14-MAR: The Jayhawks Fed Me Crow

My first experience on bracketmatrix was heavy on humility and light on success.  I whiffed on Kansas, fell victim to Jim Boeheim’s charm, and ended the regular season underestimating Michigan State just as much as I did to start conference play. 

Should you wish to check it out, the link is above.  Stick around the first few columns to peruse the winners and then find me on a faaaaaaaaar right scroll.  Either way, this was a fun experience and I’m looking forward to trying it again.   And good news!  That bar wasn’t set all that high by me. 

A quick recap of how I graded out.  I had 67 teams that were in the field.  I missed on Syracuse in place of USC who made it in.  Of the remaining 67 teams, I had 30 pegged on the correct seed line.  27 others were either one seed higher or lower than what I expected.  I missed on the other 10.  Those are listed below.

Wichita State- 6 vs 10

Michigan State-12 vs 9

Maryland- 9 vs 6

Rhode Island- 9 vs 11

Miami FL- 10 vs 8

Kent State- 16 vs 14

South Carolina- 9 vs 7

Marquette- 8 vs 10

Middle Tennessee- 10 vs 12

VCU- 8 vs 10

Some of the misses above are ok, but the volume is the real problem.  I should be able to make some headway there.  We'll see.

To those that checked in, I appreciate the page views.  Thanks for taking a second, and hope to see you next season.

Enjoy the Tournament!

12-MAR FINAL Bracket Projection

Here's my final projection of the bracket, enjoy the Selection Show everyone.

11-MAR Bracket Projection: The Fighting Hawks and Mustangs Make History

Big day for some of the non-power schools.

North Dakota is dancing!  They needed a pretty sizable comeback in the final minute of regulation against Weber State, but they were able to pull that off and seize control in the extra session to earn a bid to the tournament for the first time ever.  The recently named Fighting Hawks joined Division I in 2008 and while it wasn’t quite Northern Kentucky quick, that’s still a nice accomplishment to reach this goal so quickly in their young history.

The Big West had its own share of drama.  In the last game of the day, UC Davis knocked off #1 seeded UC Irvine to earn the Mustangs first trip to the NCAA tournament.  They will join North Dakota, Jacksonville State and Northern Kentucky on the list of first time schools earning the automatic berth.

Northwestern got steamrolled by Wisconsin today, but it shouldn’t matter, at least in regards to inclusion in the field.  They should be our 5^th rookie in the field.

New Orleans earned their fifth tournament appearance, but more notably it is the Privateers first tournament appearance since 1996.  UNO dispatched Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the Southland final.  There are a couple other droughts that could end tomorrow.  The Sun Belt final will feature Texas State (no appearances since 1997) and Troy (their only trip was in 2003).  Rhode Island will also get a chance to return to the field for the first time since 1999.  Of course, they are in play for an at large as well, but a loss tomorrow could be the death knell.

My latest bracket has no changes to any of the at large bids from my previous projection.  Automatic bids were swapped in the cases of New Orleans (formerly Texas A&M CC), UC Davis (UC Irvine), Kent State (Akron), and Texas State (Texas Arlington).  Kansas State is the last team in the field.

10-MAR Bracket Projection: North Dakota/UC Davis Are One Game Away

No updates to the at large teams in this bracket.  I have swapped out my Mountain West representative for what seems like the tenth time.  Fresno State has been removed and replaced with Nevada.  Wake Forest is my last at large team in the field. 

Futility teams had about a 50/50 day.  Northwestern knocked off Maryland in Washington DC to advance to the Big Ten Semifinals.  UC Davis won in overtime against Cal St. Fullerton.  They will take on regular season Big West champion UC Irvine tomorrow night for the automatic bid.  North Dakota is now just one game away from erasing removing themselves from this watch list.  The Fighting Hawks will take on Weber State tomorrow in the Big Sky title game.  

On the other end of things, Utah Valley battled #1 seed Cal State Bakersfield to four overtimes but ultimately came up one point shy.  Maryland Eastern Shore also fell to a #1 seed, although in this case North Carolina Central ran them off the court 77-49.  UMKC came up short late tonight/early this morning against New Mexico State.  In the SWAC, #1 Texas Southern eliminated Grambling State 62-57.

