First of all, I want to apologize for not posting anything in several days. I have a TON of stuff I want to write about concerning college hoops (expect plenty of bracket “analysis” after they come out), but I first I wanted to publish my own “bracketology” before the brackets come out to see how close I come. The following seedings are what I would vote for, if I had a vote (not what I think they will be, though I hope that they are close). Also, they are all assuming the following results today:
- N.Carolina beats Clemson
- Kansas beats Texas
- Arkansas beats Georgia
- Wisconsin beats Illinois
- Northwestern St. beats TX-Arlington (though this doesn’t matter because the winner is going to end up in Dayton on Tuesday night against Coppin St.)
Okay, here is what I would like the bracket to look like (ps…I don’t know how close this is to Joe Lunardi’s bracket on ESPN because I haven’t checked that in a while. If it is very similar, I apologize, but feel pretty good about myself. I’m guessing it is not):
#1 SEEDS:
North Carolina
Memphis
UCLA
Kansas
#2 SEEDS:
Tennessee
Texas
Wisconsin
Stanford
#3 SEEDS:
Duke
Xavier
Pittsburgh
Georgetown
#4 SEEDS:
Clemson
Drake
Louisville
Butler
#5 SEEDS:
Purdue
Washington St.
USC
Notre Dame
#6 SEEDS:
Vanderbilt
Mississippi St.
Connecticut
W.Virginia
#7 SEEDS:
BYU
Indiana
Marquette
Arkansas
#8 SEEDS:
Michigan St.
Oklahoma
Kent St.
UNLV
#9 SEEDS:
Miami (FL)
Texas A&M
Gonzaga
Kansas St.
#10 SEEDS:
Arizona
St. Mary’s
Temple
Davidson
#11 SEEDS:
S.Alabama
Oregon
St. Joe’s
Baylor
#12 SEEDS:
George Mason
San Diego
Illinois St.
W.Kentucky
#13 SEEDS:
Kentucky
VCU
Austin Peay
Boise St.
#14 SEEDS:
Winthrop
Oral Roberts
CS-Fullerton
Cornell
#15 SEEDS:
UMBC
Belmont
Siena
Portland St.
#16 SEEDS:
Mississippi Valley St.
Mount St. Mary’s
American
PLAY-IN GAME
Northwestern St.
Coppin St.
-The 1 and 2 seeds are pretty clear-cut, huh?
-Pitt as a 3-seed. Pretty amazing considering the injuries they’ve had.
-Drake and Butler as 4’s. That’s probably right. It’ll be interesting to see if they penalize these teams for not really having many big-time wins, even though their SOS is actually pretty decent, I think. But how many tourney-bound teams did they beat?
-I think Temple gets a 12 or maybe 11, and I’m happy about that. Much easier road to the Sweet 16 if you don’t have to deal with one of those 2-seeds in the second round. You could also throw Duke in there as a team they wouldn’t beat in Round 2. But I could see them possibly knocking off the other 3’s and the 4’s.
Also, only 4 ACC teams in. That’s pretty awesome.
PITT–ya, i think the committee will (and should) evaluate the Pitt team that is going into the tournament. the one with Fields that started like 13-0 and ended with a Big East title. i think (and the committee will probably think) that the Pitt team that started the season and ended the season is one of the 12 best teams in the country.
ACC–it is awesome, and i think it’s pretty clearly heading in that direction. in fact, i don’t think miami is a 100% lock. i would be pretty surprised if they missed it, but i don’t think it’s a stone-cold lock. and va tech simply doesn’t deserve to be in, i’m sorry. their best non-conference win was st. john’s. are they one of the 34 best at-large teams? probably. would they beat VCU and illinois st. on a neutral floor? probably. does their resume prove that? no.
1/2 SEEDS–ya, i think that Duke, Xavier and G’town all had a shot to dislodge Wisconsin and/or Stanford, but they all didn’t do what they needed to do. i think that Stanford is safe and Wisconsin is pretty safe, regardless. though, if they lose to Illinois today, there will be a conversation of moving up Duke or Xavier or G’town. hey, if clemson can beat UNC, maybe they have a case for a #2, but this was done under the assumption that UNC wins that game
DRAKE/BUTLER–i almost put Drake as a #3. they dominated a decent league and have some really good out-of-conf wins, including at Butler. i think Purdue and Butler are very close, but the edge went to Butler because they dominated their conference tournament and Purdue didn’t even win a game in theirs