Bracketology: 5 biggest questions for rest of 2019-20 season

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EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 2: Ayo Dosunmu #11 of the Illinois Fighting Illini is pressured by Xavier Tillman #23 and Rocket Watts #2 of the Michigan State Spartans (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) /

2. Which conference will end up getting the most bids?

Stearman

The Big 10 is clearly the best conference in the nation in my opinion, and I believe they will end up with the most bids. They have eight teams that would clearly be in the tournament field if the season ended today, and another four who would at least be near the bubble conversation. Michigan State, Ohio State, and Maryland all still have a realistic chance to see their name on a one-line on selection Sunday. The Big 12 and Big East are both deep conferences, but they don’t have the firepower throughout that the Big 10 does.

Harkins

I feel like I’m about to give a “Ireland wins – but Viktor Krum gets the snitch” type of answer here. The Big Ten, in my opinion, is the best conference in the country and will receive the highest total number of bids to the NCAA Tournament (I am thinking ~nine bids). The Big East, though, is the deepest and most competitive league and will, therefore, have the highest percentage of teams receive bids (I think the BE gets 7-8 of 10 dancing). Both highest total bids and highest percentage of the league dancing are important to recognize.

Dieckhoff

The Big Ten. While the Big East may be the better league on average, it is going to be hard to justify putting the 8th or 9th place teams in a 10-team league into the NCAA Tournament. In the much larger Big Ten, the 8th- or 9th-place team might be close enough to a .500 conference record to make it in. That’s why I’m going with them to lead the charge on total bids. I’ll say the 8-9 will be: Ohio State, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, Purdue, and one or both of Indiana and Illinois.

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