POWER LEAGUES WILL NAB MOST NCAA BIDS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 5, 1993                   TAG: 9303050018
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
POWER LEAGUES WILL NAB MOST NCAA BIDS
There won't be many surprises when the 34 at-large bids in the NCAA Tournament field are revealed next weekend.
There are 32 Division I men's conferences, 30 with automatic bids in the 64-team field. Of the at-large berths, more than half will go to the ACC, Big Eight, Big Ten, Big East and Southeastern.
Since the NCAA field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, those five leagues have taken 163 of the 272 at-large bids. That's 60 percent, but the figure will be higher this year. That's because the talent is spreading in those leagues, while others make inroads. The Great Midwest, in its second season, remains strong at the top. The most impressive rise, however, belongs to the Atlantic 10, which a year ago was simply concerned about surviving the defections of Penn State and Duquesne.
The Atlantic 10 will have at least four clubs (including its tournament winner) in the NCAA. The Big East is likely to have one more, but in the power rankings, the latter is no longer the beast of the East. With their boring, bashing style, the Big East teams have bludgeoned one another to mediocrity.
The Ratings Percentage Index is a power ranking of the 298 Division I teams. Provided by Collegiate Basketball News in Indianapolis, the RPI supposedly duplicates the computer program used by the NCAA Basketball Committee. The Sagarin poll, published by USA Today, puts more value in point differential.
The RPI conference rankings, through Sunday, ranked the ACC best, followed by the Big Eight, Big Ten, Atlantic 10, Great Midwest, Big East, SEC, Pacific 10, Metro and Southwest. Six ACC teams are ranked in the top 19 in the RPI team poll.
Virginia is 15th - and a No. 6 seeding in an NCAA region is possible, if the Cavaliers don't misfire their way to embarrassment in the ACC Tournament.
The guesstimate from here on at-large berths: Big Ten and ACC five each; Big Eight and Big East four each; Atlantic 10, SEC and Great Midwest (without an automatic bid) three each; Pac-10 two; and the Metro, SWC, Sun Belt, Western Athletic and Big West one each. Upsets in conference finals could make the selection committee's job more difficult.
Consider Xavier, in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. If the Musketeers win the conference tournament, the league will get only the automatic bid. If coach Pete Gillen's team falls to Evansville, Xavier - 24th in the RPI - will be invited anyway.
Who has an at-large shot from the state besides UVa? Only Old Dominion (20-6), which needs to reach the final of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. The CAA has received only one at-large berth since it was born as the ECAC South in 1981. That was Richmond (with automatic Navy) in 1986.
The CAA's best shot at getting two NCAA spots would be to have ODU lose the final to top-seeded James Madison, because the Monarchs are 48th and climbing in the RPI, 11 spots ahead of Lefty Driesell's club. That's still borderline, and the Colonial is only 13th in the RPI rankings.
Twenty wins is a nice round number, but not much else in the NCAA's eyes. At this time of year, it's not too comfortable sitting on that fence.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB