Sunday, January 15, 2006

Bracketology 101's Field of 65 - Jan. 15

Here is Chris and Craig's latest field:

Last Four In
Mississippi, Wichita State, Miami (FL), Kentucky

Last Four Out
Wake Forest, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Clemson

Conference Breakdown
(Automatic bids in multiple-bid conferences in CAPS, unless otherwise noted)
Big East (8), SEC (7), Big Ten (7), ACC (6), Big 12 (4), MVC (4), PAC-10 (3), C-USA (2), A-10 (2)

America East - Albany

ACC - DUKE, NC State, North Carolina, Maryland, Boston College, Miami (FL)

Atlantic Sun - Florida Atlantic

A-10 - GEORGE WASHINGTON, Xavier

Big East - UCONN, Pittsburgh, Villanova, West Virginia, Syracuse, Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette

Big Sky - Montana

Big South - Winthrop

Big Ten - ILLINOIS, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Indiana, Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan

Big 12 - TEXAS, Iowa State, Nebraska, Oklahoma

Big West - UC-Irvine

Colonial - Old Dominion

C-USA - MEMPHIS (automatic), UAB

Horizon - Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Ivy - Penn

Metro Atlantic - Manhattan

MAC - Ohio

MCC - Valparaiso

MEAC - Delaware State

MVC - NORTHERN IOWA, Southern Illinois, Creighton, Wichita State

MWC - Air Force

Northeast - Robert Morris

Ohio Valley - Murray State

PAC-10 - WASHINGTON (automatic), UCLA, Arizona

Patriot - Bucknell

SEC - FLORIDA (automatic), Tennessee, Vanderbilt, LSU, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky

Southern - Davidson

Southland - Northwestern State

SWAC - Southern

Sun Belt - Western Kentucky

WCC - Gonzaga

WAC - Nevada

The Seeds

The 1s
Duke, Florida, Memphis, UConn

The 2s
Texas, Pittsburgh, Villanova, Illinois

The 3s
Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Michigan State, NC State

The 4s
Washington, Indiana, Ohio State, UCLA

The 5s
West Virginia, George Washington, Syracuse, Iowa

The 6s
North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, Bucknell

The 7s
Cincinnati, Northern Iowa, Vanderbilt, Iowa State

The 8s
Nevada, UAB, Louisville, Southern Illinois

The 9s
Boston College, Air Force, Old Dominion, Xavier

The 10s
Nebraska, Michigan, Arizona, LSU

The 11s
Creighton, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Marquette

The 12s
Mississippi, Wichita State, Miami (FL), Kentucky

The 13s
Winthrop, Western Kentucky, Manhattan, Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The 14s
Ohio, Montana, Davidson, Valparaiso

The 15s
Albany, Penn, Northwestern State, Murray State

The 16s
Robert Morris, UC-Irvine, Delaware State, Florida Atlantic (Play-In Game), Southern (Play-In Game)

The Bracket

This Week's Bracket

Bracket courtesy Matt Reeves

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

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

You totally forgot Iowa.

Bracketology 101 said...

Check again...Iowa is our last No. 5 seed.

Anonymous said...

You still have Oral Roberts listed as the Mid-Con auto berth, but you list Valpo as a 14 seed. I assume you just forgot to replace ORU with Valpo in the top portion.

Bracketology 101 said...

You are correct. Thanks for checking our work. Oral Roberts has proved to be a major disappointment so far this season.

Tony said...

The Big West is represented by UC-Irvine, not Cal State Irvine! Go Anteaters!

Anonymous said...

its funny how Kentucky is in your bracket but Kansas is not. was a 27 point head to head drubbing not enough for you guys? There is no way the SEC deserves 6 bids to only 4 Big 12. Ole Miss does not belong in the dance. New Mexico ripped them apart.

LMAO @ UK in tourney over KU.

Bracketology 101 said...

A couple quickies...

Thanks for the Irvine corection. UC it is.

The Kentucky-Kansas-Mississippi debate is a good one. True, Kentucky has hit a tough stretch, but they also have an RPI 60 points higher than Kansas and have wins (West Virginia, Louisville, Ohio) that Kansas doesn't have. They also have Randolph Morris back, which while it hasn't seemed to help so far, will be big for them in the long run.

The Jayhawks' one and only "good" win was against Kentucky (the Cal win doesn't look that great anymore). Mississippi, meanwhile, has an RPI 30 points higher than Kansas, and three straight quality conference wins.

In the end, it was a tough call, and Kansas almost made it (they were in our last 4 out). A couple more good wins and they'll be back in the bracket in no time.

Anonymous said...

how in the heck can KU beat overrated Kentucky by 27 but still miss tourney. Kansas is much more talented than overhyped UK. you guys are making a huge mistake. you can talk RPI all you want but Kansas played a much stronget OOC schedule than Ole Miss. you guys rewarded Ole Miss for beating up cupcakes. bracketology 101 will lose all credibility when Kansas advances farther than UK in tourney. Ole Miss will NOT Make the tourney. the SEC does not deserve 6 bids.

Anonymous said...

You have 3 of the top 8 out of the big east. Pitt is the question mark. They seem to play a very weak schedule and it will be tough to go through the conference schedule without a couple (4) losses.

Anonymous said...

Why did you pick Air Force to win the Mountain West Conference? They have already lost to Wyoming in conference and there are at least four teams that are going to be in the race for what should be one bid out fo the MWC. Air Force built a resume on the weak foundation of a schedule ranked 202 in the nation. They are definitely overrated as a 9 seed.

Bracketology 101 said...

Despite losing to Wyoming, Air Force has the best overall resume in the one-bid MWC. Air Force has an RPI that is over 100 points higher than Wyoming (52 vs. 158), and Wyoming's lead in strength of schedule (144 to Air Force's 215) is nothing to write home about. Air Force also has non-conference wins over Miami and Georgia Tech on its resume, while Wyoming's best non-conference win was against Charlotte.

Wyoming also lost to a 3-10 Princeton team, and has three losses outside the RPI Top 100 so far. Air Force has just one - to Wyoming.

In the end, all of the numbers favor Air Force. The MWC is a one-bid league that no one will run away with, but right now, they get our ticket to the dance.

Anonymous said...

after Hawaii lost to NM State, you wrote that the WAC is a 1 bid league. It would be a 2 bid league if Nevada loses in tourney.

Birkel said...

I wouldn't bet on Davidson to come out of the Southern Conference. They've got flaws and there are three or four teams capable of beating 'em.

Watch out for Western Carolina. Their early schedule was difficult and they're now 3-1 in the conference.

Cheers,

Anonymous said...

How many more losses by Louisville will it take for them to be out of the bracket? it is starting to look like a 6-10 conference record for the Cardinals. NIT for Pitino

Bracketology 101 said...

Louisville won't be in the bracket next week...unless they can find a way to beat UConn on Saturday

Anonymous said...

by years end, is Cincinnati going to be in the field of 65?

Bracketology 101 said...

Right now it doesn't look good for them.