The Breakdown
Wow...what a difference a week makes. After a crazy five days in college basketball, which included some wild finishes, a handful of top 10 teams going down, and big and small conference play really heating up, a ridiculous 13 teams are new to this week's bracket.
Seven of those teams are small conference teams that benefited from a strong first few league games, the other six teams are all from major or mid-major conferences. The Big Ten continues to be a mess, as Purdue and Michigan State are out thanks to losses, and are replaced by Michigan and Indiana. The ACC also saw a shakeup as Virginia Tech (big W at Duke) and Virginia (impressive win over Gonzaga) make an appearance, replacing tough-luck Georgia Tech (loss at buzzer to Clemson) and Boston College. The Eagles didn't lose this week, but as is the case this time of year, saw teams around them build up big enough resumes to give them a temporary boot from the bracket. Arkansas, fresh off a thrashing of Alabama, returns to the bracket this week, while Kansas State, thanks to a 0-2 week, falls out. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the bracket comes out of the MVC, where Wichita State's improbable skid has ballooned to five losses in six games, putting them on the outside looking in - for now. In instead is Indiana State, the MVC's hottest team and winners of five straight. The Sycamores host Wichita on Wednesday.
Here is Bracketology 101's Field of 65 for Jan. 8:
Last Four In
Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Florida State, Indiana
Last Four Out
Wichita State, Michigan State, Boston College, Providence
Conference Breakdown
ACC (7), Big East (7), Pac-10 (6), SEC (6), Big XII (4), Big Ten (4), MVC (4), MWC (2), WAC (2), Colonial (2)
America East - Albany
ACC - North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Florida State
Atlantic Sun - Belmont
A-10 - Xavier
Big East - Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Marquette, UConn, Syracuse
Big Sky - Weber State
Big South - Winthrop
Big Ten - Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana
Big 12 - Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas
Big West - Long Beach State
Colonial - Old Dominion, Drexel
C-USA - Memphis
Horizon - Butler
Ivy - Penn
Metro Atlantic - Marist
MAC - Ohio
MCC - Oral Roberts
MEAC - Howard
MVC - Northern Iowa, Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Indiana State
MWC - Air Force, UNLV
Northeast - Sacred Heart
Ohio Valley - Samford
Pac-10 - UCLA, Arizona, Oregon, Washington State, Washington, USC
Patriot - Bucknell
SEC - Florida, Tennessee, LSU, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas
Southern - Appalachian State
Southland - Sam Houston State
SWAC - Jackson State
Sun Belt - Western Kentucky
WAC - Nevada, New Mexico State
WCC - Gonzaga
The Seeds
The 1s
North Carolina, UCLA, Florida, Wisconsin
The 2s
Arizona, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Kansas
The 3s
Oklahoma State, Butler, Oregon, Duke
The 4s
Tennessee, Texas A&M, LSU, Air Force
The 5s
Nevada, Clemson, Alabama, Georgetown
The 6s
Memphis, Notre Dame, Washington State, Maryland
The 7s
Northern Iowa, Texas, Washington, Kentucky
The 8s
USC, West Virginia, Missouri State, Gonzaga
The 9s
Marquette, Southern Illinois, UNLV, Drexel
The 10s
Arkansas, Indiana State, UConn, Virginia
The 11s
Xavier, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Syracuse
The 12s
Indiana, Florida State, New Mexico State, Old Dominion
The 13s
Winthrop, Western Kentucky, Ohio, Appalachian State
The 14s
Oral Roberts, Bucknell, Penn, Marist
The 15s
Albany, Sacred Heart, Weber State, Long Beach State
The 16s
Belmont, Samford, Sam Houston State, Howard (Play-In Game), Jackson State (Play-In Game)
The Bracket
This Week's Bracket - Jan. 8
Questions? Comments? E-mail Bracketology 101 at bracketologyblog@yahoo.com
8 comments:
Once again, very nice work. I know it's hard to predict/project this early in the season.
I also do this, albeit once every two weeks in January and weekly in February at phsports.blogspot.com.
2 questions:
1) How much of a role does the loss of Clinch (suspension for remainder of season) play for Ga Tech?
2) Is G'Town's 5 seed more a result of your projection rather than what they deserve? They've been very disappointing, and I assume not only to Washingtonians.
Where can I find your bracket for this week? thank you
Where do you see Stanford at this poiont. 9-4 with wins @ Fresno and UVA and TTU on a neutral court are pretty solid wins. They also have bad losses to Cal and Santa Clara at home. Do you think they could make their way into the tournament?
Some quick hits...
The Clinch suspension might turn out to be killer for Georgia Tech. They were going to be a bubble team all year in ACC as it was, and losing 13 points per game as Virginia and Virginia Tech are looking better and better could spell NIT...
Georgetown is admittedly a seed line or so high at this point, but their recent seven-game win streak gave fans and prognosticators a reminder of how talented they are. Their size in what is a guard-heavy Big East will be huge for them in conference play. By the end of the year, they should be one of the top 2-3 teams in a down Big East, and with that, earn around a 5-6 seed...
The bracket is coming soon. Matt is putting the finishing touches on it...
Stanford has been living on the "extended bubble," as we like to call it, pretty much all year. As anonymous said, the Cardinal have some good wins, but also some curious losses. Their main problem, though, will be finding enough wins this season in what is the best league in the country right now. The Pac-10 deserves six bids, with Stanford battling USC (in right now and playing good ball) and maybe Cal for the last spot. At least one win in the state of Washington this weekend(the Huskies look ripe for the taking) would give a big boost to their resume...
You were right. My Cardinal were able to knock off the Huskies. Does this win put them in next week and UDub out?..not that its that big of a deal. Stanford beating Wazzu would be huge.
Washington should definately be out after dropping to 1-5 in conference. UW will have to play extremely well just to get to a 9-9 finish in conference. The Cal loss is a no-no as Cal will finish towards the bottum of the conference. Washington State crushed Cal 2 days earlier so that makes the Huskies loss even worse. Oregon should be in consideration for a #1 seed with road wins over Arizona & Georgetown plus the win over UCLA. Illinois is looking like a NIT team after a horrid 2nd half performance at MSU. Michigan State isn't a very impressive team either.
Besides Wisconsin, OSU, & Indiana, who else dod you think will make it out of the Big 10? Michigan has a glossy record but failed against top teams UCLA & Georgetown. Overall the Big 10 probaly doesn't deserve more than 4 teams but may get more cause of Politics & Reputation.
In a good conference like the ACC or Big East, how many games do you have to win to make the tourney?
There isn't a set number of games you have to win, you just have to finish in the top 12 (I think) in the Big East to get to the Conference Tourney, and as for the ACC, I'm not quite sure.
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