B101's Weekday Tweets - Tuesday

Our quick thoughts on Tuesday's results:

Chalk up two for the road teams in the Big 10 as Purdue took down Michigan State and Illinois shocked Wisconsin. It was just over a week ago when the Spartans were sitting at 9-0 with a multiple game lead, now there are 5 teams within a game of each other. On the top of the heap are the Illini, winners of 5 in a row. After their win over the Badgers talk can start to transition from whether or not they will make the tourney to whether or not they will win the Big 10. The Boilermakers now have to be viewed as the favorites though. Four of their last seven are at home and they get both the Illini and Spartans in West Lafayette. If they are able to distance themselves from the pack they would be in great position to pick up a 1 seed should any of our current teams there slip.

The second highest seed in the SEC is no longer Tennessee. That honor now belongs to Vanderbilt, which completed a season sweep of the Vols by blowing them out 90-71 in Nashville. Jeffery Taylor scored a career-high 26 points to lead the Commodores, who are now just a half game behind Kentucky in conference with the win. They play five of their next six games at home (where they still have not lost this season), so they might stay a top-four seed for a while. Tennessee, meanwhile, has to regroup quickly and get ready for a trip to Lexington this weekend. An 0-2 week will drop the Vols to a low 5 seed at best next week.

VCU's stay in our bracket may be short-lived. The Rams dropped a heartbreaker in overtime at George Mason after blowing a 13 point halftime lead. They had been our flavor of the week out of the Colonial having won 8 of 9 and considering that the conference tourney is being held in the backyard. The conference tourney is as wide open as any and we'd give 5 or 6 teams a chance to win it but we'll wait for the rest of the games to play out this week before picking our horse. The loss for VCU means the only team with any at-large hopes is ODU. The Monarchs would need at least a share of the regular season title or a BracketBuster win against Northern Iowa and a run to the conference final to have any chance.

Losses don't get more resume-killing than the one Wichita State suffered on Tuesday night. The Shockers fell 65-62 on the road to Evansville, which came into the game a cool 0-13 in the MVC. It's safe to say we won't be talking about Wichita much anymore. Their at-large chances are toast.

Of note: Georgetown won at Providence (Greg Monroe had 12 points and 12 assists for the Hoyas in the win); Wake Forest beat Boston College at home; Kentucky took care of Alabama.

B101's Questions For The Competition

Questions For The Competition is a weekly column that addresses our issues with the brackets of other bracketology "experts." This week's questions are reserved for ESPN's Joe Lunardi, SI.com's Andy Glockner, and CBSSports.com and CollegeRPI.com's Jerry Palm. Keep in mind that these questions are about each expert's most recent bracket, all of which were released before Monday's games.

Joe Lunardi (ESPN) - Feb. 8 Bracket
You aren't the only person to (stupidly) have this, but if the season ended today, the A-10 would really get as many bids as the Big East? Really??

Not only do you only have six Big East teams in, your last FIVE teams out are all from the Big East? Way to make the tough decisions on the bubble, Joe.

We're happy to see you finally put Florida in...welcome to reality.

How is St. Mary's a 9? They have a better resume than Florida?

How is BYU still a 4 seed after losing at UNLV?

Andy Glockner (SI.com) - Feb. 8 Bracket
You did Lunardi one better - six A-10 and FIVE Big East? There is a zero percent chance that the second best league in the country (RPI-wise at least) would get as many as the sixth best conference.

Why did you hate on Virginia Tech on Twitter...and then put them in your bracket? (We knew you'd have the Hokies in.)

How is Cal an 8 seed?

Jerry Palm (CBS, CollegeRPI.com) - Feb. 8 Bracket
How is Temple still a 3 seed after losing at Richmond?

Not only do you have six A-10 teams in, you have them all getting single digit seeds? Obsessed with the RPI much? How is Dayton an 8?

How is Oklahoma State a 9?

B101's Weekday Tweets - Monday

Our quick thoughts on Monday's results:

It might be time to start panicking in Austin. Texas' month-long free-fall - which has now resulted in five losses in seven games - continued in pretty convincing fashion on Monday night, as the Longhorns got stomped 80-68 at home by No. 1 Kansas. The Jayhawks looked every bit the nation's top-ranked team in this one, using a 22-0 run midway through the first half to put the game out of reach. Texas got as close as eight in the second half, but Marcus Morris (18 points), Sherron Collins (15), and Xavier Henry (15) made sure the Longhorns' comeback attempt ended there. Texas shot just 37 percent for the game and committed 17 turnovers, and their only real bright spot was the play of freshman J'Covan Brown, who scored a season-high 28 points. Next up for the Longhorns is a home game against Nebraska on Saturday. and then a two-game trip to Missouri and Texas Tech next week. A loss in any of those games will knock Texas down a couple of seed lines in our bracket. As it is, they're a sinking 4 seed, and they currently sit alone in fifth in the Big XII standings.

Villanova avoided back-to-back losses with an impressive road win at West Virginia. The Wildcats led the game throughout, and Scottie Reynolds scored 21 points to headline a balanced 'Nova offense that shot a blistering 57 percent from the field. The win virtually assures that the Wildcats' Feb. 27th game with Syracuse will be for the Big East regular season title. Next up for 'Nova is a pair of home games against Providence (Saturday) and UConn (Monday) and then a final stretch that includes road games with Pitt and Syracuse and a rematch with West Virginia. The Mountaineers, meanwhile, have to regroup and get ready for a rematch of their own against Pitt - who they beat less than a week ago - in a rare Friday night affair. Hopefully the fans in the "Oakland Zoo" behave a little better than their West Virginia counterparts.

Head-scratcher: The Citadel 72, Charleston 65.

