2013 NCAA Tournament automatic bids: Tracking how teams got to March Madness

Almost half of the auto bids have been claimed as of Wednesday morning, after LIU Brooklyn, Valparaiso and South Dakota State captured berths into the NCAA Tournament.

Northeast Conference – (20-13, 12-6) – Coach Jack Perri – RPI 185 – KenPom 184

The LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds captured an NCAA Tournament berth by routing the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers, 91-70, in the Northeast Conference Championship Game on Tuesday in Brooklyn, N.Y.

LIU Brooklyn trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, but rallied to take a 35-31 lead at halftime. The Blackbirds scored the first seven points out of the break, taking an 11-point lead which was never challenged during the remainder of the game.

If you’ve been mired in a post-Super Bowl or college football hangover, now’s a pretty good time to shake out your seasonal-affective-disordered bones and start opening a bunch of tabs in your browser. March is here. While the week before Selection Sunday rightfully gets a bunch of attention, the weekend before whatever ESPN decides to call the conference championships (I believe it’s Championship Week now) gave us plenty of late-game dramatics, bubble implications and, of course, a few auto bid tickets punched.

Atlantic Sun Conference – (24-10, 13-5) – Coach Andy Enfield – RPI 95 – KenPom 126