Speaking of the SWAC, we weren’t supposed to be nailing down an automatic bid on Friday but we did just that.  Texas Southern will represent the conference by virtue of Alcorn State’s defeat of Southern, setting up the SWAC Championship between ASU and TSU.  Alcorn State is on APR probation this season, but allowed to participate in their conference tournament.  This will mark the 7^th NCAA trip for the Tigers.

Fourteen conference championships will be settled tomorrow, and six other conferences have semifinals scheduled.  Perhaps most notable will be the inaugural Ivy League Conference tournament at the Palestra.  The early semifinal will feature the two Ivy League schools with the most appearances.  Regular season champion Princeton has made the tournament 24 times, but will have a road game as they will take on Penn who has made 23 trips.  The late semifinal will feature Harvard (5 trips) vs Yale (4 trips). 

9-MAR Bracket Projection: Three Days Until Selection Sunday

Similar to Thursday, no bids will be handed out on Friday, but a large lot of semifinals will be played to setup Saturday and Sunday championships.

Seven Futility teams are still in play for breaking through.  Four were knocked out today as UT Rio Grande Valley, UC Riverside, Sacramento State, and Chicago State all lost tournament games.  Northwestern continued to improve their post season stock as they dismantled Rutgers.  North Dakota moved into the Big Sky semifinals.  Utah Valley and Missouri Kansas City picked up wins in the WAC quarterfinals.  UC Davis won a Big West Tournament game to stay alive.  Maryland Eastern Shore picked up their second win of the MEAC Tournament and will take on the #1 seed next.  Finally Grambling State returns to action tomorrow for a game in the SWAC semifinals. 

Updates to my bracket include moving in Kansas State after their win against Baylor.  They move in for now at the expense of USC.  Wake Forest is my last team in the field after Thursday's games.  All the games below will carry some weight, but I'm still very interested to see what Houston and Rhode Island do tomorrow/this weekend.

Tomorrow's key games:

Last Four In: Seton Hall (vs Villanova), Kansas State (vs West Virginia), Rhode Island (vs St. Bonaventure)

First Four Out: Houston (vs UConn)

Next Four Out: Alabama (vs South Carolina), California (vs Oregon)

8-MAR Bracket Projection: Thursday Is The Tournament Day

Just one bid handed out on Wednesday as the Patriot League’s regular season champion carried that momentum into the conference tournament and knocked off Lehigh tonight.  That’s twelve auto bids, and gives us an even split.  Five have been won by the #1 seed, five have been won by lower seeds, and 2 were won by projected at large bids.  No bids scheduled over the next two days, as we move into the bulk of the brackets and whittle down the field significantly. 

Two teams from the Futility list were knocked off tonight.  Bethune Cookman was destroyed by the #1 seed in the MEAC (NC Central) and will move to 0 for 37.  In the Southland, Central Arkansas battled back, but ultimately couldn’t get past Sam Houston State.  The Bears have been in Division I since only 2006, but will remain without a tournament appearance for another season.  Eleven teams are still alive in their conference tournaments, all but one are in action tomorrow (the SWAC doesn’t resume play until Friday).

Three more tournaments begin play tomorrow.  The Big West starts with quarterfinal action.  Long Beach State has the most tournament trips among conference members with 9.  UC Riverside and UC Davis have never been.  Davis has a legitimate shot to make a run, earning the #2 seed.  The Big West has been pretty generous with the automatic bid.  Aside from the two mentioned (who have droughts of 15 and 13 years respectively), the remaining 7 members have all made the tournament since 2008.

The Western Athletic begins play tomorrow, and once again it looks like we’re heading to a Bakersfield/New Mexico State final.  Last year’s win by Bakersfield was their first trip ever and prevented NMSU from their 23^rd berth.  UT Rio Grande Valley, Chicago State, Missouri-Kansas City, and Utah Valley are all looking to break through for the first time.  Seattle also deserves a mention, as they will be trying to make it to the tournament for the first time since 1969.

Finally, the American Athletic tips off Thursday.  East Carolina (1993) and Tulane (1995) will be looking to take the first step to ending their tournament droughts.

All in all, tomorrow is one of the best days of the year.  Conference overlap is at its peak, and we’re jam-packed with meaningful games all day long starting at noon EST with fairly decent pacing of the games.  Enjoy it.

Bracket notes:

It was pointed out that my RPI figures were incorrect, which they were.  The result was a handful of teams were off a few spots, which is important considering the unfortunate significance of Top 50 wins.  That has been corrected, and in the words of John Groce I got 1% better today.  Again, appreciate the comment.

USC jumps in, Iowa moves to first out.  

Games of note tomorrow:

Last Four In: Xavier (vs Butler), USC (vs UCLA)

First Four Out: Iowa (vs Indiana), Kansas State (vs Baylor)

Next For Out: Illinois (vs Michigan), Utah (vs California)

7-MAR Bracket Projection: Underdog Northern Kentucky Will Finally Be An Underdog! (Probably)

In their first year of true eligibility, Northern Kentucky and its 293^rd ranked experience on kenpom will finally realize what it means to be an underdog.   The Norse knocked out the #10 seed Milwaukee Panthers in Detroit earning the Horizon’s automatic bid.  I have them slated as a #15 seed, thus avoiding Dayton, which would guarantee for the first time this post-season they will be on the wrong end of seed expectation.  In this year’s bizarre post season run, the #4 NKU had to go through the #5, #9 and #10 seeds.

The Omaha Mavericks were not so fortunate.  They ran into a monster stat-line from Mike Daum and South Dakota State, falling two points shy of their first ever NCAA tournament.  The loss means that of the 48 futility schools, 33 have now been knocked out of their conference tournaments.  Two (Jacksonville State and Northern Kentucky) have secured a bid, and Northwestern is likely for an at large.  The remaining twelve still have plenty of work to do.

The Mount held homecourt in the NEC and knocked off St Francis to lock up that automatic berth.  Finally out in the desert, the Zags held off a few Saint Mary’s charges to lock up the WCC title. 

Eleven automatic bids have now been secured.  Five bids were “stolen” by lower seeds as we add NKU and SD St to that list.  Four were consensus champions with the Mount St. Mary’s win.  The Final two were won by teams that would likely have been at-large bids even with a loss (Wichita State and now Gonzaga).

Only one title game scheduled for tomorrow night.  The Patriot League’s bid will be up for grabs when #3 Lehigh goes into Lewisburg to take on #1 Bucknell.  The real story of Wednesday is the litany of tournaments starting up.  Conference USA, Sun Belt, Mountain West, PAC-12, Big Ten, Atlantic 10, Southland, Big XII, SEC, and the Big East all get underway.  The only school on the never been list in that group is Central Arkansas.  They’ll take the court in Katy to go up against the Bearkats of Sam Houston State in the earlier of two first round Southland games.

Only minor updates to my bracket with the light basketball day.  Swapped out the Summit representative to include South Dakota State.  Also swapped out USC for Xavier as yesterday’s results added a little bit of RPI separation between those two teams, although the margin is still quite small. 

My last four teams that are in action tomorrow: Xavier (vs DePaul).

My first four out teams that are in action tomorrow: USC (vs Fultz-less Washington)

My next four out teams that are in action tomorrow: None.

6-MAR Bracket Projection: On The Eve of Bubble Team Cannibalism

Three more automatic bids were confirmed tonight.  Iona, East Tennessee State, and UNC Wilmington all join the fray.    Only UNC Wilmington was a one seed of the trio, bringing our total of the seven earned so far to 3 Consensus (Regular season champion, #1 seed, and tournament champion), 3 Bid Stealers (#4 Jax St, #3 Iona, and #3 ETSU), and Wichita State who will probably be seeded high enough to have earned an at large bid.

Tomorrow’s schedule will have four finals.  The Horizon continued to surprise and Northern Kentucky is the only better seed to hold serve.  The #4 Norse will be looking for their first tournament appearance as they take on #10 Milwaukee.  A win for the Panthers would give them their 5^th NCAA appearance, all since 2003, but would be just their second since 2007. 

Another fun tournament this year, the Northeast Conference will return with their Championship tomorrow.  St. Francis will be looking for just their second ever automatic berth, with their lone coming in 1991.  They’ll need to do in on the road in Emmitsburg with the Mount and Mayhem looking for their fifth NCAA trip, which would be their second under Jamion Christian.

Out in the badlands, the Summit Final is on Tuesday, and the Mavericks will be looking to make history for the first time.  To be successful, they’ll need to slow down Mike Daum and the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. SDSU will be after their fourth appearance (2012/2013/2016), and their first since Scott Nagy moved on and TJ Otzelberger took the reins. 

