The first edition of Bid Watch was just posted over at SB Nation. Here's the S-curve that accompanies it.

Auto bids in bold.

My next full update will come on Monday. Enjoy the busy weekend of hoops!

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As usual, I've posted an S-curve as a preview to Monday's full bracket up on SB Nation. My next updated S-curve will come at some point on Friday, either in the morning to go along with the first Bid Watch post of the season, or in the evening.

Auto bids in bold.

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Since this topic is going to come up in this week's bracket, I figured that I would share with you how I determine who receives each of the 31 automatic bids during a regular season bracket projection.

Before Conference Play

1. The conference team with the best winning percentage against Division I competition, since games against non-D1 teams are not counted toward a team's profile for selection and seeding.
2. If two or more teams are tied on winning percentage, the team with the most Division I wins gets the spot.
3. If two or more teams are still tied, the team with the highest RPI gets in.

During Conference Play

1. The team with the best conference winning percentage gets in.
2. If two or more teams are tied on winning percentage, the team with the best record in games against the teams in question gets in.
3. If two or more teams are still tied, the team with the most conference wins earns the bid.
4. If two or more teams are still tied, the team with the most overall Division I wins gets the spot.
5. If two or more teams are still tied, the team with the highest RPI is in.
6. Once a team clinches its conference's regular season championship (or best record, if the conference has divisions), it will remain in the bracket until it falls in the conference tournament.

Conference Tournament

1. See item no. 6 above.
2. If a regular season champion falls before the championship game, the highest remaining seed will hold the automatic bid in the bracket. This rule holds as high seeds fall.
3. Naturally, the conference tournament winner will appear in the bracket (in bold), once the trophy is awarded.

Hopefully, this will clear up any confusion as to why an unexpected team may be in the field as a conference leader. As the weeks move on and there's more balance in league scheduling, these instances should become even more limited.

All that's left now is to find Cal State Bakersfield a conference home.

Longwood University , the Farmville, Virginia school with an enrollment of around 4,800, is finally headed to a conference after spending its first five years in Division I as an independent, and the Lancers didn't even have to settle from a geographic or competitive perspective to make the move. On July 1st, Longwood will become the Big South Conference's 12th member, a move that seemed inevitable, even if it took forever to happen. The Big South features three other Virginia schools--Liberty, Radford, and VMI--and eight in the Carolinas. The travel factor, along with the possibility of increased access to NCAA Championships, makes this a great move for one of Division I's newest members.

I've updated the Conference Changes for 2012-13 (And Beyond) page with this information.

(HT: Patrick Stevens of The Washington Times @D1scourse)

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As tomorrow is a winter Monday that's not a holiday, my full bracket projection will be up on SBNation.com at some point in the morning. To whet your appetite in the meantime, here's the S-curve.

Auto bids in bold.

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Earlier today, SB Nation posted its opposition to two bills that are making their way through Congress that could change the Internet as we know it, and not for the better. We aren't going dark like English Wikipedia or placing a black banner across our name like Google, but I'm please to see the company isn't staying silent on this topic that is flying slightly under the radar. I feel passionately about this topic, even to the point of friends considering me a "Chicken Little' on the subject.

For more information, please check out the following background pieces. They outline the issues with this poorly-thought out legislation more eloquently than I can (and with less cursing).

From Mashable: Why SOPA Is Dangerous, which breaks down some of the more odious text of the bill, and This Is The Internet After SOPA, a photo slideshow illustrating some of its impacts.

And, a letter from dozens of law professors criticizing SOPA/PIPA.

Thank you for reading and please contact your elected representatives if you want to stop these bills in their tracks. Here's a link to where you can find their contact info.

Trying this again...

My full bracket for this week will be is up at SB Nation later this morning. Here's how my S-curve looks for it. There have been a trio of changes from Sunday night because of Monday's action. Stony Brook is back in as the America East rep, thanks to Albany's loss at Boston U. And, more significantly, Kansas' win over Baylor sees the Jayhawks jump Missouri for the final spot on the 2 line, thanks to a stronger overall schedule, while Kentucky jumps back ahead of the Bears on the top line.

Auto bids in bold.

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