A couple of NCAA Basketball questions for someone who knows more than me

[Centurion]

1. Will the Ivy League get two teams in? Harvard and Cornell are both in the top 50 in RPI.
2. Will Bryant and/or Alcorn St. win a game?
3. How many teams can the Atlantic 10 get in? How many will?
4. Will the Missouri Valley get more than one team in? Can they get three?
5. What other mid-major teams have shots at at-large bids?
6. Is there now a conference in college basketball called the Great West conference? If so, do they get an automatic bit to the NCAA tournament?
7. How close are we to expanding the tournament to 96 teams? I mean, that's only 27% of the Div. 1 teams, so it's not like it'd be taking over half or something (cough, NBA, cough).

You can answer just one or multiple ones if you choose.

[Colts Homer]

1. No I don't think so. Mid-major RPIs are inflated because of tougher schedules. Mid-major RPIs get slaughtered if they drop one conference game. With no conference tournament, it is tough for multiple bids for the Ivy League.
2. I think one will. I'm not sure which one though.
3. They will get 5 teams in. Temple is a virtual lock right now. Rhode Island and Richmond are looking good. Dayton and Xavier have the advantage as being natural mid-major powers, and their RPI will look good at the end of the year. Barring one of these teams collapsing, I think they will fit all of them in.
4. I don't see anyone getting an at-large bid besides Northern Iowa. NIU is very good, but the rest of the conference is slacking. Missouri State and Indiana State are pretty good, but they will be NIT teams.
5. My Butler Bulldogs should definitely be in. They have a ridiculously tough non-conference schedule and made it out alive with wins over Xavier and Ohio State. Being a mid-major big name helps too. Gonzaga, William & Mary, and UAB look like they will be in barring a big collapse. St. Mary's, Old Dominion, Cornell, and Siena all have good RPIs and their BracketBuster will be huge. Harvard and Western Kentucky have a large outside shot.
6. The Great West is brand new. It has teams from all over the country which bothers me. It won't be eligible for an auto-bid for a long time. I think around 2020, but I would have to check that.
7. I don't think the tournament will ever get that big. It hink 68 teams is very possible where there are 4 play-in games. That's the biggest I would want for it to get, but you never really know.

[Leelee2]

The Ivy League is only getting the automatic bid. Cornell had a shot, but lost a few OOC games. RPI really doesn't matter for the mid-majors.

Alcorn St. and Bryant will probably win home conference games, at least. They both have horrible records because they collect money getting whooped at good teams' arenas.

The Great West isn't an official conference yet. They're a group of Independent teams that did this because they play each other anyway. There's no schedule for them getting an NCAA bid. The winner does get a bid to the 3rd postseason tourney, whatever its called.

It's too early for tournament discussion. Let's wait until teams play some conference games.