A quick Futility reminder since we mentioned the Norse and Mavericks title games.  We began the season with 48 schools on the never been list.  Jacksonville State is in.  Northwestern seems safe.  32 teams have already dropped their conference tournament game. 

The West Coast will crown a champion tomorrow night as well between Gonzaga and St Mary’s/BYU.

New tournament blood tomorrow!  The SWAC has four quarterfinals at higher seeds.  Grambling State will travel to Prairie View for their first step to their first NCAA.   The ACC and Big Sky will start off with three games each.  North Dakota is the #1 seed in the Big Sky and looking for their first trip.  

In the ACC, Virginia Tech has the longest NCAA drought with their last one coming in 2007.  I have them in for now, although that potential match-up with Wake Forest on day two could make things interesting.  Georgia Tech and Clemson each currently on the outside looking in begin their last ditch efforts to strengthen their resumes.  The Jackets and ACC Coach of the Year Josh Pastner will take on a Pitt team that may be ready to mail 2017 in.  Clemson could be looking to save Brad Brownell’s job against a coach who already lost his in our first game of the day.

5-MAR Bracket Projection: Steve Pikiell Understands

I’m sorry to see Monmouth go.  Justin Robinson is a joy to watch.  Same for Hornbeak and Seaborn.  I think they were a victim of bad metrics last year, and while I expected they would be left out I hated the precedent.  Like many, I was hopeful they would make the trip this year.

They won’t, after losing today in the MAAC semifinals.  According to what I saw on twitter, America went in on the conference tournaments.  Similar to Stony Brook in past years when they ran up against Albany on a home court, Monmouth had a pseudo road game in Albany against Siena that proved to be too much to overcome.  Also, they were missing one of their top guys as Micah Seaborn didn’t play after injuring a knee against Niagara.  It’s a shame they are out, but…

                                              

That’s what this month is about.  We’re going to say goodbye to many deserving teams.  Teams that if not for one or two small things, could have written storybook seasons.  Vent if you need to, but this isn’t bad for the sport.  This wasn’t a surprise this weekend that the tournament would be in Albany.    One seeds are going to lose, but to repeat the mantra of this post if we restrict the one bid leagues to just their regular season champion, we’re eliminated some fun tournament teams from the last decade.  Will Iona or Siena capitalize in the NCAA Tournament?  No idea, but they’re just as capable. 

It’s why this month is fun.

Good luck to King Rice and Monmouth in the NIT.  I know it wasn’t the plan yesterday, but here’s hoping the make the most of it.

In other action, how about the Horizon?  You want a tournament that (by happenstance, sure) gives a #1 seed a pseudo home court advantage?  You got it.  And what do you have?  6 games, and the lesser seed won 5.  The only game that went to seed was the 4/5 matchup where Northern Kentucky prevailed.  They will now be seen as the favorite vs the 6 (Illinois Chicago), 9 (Youngstown State) and 10 (Milwaukee).

Three bids were secured today.  Florida Gulf coast bested North Florida in the Atlantic Sun.  Winthrop, who just barely eked out the #1 seed and home court advantage in the Big South over UNC Asheville, took care of business against Campbell.  Lastly, Wichita State will keep Jerry Palm sleepless tonight as they knocked off Illinois State.  ISU was in 85 of 109 brackets (again, not in mine), and it will be interesting to see that next update. 

The MEAC will begin tomorrow with half of their first round games.  North Carolina A&T has the most appearances of the group with 10, and would be a major surprise.  They are seeded last (12, as Savannah State will not participate), and just picked up their first/only Division I win a few days ago.  Three teams have never made the dance, two of which are participating.  Bethune Cookman (1980) and Maryland Eastern-Shore (1981) will be looking to make history for the first time. 

Also starting up tomorrow will the first round of the MAC tournament.  All twelve members have made it to the larger stage, including Buffalo who was done it twice in school history.  They just happen to be the last two years.  The Northwest Ohio schools will be trying to end two of the longest droughts in Division I.  Bowling Green hasn’t made it since 1968 (9^th longest active streak), while Toledo hasn’t since 1980 (19^th longest).  Those two will face off tomorrow in Toledo, with the winner advancing on to Cleveland.

Three more championship games are on the schedule Monday night.  We’ll see a team crowned in the Southern, Colonial and MAAC.

