We’re halfway through championship week, and 14 teams have punched their ticket to the Big Dance. From Robert Morris to Weber State, fans and players are celebrating conference championships and automatic bids. For many, a mere invitation to the NCAA Tournament is worthy of an all-night party.

But for bubble teams in power conferences, coaches’ livelihoods depend on their ability to regularly lead their team to the promised land of the NCAA Tournament. With second-round losses in the Big East tournament, Seton Hall and South Florida can only return home and wait anxiously for Selection Sunday. With a blowout loss to St. John’s in the opening round, Connecticut almost certainly will be looking at an NIT invitation rather than an NCAA Tournament bid.

The inability of Big East bubble teams to make a deep run helps the likes of Illinois, Minnesota, San Diego State and Washington. As those teams’ conference tournaments kick into full gear Thursday and Friday, they will look to accomplish what their bubble brethren could not: earn their way into the NCAA Tournament. And opportunities abound thanks to surprisingly few upsets in conference tournaments so far.

The dominant mid-major teams have done the power conference bubble teams a favor during the past week by winning their conference tournaments. Northern Iowa, Old Dominion and Butler would have likely received at-large invitations to the NCAA Tournament if they needed one. But all three won their conferences’ automatic bids, likely rendering the Missouri Valley Conference, Colonial Athletic Association and Horizon League one-bid conferences.

Because no team from outside the bubble has earned its way into the field, the latest Mock Tournament projected field remains the same. However, the shape of the bubble is shifting, with Dayton, Rhode Island, Washington, Memphis and San Diego State poised to play their way into the field. South Florida is eminently vulnerable after losing to Georgetown Wednesday. Illinois, Florida and Mississippi also figure to be replaced by one of the teams on the wrong side of the bubble if they falter in their conference tournament openers.

The light at the end of the tunnel is within view, but for nearly a dozen teams on the cusp of reaching the tournament, there’s plenty of work still to go.

Here are the latest brackets and links to previous projections.

• Mock Tournament 6.0
• Mock Tournament 5.0
• Mock Tournament 4.0
• Mock Tournament 3.0
• Mock Tournament 2.0
• Mock Tournament 1.0

Teams in bold have won an automatic bid.