave the Rams on top of the mountain.

15. Sun Belt: Coach Ronnie Arrow is back after building a program in Corpus Christi, and he's rolling. South Alabama is clearly the best team in the Sun Belt, at 8-0. The only scary thing left on their schedule is a Feb. 21 date at 7-1 Western Kentucky.

16. Southern: Appalachian State and Chattanooga share the North (of the Southern?) at 7-2, but Davidson has dominated all comers, garnering a pretty 10-0 record in the South (of the Southern).

17. Metro Atlantic: Logjammin'. Rider, Marist, and Siena each have winning overall records and a 7-2 league mark. The presence of fringe NBA prospect Jason Thompson (19ppg, 11rpg, 3bpg) might give Rider the edge. The Broncs will get to test that theory on January 30th, when they travel to Marist.

18. Western Athletic: Utah State is still in command with a 5-0 mark.

19. Big West: Observers have freaked out about Northridge's loss to craptastic Indie Chicago State, which had no effect on the Matadors' perfect 5-0 mark in the Big West. However, a look in the rearview mirror shows Pacific gaining fast at 5-1. The Tigers lost the road half of this series, and look to get revenge and move to the top of the standings in the return date February 7th.

20. Patriot: The Lafayette Leopards are kings here, at 4-0. Right behind them are American and Bucknell at 3-1 apiece.

21. Southland - Lamar 3-1, with four others at 3-2.
22. Ivy - Cornell and Yale 1-0 with very few league games in the books.
23. Summit - Oral Roberts at 8-0 is too good for this conference.
24. Big Sky - Northern Arizona and Weber State tied at 5-1.
25. Northeast - Wagner and Quinnipiac at 6-1.
26. Big South - UNC-Asheville and Big Kenny go 4-0, with Winthrop one back.
27. America East - Binghamton matches UMBC's 5-2, and has beat them once.
28. Mid Eastern - Hampton 4-0, Morgan State and Norfolk State 4-1 each.
29. Atlantic Sun - Jacksonville builds a lead at 5-0.
30. Ohio Valley - Let's Go Peay! Govs at 9-1 after last night.
31. Independents - No bid, but as long as they out-RPI the SWAC, they stay.
32. Southwestern - Kickingstallionsims and company take 'Bama State to 4-1.