The CAA Tournament gets under way on Friday and depending on its outcome, it could have a pretty significant impact on the NCAA Tournament field.
George Mason and Old Dominion are likely already into the tournament as at-large teams, according to the most recent Bracketology post at SB Nation. Which means that regardless of what they do in the CAA tournament, they will make the NCAA field. Now there are a few ways the tournament can play out.
- One of those teams wins the conference tournament, the other still makes it as an at-large, and order is maintained, relatively.
- Both of those teams lose the tournament, and another team (most likely VCU) wins the conference tournament and earns an automatic selection. The other two teams still make the tournaments as at-large teams and another team somewhere in the nation gets a bid taken away.
- VCU is pretty close to making the tournament as an at-large team as it is, according to SB Nation's Bubble Watch. Maybe they play well enough to earn an at-large bid (likely knocking off one of the two teams in the process). But they don't win the tournament, and neither do ODU or George Mason. Now there are four teams making the tournament from the CAA, and two other teams across the country lose out on at-large bids. Crying ensues.
That's why this time of year is so fun. Baseless and unending speculation. Check out those two streams for more information.