| Year | Diff. | Cut line | In NCAA | In Z-Bracket | At-large bids to non-BCS teams | |
| Z-Bracket | NCAA | |||||
| 2012 Bracket & Process Ratings |
4 | 48 | South Florida (51) Colorado State (52) Xavier (57) Iona (82) |
Northwestern (37) Minnesota (42) Illinois (46) Seton Hall (48) |
8 | 11 |
| 2011 Bracket & Process Ratings |
4 | 49 | Tennessee (50) UAB (52) Va. Commonwealth (67) Southern California (70) |
Virginia Tech(40) Colorado (47) Northwestern (48) Boston College(49) |
5 | 7 |
| 2010 Bracket Process Ratings |
2 | 45 | Minnesota (54) Utah State (59) |
Virginia Tech (31) Seton Hall (38) |
7 | 8 |
| 2009 Bracket Process Ratings |
3 | 41 | Arizona (44) Tennessee (48) Dayton (53) |
Penn State (28) Miami (FL) (40) Northwestern (41) |
3 | 4 |
| 2008 Bracket Process Ratings |
3 | 44 | Kentucky (51) South Alabama (57) St. Joseph's (63) |
Arizona State (34) Illinois State (40) Ohio State (44) |
5 | 6 |
| 2007 Bracket Process Ratings |
4 | 43 | Arkansas (44) Texas Tech (53) Xavier (57) Old Dominion (69) |
Clemson (28) Florida State (32) West Virginia (42) Air Force (43) |
5 | 6 |
| 2006 Bracket Process Ratings |
6 | 44 | Alabama (46) California (48) Bradley (51) Air Force (55) George Mason (57) Utah State (71) |
Michigan (29) Cincinnati (33) Florida State (37) Maryland (40) Louisville (42) Missouri State (43) |
5 | 8 |
| 2005 Bracket Process Ratings |
3 | 44* | St. Mary's (46) UAB (57) Northern Iowa (58) |
Texas A&M (37) Notre Dame (41) Indiana (44) |
6 | 9 |
| 2004 Bracket Process Ratings |
8 | 43 | Michigan State (44) BYU (45) UAB (46) Dayton (48) UTEP (51) Air Force (52) Washington (55) Richmond (59) |
Virginia (26) Florida State (27) LSU (31) Georgia (32) Oklahoma (39) Utah State (41) Tennessee (42) Notre Dame (43) |
7 | 12 |
| 2003 Bracket Process Ratings |
2 | 44* | Gonzaga (45) Cincinnati (46) |
Tennessee (39) Texas Tech (43) |
8 | 10 |
The ratings linked to in each year are those through Selection Sunday - i.e., those used to construct the Z-Bracket.
Diff. : number of at-large selections that differed between the Z-Bracket and the NCAA bracket.
Cut line: the ranking of the last at-large team to make the field.
The asterisks in the "cut line" column indicate that a team that was ineligible for postseason play was ranked high enough to receive an at-large bid. The specific teams were Georgia in 2003 and Ohio State in 2005.
"In NCAA", and "In Z-Bracket" : the names and rankings of the teams left out of one bracket or the other.
The last two columns are shown to demonstrate that in every year that the bracket has been constructed, selection of the at-large teams purely by the Z-Ratings would have resulted in a net transfer of berths to the six BCS conferences (the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-12, and Southeastern).