234 teams are still alive.

4-MAR Bracket Projection: If The NCAA Tournament Ended Today, Jacksonville State Is Your NCAA Champion

Automatic bid number one was handed out today, with Jacksonville State earning their first invite in school history.  Congratulations Gamecocks, and condolences to UT Martin.  The Skyhawks despite two straight years of making it to the championship game are still looking for their first trip after suffering losses to #8 Austin Peay last year and now the #4 seed JSU in 2017.  Three more bids will be locked up tomorrow. 

We start things off with the Big South Championship.  Winthrop has 9 NCAA appearances, all coming between 1999 and 2010, but have had nothing to add to that in the past 6 years.  They will take on Campbell, who has just one tournament appearance that came in 1992.

In the Missouri Valley, we get the match-up most were hoping to see, with WSU-ISU III.  The Shockers have made 5 tournaments in a row, and according to bracketmatrix are a 9 seed currently making a sixth trip likely.  Illinois State on the other hand is the last team in at the moment (but not included on my bracket).  A win tomorrow would render this speculation moot and give the Redbirds their first trip since 1998.

Florida Gulf Coast will be looking for their 3^rd trip in the last 5 years, as they will take on the #3 seed North Florida.  The Osprey’s one appearance came two years ago. 

Additionally, all of next week’s conference brackets are set.  The Southland Conference dropped Nicholls and Northwestern State.  The Ivy League set its top four, which resulted in eliminating Dartmouth and Columbia.  While in the SWAC, Arkansas Pine Bluff was eliminated from the final seed open there.  Housekeeping note, it was ruled this week that Hawaii will NOT be facing a post-season ban anymore, which allows them to participate in the Big West Tournament at the expense of UC Santa Barbara, who is now out. 

Some fun games today, but a quick shout out to the Horizon League tournament.  They split the quarterfinals so that #1 and #2 seeds play, and then have a day of rest while 3-6 all play.  In an additional stroke of luck for Valpariaso and Oakland, the 9 and 10 seeds upset the 7 and 8 seeds on Friday night.  So what happens?  They both fall, which means #9 Youngstown State and #10 Milwaukee now absorb the advantage of a rest day while the teams they went a combined 4-12 against all beat each other up.  Anyone hoping for this year’s Holy Cross team would be wise to keep an eye on this bracket the next few days.

Updates to the bracket.  Xavier, Wake Forest and Seton Hall have all moved back in.  Illinois, California and BYU have been removed.  The losses by Illinois and California did most of the damage, but also hurting Cal and BYU was the RPI drop of Princeton outside of the top 50.

So with the Jacksonville State business out of the way, our list of 48 will at least move to 47 this season.  Others that are currently projected into the field for the first time in my bracket are Northwestern, Fort Wayne, Northern Kentucky, and North Dakota.

249 teams remain.  Tomorrow we downshift a bit with just fifteen tournament games on the schedule.

3-MAR Bracket Projection: First Timer's Club, OVC Edition

The first autobid will be passed out tomorrow via the Ohio Valley Conference Championship, and we are guaranteed to be moving at least one team from the 48 teams on the Futility list.  #1 seed Belmont ran over the OVC this year going 15-1, but they go 0-1 in post season and will instead join the NIT field as an automatic bid.  Instead the title game will feature Tennessee Martin, the #2 seed, for the second straight year.  The Skyhawks joined Division I in 1991.  Their opponent will be #4 seed Jacksonville State, who joined Division I a few years later in 1995 and are led by coach Ray Harper who twice took the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers to the NCAA tournament. 

Speaking of the list, The Citadel won their first round game against Western Carolina and will play on another day.  On the other end of the spectrum Gardner Webb will remain on the list for at least another season as they drop a semi-final game at Winthrop in overtime to bow out of the Big South Tournament.

One new conference will start post season tomorrow.  The Summit begins with half of its quarterfinal games on Saturday.  Oral Roberts has the most NCAA trips with five, and they won’t add to that as they didn’t qualify for the postseason.  South Dakota State and North Dakota State have three and lead the teams who made it this far, and only IUPUI also has a trip, with one.  5 teams in the field have never been to the NCAAs.  Western Illinois’s drought is the longest of the group, having joined Division I in 1981 without accomplishing the feat.  South Dakota joined in 2008, however they have a legitimate shot after earning the #1 seed.

