Last Four In: Troy, UCF, Purdue, Western Kentucky
First Four Out: Penn State, Kansas State, Tulane, Fairfield
This is a very early bracket as the RPI is “out of sync” so to speak making it difficult to pinpoint the teams who are top 16 seeds and who will make the tournament as an at-large bid. This is similar to the first softball bracket as there are many unknowns. One team not on the radar that has been a perennial tournament team is East Carolina. Texas A&M and Virginia from the SEC and ACC have begun to show signs of early hiccups. As conference play begins for many teams, after about two or three weeks we should get a better understanding of what the bracket should look like.
ACC: Clemson*, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami (FL), Stanford, Louisville, Virginia, Duke, NC State
American: Florida Atlantic
Big East: Creighton
Big 12: Kansas*, Arizona, TCU, West Virginia, Arizona State, UCF
Big Ten: Oregon*, Purdue, UCLA
SEC: Tennessee*, LSU, Florida, Arkansas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Auburn, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Kentucky, Texas A&M
A-10: Richmond
America East: Albany
A-Sun: Austin Peay
Big South: High Point
Big West: UC Santa Barbara
CAA: Charleston
C-USA: Dallas Baptist*, Western Kentucky
Horizon: Wright State
Ivy: Yale
MAAC: Quinnipiac
MAC: Ball State
MVC: Southern Illinois
MWC: San Jose State
NEC: Wagner
OVC: Tennessee Tech
Patriot: Lehigh
Southern: East Tennessee State
Southland: UTRGV
Summit: Oral Roberts
Sun Belt: Southern Miss*, Coastal Carolina, Troy
SWAC: Texas Southern
WAC: Grand Canyon
WCC: St. Mary’s
