At this point in the season, we can look at the Pac-12, Big East and American Athletic Conference and point to five likely NCAA tournament teams in total. That number will rise as some of the bubble teams separate themselves, but the point remains: There is room for mid-major teams to come up and steal some bids toward the back of the bracket.
Here's the problem: Very few mid-major teams this season have established a bona fide at-large résumé.
We could get some insight into relevant contenders this week, as Wofford hosts VMI and Belmont visits Tennessee State on Thursday (7 p.m. ET and 8:30 p.m. ET, respectively, both on ESPN+). When discussing which mid-major conferences can step up and earn multiple bids to the NCAA tournament, the Southern Conference and Ohio Valley Conference are getting the most mentions -- and Wofford and Belmont, respectively, are atop those leagues right now.