Championship Week 2

Monday is in the books.  Six more days to go until the dance.  Nine more teams saw their dreams dashed, four got automatic bids, one is now considered an at large lock, and two were added to the Zombie list.  Here is the quick breakdown from Monday's action.

DEAD COLUMN
Mid American - Miami, Oh, Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Bowling Green
Sun Belt - Arkansas State, Denver
Metro Atlantic - Fairfield
Southern - Western Carolina
Summit - Southern Utah

AUTO BIDS
Colonial - Virginia Commonwealth (Hoping to repeat their Final Four run)
Metro Atlantic - Loyola, MD (24-8 this year, team plays hard, good coach)
West Coast - St. Mary's (Great win over Gonzaga.  This team will be in the Sweet Sixteen.)
Southern - Davidson (Dominated their conference this year.  Will be a tough out like usual.)

AT LARGE LOCK
West Coast - Gonzaga (Once again will be a tough out in the dance.  Probably a better team than the one's they have had in recent years.)

ZOMBIE NATION
Colonial - Drexel (It would be hard to see them not make it, but crazier things have happened.  They won 19 straight in a pretty good conference before the championship loss.  27-6 overall)
Summit - Oral Roberts (Brutal loss for them in the semifinals.  RPI of 49 and 3-3 against the top 100.  I can't see them making it, but again, we've seen stuff like this happen so I'll keep them in the conversation.)

Updated count...

ALIVE                      191
AUTO BID                 8
AT LARGE LOCK    2
ZOMBIE                    4 (BYU, Iona, Drexel, Oral Roberts)

DEAD                       153

TOTAL                     344

Four more auto bids could be had on Tuesday.  Championship games in the Horizon, Summit, and Sun Belt conferences.  Also, with a Penn loss, Harvard would clinch the Ivy and get a bid.

Two more tourneys get under way on Tuesday.  Here are my predictions.

ATLANTIC 10
Temple all the way.  They have a first team, second team, and third team all conference player.  The coach of the year is on Temple.  They won the regular season, have the highest RPI in the conference, the best profile, and Atlantic City is dang near home for them.  They are definitely the team to beat.

BIG EAST
Syracuse.  Not because they are the top seed, but other than Marquette, they are really the only good team in the conference.  Georgetown, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Notre Dame are your other good teams?  Sounds like an all overrated list.

Curt