Of note: Butler beat Loyola (IL) at home; Pittsburgh beat Robert Morris at home; Siena beat Fairfield at home; Morgan State beat Bethune-Cookman at home; Jackson State beat Southern at home.

Bracketology 101's Field of 65 - Feb. 8

After a whirlwind couple of weeks, this week's bracket was considerably easier to put together. That's because with the exception of Mississippi State, Cincinnati, and Wichita State, all of our bubble teams fared very well last week and were able to maintain their places in the field as a result. Maryland won at Florida State and at home against North Carolina to move up three seed lines, Virginia Tech beat Carolina and Clemson at home to move up to an 11 seed, Marquette won two games to move from a 12 to a 10, and Illinois upset Michigan State to keep their spot on the 12 line.

The biggest storyline of the week turned out to be the addition of Richmond to the field as the fifth A-10 bid. We have been very reluctant to give the A-10 a fifth bid all season, based on history and the rationale that a perfect storm of events would have to happen for five teams to accumulate at-large resumes. But the overall softness of the bubble, the increasing likelihood that the Pac-10 will be a one-bid league, and Richmond's big win over Temple have all made us change our mind this week. We think there is a good chance now that the A-10 gets five bids, and this week the Spiders are that fifth team. Dayton, after its big home win over Xavier, tops the Last Four Out list.

The only other significant changes to the bracket this week were the inclusions of Louisville and St. Mary's. Louisville replaced Cincinnati as the Big East seventh bid because of its 6-4 conference record and the fact that we like the Cardinals' remaining schedule better than we like South Florida's, Cincinnati's, or Notre Dame's. After a very extended stay on the Last Eight Out list, St. Mary's cracked the field this week for a couple of reasons. First, we think the Gaels have an outside shot to win at Gonzaga on Thursday (they have to know their at-large hopes are riding on that game). We also like that, if you look closely, the Gaels don't have a poor OOC resume when compared to some of the other flawed teams on the bubble. St. Mary's won at Utah State, which is slowly becoming at-large worthy itself, and they also have wins against SDSU, Northeastern, and at Oregon. That's not an eye-popping resume by any stretch, but it may be enough if the rest of the big conference bubble teams keep shooting themselves in the foot.

Seed-wise, the biggest jumps this week were made by Texas A&M (from a 9 to a 6), and Northern Iowa and UNLV (from 9s to 7s.) The biggest drops were Florida State (from a 7 to a 9) and Clemson (from an 8 to a 10). The only team we had to move for grouping purposes was Illinois. The Illini would have been an 11 seed, but had to be moved down to the 12 line to avoid grouping issues.

Bracket Breakdown
Last Four In
Illinois, Louisville, Oklahoma State, St. Mary's

Last Four Out
Dayton, Wichita State, South Florida, Cincinnati

Next Four Out
Old Dominion, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Mississippi State

---------------------------------------------------------------

Conference Breakdown
ACC (7), Big XII (7), Big East (7), A-10 (5), Big Ten (5), SEC (5), MWC (3), C-USA (2), WCC (2)

America East - Stony Brook

ACC - Duke, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Florida State, Clemson, Virginia Tech

Atlantic Sun - Lipscomb

A-10 - Temple, Charlotte, Xavier, Rhode Island, Richmond

Big East - Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Marquette, Louisville

Big Sky - Weber State

Big South - Coastal Carolina

Big Ten - Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State, Illinois

Big XII - Kansas, Kansas State, Texas, Baylor, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M

Big West - UC-Santa Barbara

Colonial - VCU

Conference USA - UTEP, UAB

Horizon - Butler

Ivy - Cornell

MAAC - Siena

MAC - Kent State

MEAC - Morgan State

MVC - Northern Iowa

MWC - New Mexico, BYU, UNLV

Northeast - Robert Morris

Ohio Valley - Murray State

Pac-10 - California

Patriot - Lehigh

SEC - Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida, Mississippi

Southern - Charleston

Southland - Sam Houston State

Summit - Oakland

Sun Belt - Middle Tennessee State

SWAC - Jackson State

WAC - Utah State

WCC - Gonzaga, St. Mary's

----------------------------------------------------------------

The Seeds
The 1s
Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky, Villanova

The 2s
Georgetown, Purdue, Duke, West Virginia

The 3s
Wisconsin, Michigan State, Kansas State, Ohio State

The 4s
Texas, Tennessee, Wake Forest, Gonzaga

The 5s
New Mexico, Vanderbilt, Temple, Butler

The 6s
Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, BYU, Pittsburgh

The 7s
UNLV, Northern Iowa, Florida, Baylor

The 8s
Charlotte, Xavier, Missouri, Maryland

The 9s
Mississippi, Rhode Island, Florida State, UAB

The 10s
Clemson, Cornell, Richmond, Marquette

The 11s
Siena, VCU, Virginia Tech, California

The 12s
Illinois, Louisville, UTEP, Oklahoma State

The 13s
St. Mary's, Utah State, Charleston, Oakland

The 14s
Kent State, Murray State, Weber State, UC-Santa Barbara

The 15s
Coastal Carolina, Morgan State, Sam Houston State, Stony Brook

The 16s
Robert Morris, Lipscomb, Middle Tennessee State, Lehigh (Play-In Game), Jackson State (Play-In Game)

The Bracket
(Bracket courtesy Matt Reeves)












Questions? Comments? E-mail Bracketology 101 at bracketologyblog@yahoo.com

B101 on FOX Sports & Yahoo!

Every Monday, our weekly Field of 65 and a brief analysis of each team is featured on the college basketball page of FOXSports.com. Our Feb. 8 bracket can be viewed here.

We have also partnered up with Yahoo!'s college basketball blog, The Dagger, as one of the voters in their weekly Blogger Power Poll. This week's poll can be viewed here.