Thursday, March 10, 2005

Bracketology 101's Field of 65 - March 12

Here are Chris and Craig's Field of 65 for March 12. This will be our last update before Sunday afternoon's final bracket.

Changes From Last Bracket
In: Iowa, Bucknell
Out: Xavier, Holy Cross
Automatics: Bucknell

Breakdown

Two more teams eliminated themselves on Friday (Indiana and Virginia Tech), while Miami-Ohio seriously damaged their chances. Iowa has come out of no where to win 5 in a row and play themselves in. They have finally proved that they can win without Pierce and at the moment are looking fairly safe for a bid. Things should be very clear after Saturday's games play out.

Many teams have the opportunity to claim automatic bids and not have to worry about their at-large chances. Vermont has had a weak finish and a home loss to end the season would not look good for them so they need to beat Northeastern today. New Mexico does not want to rest their fate in the hands of the committee. Their only quality victory was against Utah and their out of conference schedule was disgusting. UTEP would be safe if they were playing Nevada today but a loss to Boise St. is a bad loss and they would be in trouble. George Washington has a weak RPI but some good wins out of conference (Michigan St. and Maryland). Their 5 A-10 losses does not look good for them though, especially considering how poorly the A-10 is rated. Buffalo is streaking at the right time and if they don't win today they are probably the only MAC team at this point who has a shot at a at-large bid, but without a big out of conference victory they don't want to leave their fate up to the committee.

UAB will now have be on pins and needles until Sunday evening after their loss to Louisville. DePaul and UAB will both be huge Lousiville fans today because a Memphis win means that one of them isn't going dancin'. Notre Dame will also be cheering hard for Louisville, Pacific, GW, Utah, UTEP, and Buffalo. A loss by any of these teams and their chances are likely killed. Our next update will come on Sunday afternoon.


Conference Breakdown
Big East (6), Big XII (6), ACC (5), C-USA (5), SEC (5), Big Ten (5), PAC-10 (4), Big West (2), MVC (2), MWC (2), WAC (2), WCC (2).

Last Four In
Iowa, New Mexico, UAB, DePaul

Last Four Out
Notre Dame, Maryland, Northern Iowa, Miami-Ohio

The Field Of 65

America East
Vermont

A-10
George Washington

ACC
North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke, Georgia Tech, NC State

Atlantic Sun

CENTRAL FLORIDA

Big 12

Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Texas Tech, Texas, Iowa State

Big East

Boston College, Connecticut, Syracuse, Villanova, Pittsburgh, West Virginia

Big Sky

MONTANA

Big South

WINTHROP

Big Ten

Illinois, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa

Big West

Utah State, Pacific

Colonial

OLD DOMINION

C-USA
Louisville, Charlotte, Cincinnati, UAB, DePaul

Horizon
WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE

Ivy
PENN

MAAC
NIAGARA

MCC
OAKLAND

MAC
Buffalo

MEAC
Delaware State

MVC
CREIGHTON, Southern Illinois

MWC
New Mexico, Utah

Northeast
FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON

Ohio Valley
EASTERN KENTUCKY

PAC-10
Arizona, Washington, UCLA, Stanford

Patriot
BUCKNELL

SEC
Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi State, Florida, LSU

Southern
TENNESSEE-CHATTANOOGA

Southland
SE Louisiana

SWAC
Alabama A&M

Sun Belt
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE

WCC
GONZAGA, St. Mary's

WAC
Nevada, UTEP

The Seeds

The 1s
Illinois, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Kansas

The 2s

Duke, Kentucky, Arizona, Louisville

The 3s

Oklahoma, Washington, Oklahoma State, Connecticut

The 4s
Boston College, GONZAGA, Alabama, Syracuse

The 5s
Michigan State, Utah, Villanova, Wisconsin

The 6s
Florida, Pacific, LSU, Cincinnati

The 7s
Pittsburgh, Texas Tech, Minnesota, Southern Illinois

The 8s
West Virginia, Mississippi State, Georgia Tech, Charlotte

The 9s
Nevada, Iowa State, Texas, Stanford

The 10s
UCLA, NC State, St. Mary's, Iowa

The 11s
CREIGHTON, UTEP, George Washington, Vermont

The 12s
Buffalo, DePaul, UAB, New Mexico

The 13s
OLD DOMINION, WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE, Utah State, PENNSYLVANIA

The 14s
BUCKNELL, WINTHROP, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE, NIAGARA

The 15s
TENNESSEE-CHATTANOOGA, CENTRAL FLORIDA, EASTERN KENTUCKY, SE Louisiana

The 16s
MONTANA, Delaware State, FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON, Alabama A&M (Play-In Game), OAKLAND (Play-In Game)

Small conference CAPS denotes automatic bid earned.

Questions? Comments? E-mail Chris and Craig at bracketologyblog@yahoo.com

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you think that Memphis deserves a bid? They held Louisville tough and were 2 points away from going to the dance

Anonymous said...

Does Maryland have any bit of a chance considering they beat Duke twice and beat Georgia Tech?

Bracketology 101 said...

In a word...no. The Terps lost their last four games (two to Clemson, and three overall to Clemson on the season.) Sweep of Duke and win over GT is all they can hang their hat on at this point and they have no good out-of-conference wins, plus the committee strongly considers how you are playing down the stretch. It's hard to find a bubble team in more of a a tailspin down the stretch than Maryland (4-6 last 10). It also didn't help the Terps that fellow bubble dwellers NC State and Iowa (who's definitely in) had a good showing at the ACC Tournament, and that New Mexico and Ohio stole bids. In the end, the Terps' chances are slim to none at best.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on sticking with SE Louisiana in the Southland. The Lions are playing on the road in the tourney final Sunday, have a key starter out for the game (Neill Berry) and are seeing teams shamelessy smother and goad into foul trouble their 6-10 center, Nate Lofton. Here's hoping Lofton and the Lions make the NCAAs. Lofton will play in the NBA. How often do you see a double-digit scorer at center who also leads his team in rebounds, blocked shots, steals AND assists? And he's an extraordinary team leader to boot. Billy Kennedy, who coaches Lofton, has had only one other player whom he rates a better passer than Lofton. While an assistant at Cal, Kennedy coached some cat by the name of Kidd. ... With one of the best small forwards in the country in Ricky Woods, a sound point guard in Terry Bryant and a stellar team defensive identity, SLU packs the tools to approach that rarest of NCAA summits: a No. 15 seed upset of a No. 2.

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