Editor's note: Teams preceded by their conference name are expected to win their league's automatic bid.

March 22, 2003/Knoxville, Tenn.
(1) Tennessee vs. (16) SWAC/Alabama State
(8) COLONIAL/Old Dominion vs. (9) Virginia Tech

March 23, 2003/University Park, Pa.
(5) Colorado vs. (12) St. Joseph's
(4) Penn State vs. (13) BIG SKY/Montana State

March 23, 2002/Albuquerque, N.M.
(3) Minnesota vs. (14) MAC/Ball State
(6) Rutgers vs. (11) Clemson

March 23, 2003/Ruston, La.
(7) Boston College vs. (10) SUN BELT/Florida International
(2) LSU vs. (15) MEAC/Hampton

Team	Thumbs Up	Thumbs Down
1. Tennessee	No. 1 ranking in RPI	Losses to Duke and UConn
2. LSU	6-1 vs. Top-50 teams	59th in strength of schedule
3. Minnesota	14-1 overall record	94th in strength of schedule
4. Penn State	12th in SOS	3-2 in last five games
5. Colorado	13-2 overall record	No wins vs. RPI Top 50
6. Rutgers	14th in SOS	2-3 vs. Top 50
7. Boston College	8-3 vs. Top 100	0-3 vs. RPI Top 50
8. Old Dominion	Third in SOS	7-5 overall record
9. Virginia Tech	No. 36 RPI	No Top 50 wins
10. Florida International	29th in SOS	Two sub-100 RPI losses
11. Clemson	32nd in SOS	0-5 vs. RPI Top 50
12. St. Joseph's	23rd in SOS; 4-0 in A-10	0-4 vs. RPI Top 50
Note: SOS refers to strength of schedule; teams expected to be invited solely by virtue of their conference's automatic bid are not included in this analysis.

Charlie Creme was a writer and editor at Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook for 11 years. Click here to send him a question about his bracket projections.