I think the automatic bids are ridiculos. It is hurting the game to have subpar teams with bids, and deservin gteams without. The west obviously has no team that can run with the top teams in the country and therefore is undeserving of a bid. Soon once every D1 conference is given an automatic bid the tournament is going to be a joke. (Who wants to see the wimmer of the MAAC in the dance?) The committee should take a hard look at the way in which bids are determined and see what is wrong with it. Either expand the field or increase the number of teams,there is no way around it.