Auto-Bid Watch: Losers Who Win

Every year, the low-majors drive college basketball fans insane. A team with a losing record gets hot at the right time and wins the conference tournament, knocking superior teams out of the limelight, and often entering the NCAA tournament with an overall losing record. And as much as we all deride the play-in game, at least we now have a place to stash these teams nobody wants to see. Of course, in 2005, 12-18 (9-18 when they started their improbable run through the Mid-Con tourney) Oakland took down the 18-13 Alabama A&M Bulldogs and played UNC as a 16-seed, so no system is proof against the vicissitudes of fate.

Right now, we have no way of knowing if any truly horrible teams will make a conference tourney run and make the dance, but we can begin to see that some teams with horrible non-con records are playing well in the early conference season. Here's a look at some of those teams that could have us scratching our collective heads come the ides of March.

Delaware Blue Hens, 5-7 (2-0) CAA: Our resident CAA expert Michael Litos tells me Delaware coach Monte Ross (best wiki entry ever) is a great guy, which reminds me of this quote from Swingers: "I don't want you to be the guy in the PG-13 movie everyone's *really* hoping makes it happen. I want you to be like the guy in the rated R movie, you know, the guy you're not sure whether or not you like yet. You're not sure where he's coming from. Okay? You're a bad man." And in conference so far, Ross is being that bad man, with wins over Towson and William & Mary. Hmmm... on second thought, he's going to need to get a lot more R-rated before he gets to @George Mason and @VCU.

Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns, 6-7 (3-0) Sun Belt: The central Louisiana residents of intemperate disposition went on an epic six-game losing streak from November 16th-December 16th, when they rebounded with a win over Louisiana-Monroe to start the conference season right. New Orleans and Bo McCalebb come to town next, so this streak could end abruptly.

Denver Pioneers, 6-7 (2-0) Sun Belt: DU has lost every road game they've played all season, so this two-game upswing is also in serious jeopardy.

Davidson Wildcats, 5-6 (3-0) Southern: We all know how Davidson got here, playing a rough non-conference schedule of their own making. The early returns from the SoCon indicate that perhaps the boot camp ass-kicking is paying some dividends. An early win at challenger App State is a good sign. Obviously, they are in no danger of being in the play-in game - for Davidson, it's going to be NCAA or NIT, with no in-between.

Quinnipiac Bobcats, 6-7 (2-0) NEC: Count me amongst the few who think Da Q is building a future NEC powerhouse by hiring a top UConn assistant and giving him a beautiful new building to pitch to recruits. Still, this season's tour of New England doesn't bode well for their current prospects. Losses to Brown, Maine, Cornell, and Vermont are balanced by dominating wins over the Saint Francis twins - one in NY, one in PA, both in the NEC.

Sacred Heart Pioneers, 5-8 (2-0) NEC: More Pioneers. These guys lost their first six in a row, but showed some Heart (get it?) by winning their first two NEC games on the road. What this means for their future prospects, I have no clue.

So this list proves, scientifically and conclusively, that the play-in game in 2008 is very, very likely to contain either a Sun Belt team, an NEC team, or a team nicknamed the Pioneers. Mark it in your date book.