Between three jobs, trying to do a little hiking, and being sick, I haven't written in this space since the Democrats had the Senate, no comet had been landed on, no World Cup had been played, no summer had been enjoyed ... and so on.
And now I have just 23 minutes until my man Crespo comes over for the American University (they'll be a 15 seed) opener.
So with the season beginning, here is my rapid-fire, no-research annual Field of 68.
Automatic qualifiers (32)
America East: Stony Brook
American: Memphis
Atlantic 10: VCU
ACC: UNC
Atlantic Sun: FGCU
Big 12: Kansas
Big East: Villanova
Big Sky: Eastern Washington
Big South: High Point
Big Ten: Wisconsin
Big West: Cal State Northridge
Colonial: Delaware
Conference USA: UTEP
Horizon: Cleveland State
Ivy: Harvard
MAAC: Siena
MAC: Akron
MEAC: Hampton
Missouri Valley: Wichita State
Mountain West: San Diego State
Northeast: Robert Morris
Ohio Valley: Murray State
Pac-12: Arizona
Patriot: American
SEC: Kentucky
Southern: Wofford
Southland: Lamar
SWAC: Alabama State
Summit: Oral Roberts
Sun Belt: Georgia State
West Goast: Gonzaga
WAC: New Mexico State
At-large (36)
American: Connecticut, Cincinnati, SMU (3)
A-10: Dayton, GW, Richmond (3)
ACC: Duke, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia (6)
Big 12: ISU, Oklahoma, Texas (3)
Big East: Georgetown, Providence, Xavier (3)
Big Ten: OSU, MSU, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska (6)
Missouri Valley: Northern Iowa (1)
Mountain West: Colorado State, New Mexico, Boise (3)
Pac-12: UCLA, Utah, Washington, Stanford (4)
SEC: Florida, Georgia, LSU (3)
West Coast: BYU (1)
And there you have it. Let's get this season started.
