As we are now counting down the hours until tonight’s NAIA Men’s Bracket Reveal, we take a deep dive around the NAIA Bubble, to help everyone know what all to watch for tonight! As we stand right now, 38 of the 39 auto-bids are filled. Which leaves 1 auto-bid and 25 at-large selections left. The latest ARC Ratings were posted this morning, so here is a run down of where we stand headed into tonight’s selection show!

Selection Show Information

• Thursday, March 3, 7 p.m. CST | Live National Championship Bracket Reveal | Watch Live on Facebook
  • NAIA National Championship Opening Round | March 11-12, 2022
  • NAIA National Championship | March 17-23, 2022

NAIA National Championship Auto-Bids

ARC Ratings – Final

• ARC Link: NAIA Men’s Basketball ARC
• RPI/SOS Link: NAIA Men’s Basketball RPI/SOS

There is a lot to dive into here with the Final ARC Ratings. These help to paint the picture better across the country on who may or may not be getting in. We are getting a flurry of information coming in right now some of which changes the way we structured our Final Bracketology Report. We are going to be putting out a Revised Final Bracketology Report here after bit. This is the first year with a 64-team field so some of the information has been coming in fast and we pride ourselves (and are a bit competitive) on being the BEST, so that is why Red Banner has elected to do a final, final bracket in hopes of trying to go perfect for a 2nd straight year! With the new ARC’s in mind, this is how we see things transpiring tonight:

Great Lakes/South

• Prediction: 17 Teams Qualify
• Who’s In?
  • 8 auto-bids: Thomas More, Indiana Wesleyan, Grace, Georgetown, Indiana Tech, IU Kokomo, WVU Tech, Lourdes
• Non Auto-bid Locks?
  • Marian, St Francis, Cumberland (TN), Huntington, UT Southern
• Who Should Be In?
  • Cumberlands (KY)
• Who’s on the Bubble?
  • Freed-Hardeman, Cornerstone, Mount Vernon Nazarene

West

• Prediction: 11 Teams Qualify
• Who’s In?
  • 7 Auto-Bids: Arizona Christian, College of Idaho, Montana Tech, Ottawa( AZ), Oregon Tech, St Katherine, BenU Mesa
• Non Auto-bid Locks?
  • Carroll, William Jessup, Hope International
• Who Should Be In?
  • N/A
• Who’s on the Bubble?
  • Lewis Clark St, Vanguard, Montana Western

North-Central

• Prediction: 8 Teams Qualify
• Who’s In?
  • 6 Auto-Bids: Olivet Nazarene, Concordia (NE), IU South Bend, Briar Cliff, IU Northwest, Bellevue
• Non Auto-bid Locks?
  • Jamestown
• Who Should Be In?
  • Northwestern
• Who’s on the Bubble?
  • Dordt, Doane

Midwest

• Prediction: 9 Teams Qualify
• Who’s In?
  • 6 auto-bids: William Penn, Oklahoma Wesleyan, Bethel (KS), Evangel, Missouri Baptist, Grand View**
    • ** – We heard a couple weeks back that the Heart would get 4 in if CMU gets an at-large slot. If true, Benedictine or Grand View gets the Heart Host auto-bid.
• Non Auto-Bid Locks?
  • Southwestern (KS), Kansas Wesleyan, Central Methodist
• Who Should Be In?
  • N/A
• Who’s on the Bubble?
  • Ottawa (KS), Benedictine (KS)

Southwest

• Prediction: 9 Teams Qualify
• Who’s In?
  • 6 auto-bids: Science & Arts (OK), LSU Shreveport, SAGU, Xavier, Florida College, Washington Adventist
• Non Auto-bid Locks?
  • N/A
• Who Should be In?
  • N/A
• Who’s on the Bubble?
  • MACU, LSU Alexandria, Oklahoma City, Texarkana, Wayland Baptist

Southeast

• Prediction: 10 Teams Qualify
• Who’s In?
  • 6 Auto-bids: Loyola, Talladega, Union, Florida Memorial, Montreat, Tougaloo
• Non Auto-bid Locks?
  • Faulkner, Stillman
• Who Should be In?
  • Southeastern (FL)
• Who’s on the Bubble?
  • Warner, Reinhardt, Ave Maria

Bubble Teams

We could obviously be wrong in our predictions, but we have it down to 18 teams on the Bubble with only 8 slots open.

• The Complete Bubble Pool
  • Freed-Hardeman, Cornerstone, Mount Vernon Nazarene, Lewis Clark St, Vanguard, Montana Western, Dordt, Doane, Ottawa (KS), Benedictine (KS), MACU, LSU Alexandria, Oklahoma City, Texarkana, Wayland Baptist, Warner, Reinhardt, Ave Maria
• The Teams We Have Predicted In
  • Freed-Hardeman
  • Cornerstone
  • MVNU
  • Lewis-Clark St
  • MACU
  • LSU Alexandria (Host 1st Rd Site)
  • Oklahoma City
  • Warner