In Reply to: Small boost in NET rank posted by Dr.Bruin on January 21, 2026 at 15:15:48
There is a factor outside of teams' control. The number of conferences (of the 31) that have no teams that would get in the tournament with an *at-large bid*. That number usually varies between 18-21. They will get a "weak" automatic bid.
Also there is the occasional conference which has one team which should would get an *at-large bid* and should win their conf. tournament, but gets upset. Then 2 teams get in from that conference (the spot coming from one of the top 40-43 NET teams.