The NCAA recently released the qualifying allocations per conference for the 2019 NCAA Tournament, as well as the latest coaches' poll and RPI ratings used to determine those allocations. You can read more about those auto bids here. 

Below, we breakdown the coaches' poll and RPI rating separately, assigning hypothetical NCAA placement and advancement points (but ignoring potential bonus points) to the top 24 wrestlers in each ranking. This is the same method we use to determine the team tournament rankings in our NCAA top 20 rankings. 

Team Points According to the Coaches' Poll

Not a surprise to see Penn State way out in front. The Nittany Lions have a similar size lead in the FloWrestling team rankings. Four other teams, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Michigan and Iowa, are expected to be in the hunt for the three other team trophies, at least according to the coaches.

The RPI Ratings provide for a few more unexpected results. However, it's important to remember the RPI is a relatively simple metric that only factors in three things: a wrestler's winning percentage, the winning percentage of a wrestler's opponents and the winning percentage of the opponents of a wrestler's opponents.

Team Points According to the RPI

No disrespect to the Buckeyes, but they are still very much underdogs to win an NCAA team title in Pittsburgh, despite what the RPI ratings might have you believe. 

Since the Coaches' Poll appears more accurate, or at least lines up better with conventional wisdom, let's revisit those numbers, but breakdown the hypothetical NCAA Tournament team points by conference as well as weight class. That table is below.

NCAA Team Points By Conference According to the Coaches' Poll

You expect to see the Big Ten with the most team points, although perhaps the magnitude of the conference's lead is surprising. Additionally, the Big Ten is expected to score more team points than any other conference at all 10 weight classes. 

That's pretty impressive dominance. However, these numbers don't quite tell the whole story. The Big Ten conference is also one of the largest conferences in Division 1, with 14 wrestling programs. By contrast, the ACC has only six members with wrestling teams. To account for this discrepancy, we can divide the expected NCAA team points by the number of programs in each conference get new, per school team points. That new table is below. 

NCAA Team Points Per School By Conference According to the Coaches' Poll

The ACC leapfrogs the Big 12 and establishes itself as the second most competitive conference. ACC schools are expected to score more team points on average in the 149- and 184-pound weight classes than Big Ten school. Furthermore, the ACC has distinguished itself by earning the most auto bids per school. Kudos to all the coaches and student-athletes involved in that achievement!