Bracketology: How to compile the resume of an at-large bid

Hope.

When the regular season is all said and done and a team has lost in their conference tournament, the only thing left to do is hope. The fate of the team has fallen into the hands of the selection committee. Every year, there are about 10 teams sitting right on the bubble with about 50% of bracketologists predicting them to make the tournament and the other 50% predicting them to miss out.

Fans and players just have to hope that they were able to create a positive impression in the eye test and manage to build a resume worthy of the Big Dance. While sitting on the bubble, Selection Sunday can become the best day of the year or the worst. Making the NCAA Tournament might not seem like a huge deal to the North Carolinas and Dukes of the world, but just ask Northwestern fans how much 2016-17 meant to them.

March Madness is the pinnacle of college basketball and receiving a bid is a massive deal. With that being said, a team cannot make the Big Dance without spending their offseason scheduling teams and their regular season playing to their potential as a tournament-worthy team.

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High major teams might have more leniency in terms of receiving a bid, but each late-season bubble team knows that they cannot afford a slip-up in an easy game and they need to show up when the powerhouses come to town.

But still, at the end of the season, all anybody can do is hope.