In all, tomorrow's schedule has 23 post season games, plus the Southland, Ivy, and SWAC will all finalize their brackets with some teams missing out based off how the games play out.  277 remain...

2-MAR Bracket Projection: Less Than 300

We have officially dropped under the 300 team threshold after today’s tournament games.  295 teams are left.  All the eliminated teams are listed here.

Of the 48 teams on the futility list, 21 are included in the eliminated teams already and will move into another year looking for their first tournament.  Lipscomb had a legitimate shot after earning the #2 seed in the Atlantic Sun, but they got knocked off by North Florida on the Bisons’ homecourt tonight.  Also notable, is Army, who lost at #1 Bucknell in Patriot League quarterfinal action.  Of the longest current droughts of the never beens, only The Citadel, William & Mary, and Northwestern still have a shot to take their name off the list (and the latter seems like a safe assumption).

Tomorrow we’ll continue action with the Missouri Valley, Big South, MAAC, and OVC.  In addition though, four more tournaments will start.  The Southern Conference will begin, and we’ve already mentioned The Citadel’s position.  VMI (39 years) and Furman (36 years) have made the tournament, but are riding significant streaks.  Chattanooga leads the way with 11 appearances.

The Horizon League features two teams that have never made the field, however, Northern Kentucky is eligible for just the first time.  Youngstown State has not made the tournament since joining Division I in 1981. 

The Colonial of course features William & Mary mentioned above, but Elon is also on the list of no tournaments since joining Division I in 1997.  Towson has made the field twice, but not since 1991 for the second longest drought in conference.  Northeastern has the most appearances with 8. 

Finally, in the West Coast Conference, all the teams have made it.  BYU has the most trips at 29, however 4 others are also in double digits (Zags, San Francisco, Pepperdine and Santa Clara).  Loyola Marymount is carrying the longest drought with no trips since 1990.  Gonzaga is tied for the fourth longest active streak of appearances, with 18 trips in a row.

In all, 18 tournament games tomorrow as we slowly build the crescendo and start handing out some automatic bids.

1-MAR Bracket Projection: Late night OVC in NashVegas

312 teams are left after 10 more suffer conference tournament losses.  The American East saw all chalk moving on in the quarterfinals.  In the Northeast Conference, top seed Mount St. Mary’s held off the #8 seed by three.  The two seed LIU Brooklyn was upset by Robert Morris by one.  #3 seed Wagner held off last year’s tournament champion Fairleigh Dickinson by 2.  In a bizarre twist, after the 1-2-3 point games, the #4/#5 matchup saw…host St Francis Pa bury Bryant 100-78.  Just life on the road in the NEC.

The final two tournament games were in the OVC and saw both games go to overtime.  Tennessee State lost in OT to Southeast Missouri State on intermittent at best video.  Fortunately the stream worked fine in the night cap as Murray State knocked off Tennessee Tech.

Thursday we have 17 tournament games as we really start to gear up.

The Big South will pick back up from Tuesday with quarterfinal action.  All games over the next two days will be played at #1 seed Winthrop.  Also picking up from Tuesday is the Patriot League with simultaneous quarterfinal action at the higher seeds.  The Ohio Valley will also continue with two quarterfinal games in Nashville.

Jerome points will be on the line for the first time in 2017 when the Atlantic Sun semifinals get underway to determine Sunday’s Championship game.  The top half of the bracket is #1 Florida Gulf Coast (2 trips, made it last year) vs #5 Kennesaw State (never, joined D1 in 2005).  The bottom half of the bracket is #3 North Florida (1 trip, 2015) vs Lipscomb (never, joined D1 in 1999).

The MAAC will begin play with three first round games.  The first game will feature the only conference team to have not made the tournament in Quinnipiac.  The three longest NCAA droughts are all in action as well.  Canisius, at 20 years, will take on Marist, at 29 years, in the middle game.   In the last game, Rider will battle Manhattan.  The Broncs haven’t been in the field in 22 years.

2017 Arch Madness invades St. Louis with first round games.  #2 Wichita State has the most NCAA appearances among the current conference members with 13.  The Shockers are tied with Iowa State with 5 straight NCAA trips, good for 9^th among active streaks.  Northern Iowa also has a streak of 2 straight trips.  Loyola Chicago holds the longest drought at 31 years, with their last trip coming in 1985.