Teams with Lock status have at least a 95% chance to make the tournament, according to the BPI forecast. (Yes, this means that 5% of the time, a team marked as a lock will miss the tourney. We set the threshold there as a nod to the traditional standard for significance testing.)

The countdown to March Madness is on. The beloved annual tradition that is the NCAA Tournament will begin in just a few weeks.

The first games for the men's tournament will be played on Tuesday, March 18. On the women's side, the first slate of games comes on Wednesday, March 19. These games will be the "First Four" qualifiers that determine the 16-seed for each bracket. The NIT will be played concurrently and thus will also begin on March 18.

No matter how the rest of the season or the SEC Tournament pans out for the Auburn Tigers, they will be heading to the NCAA Tournament, likely as a No. 1 seed. Bruce Pearl’s group has held down the No.