Despite a pretty light schedule of games last week, there were still several key changes to this week’s bracket. The A-10 and Big XII continued to impress, and each picked up an additional bid thanks to wins by Massachusetts (over Boston College) and Nebraska (over Oregon). After a one-week stay, BC drops out of the bracket, as does Syracuse. The Orange didn’t do anything wrong on the court this week, but losing second-leading scorer and on-court leader Eric Devendorf for the year to a torn ACL is a gigantic blow to the Orange’s tourney chances. Syracuse must rely that much more heavily on super frosh Jonny Flynn and Donte Greene and, while that may turn out OK for them in the end, it's a reality that currently has them on the outside of the bracket looking in.
Despite another loss this week, Louisville is still (barely) in our Field of 65. We admit that their inclusion (like North Carolina State’s inclusion) is based almost entirely on potential and not on performance, but we think that when the Cardinals finally get healthy and finally get Derek Caracter's head screwed on straight, they’ll turn things around and earn themselves a bid.
The rest of the changes in this week’s bracket came in the form of seed adjustments. Teams are starting to have enough games under their belt to make comparing resumes a little easier, and we adjusted each team’s seeds based on these head-to-head comparisons…
Out This Bracket
Boston College, Syracuse, Montana
In This Bracket
Massachusetts, Nebraska, Portland State
Last Four In
Massachusetts, Louisville, Nebraska, Florida State
Last Four Out
Syracuse, Boston College, Oklahoma, Notre Dame
Next Four Out
Drake, Houston, UNLV, Valparaiso
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Conference Breakdown
ACC (7), Pac-10 (7), Big XII (6), Big East (6), SEC (5), A-10 (4), Big Ten (4), MVC (2), WCC (2)
America East - UMBC
ACC - North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, Miami (FL), Virginia, North Carolina State, Florida State
Atlantic Sun - Belmont
A-10 - Xavier, Dayton, Rhode Island, Massachusetts
Big East - Georgetown, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Villanova, West Virginia, Louisville
Big Sky - Portland State
Big South - Winthrop
Big Ten - Michigan State, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio State
Big 12 - Kansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, Kansas State, Nebraska
Big West - UC-Santa Barbara
Colonial - George Mason
C-USA - Memphis
Horizon - Butler
Ivy - Cornell
MAAC - Siena
MAC - Kent State
MEAC - Hampton
MVC – Creighton, Southern Illinois
MWC - BYU
Northeast - Wagner
Ohio Valley - Austin Peay
Pac-10 - UCLA, Washington State, Oregon, Arizona, USC, California, Stanford
Patriot - Holy Cross
SEC - Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Mississippi, Arkansas, Florida,
Southern - Davidson
Southland - Sam Houston State
Summit - IUPUI
Sun Belt - Western Kentucky
SWAC - Alabama A&M
WAC - Utah State
WCC - Gonzaga, St. Mary's
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The Seeds
The 1s
North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas, UCLA
The 2s
Texas, Duke, Georgetown, Washington State
The 3s
Michigan State, Marquette, Tennessee, Texas A&M
The 4s
Indiana, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Butler
The 5s
Gonzaga, Arizona, Vanderbilt, Miami-FL
The 6s
Xavier, Villanova, Oregon, USC
The 7s
BYU, Wisconsin, St. Mary’s, West Virginia
The 8s
Virginia, California, Dayton, Mississippi
The 9s
Arkansas, Baylor, Rhode Island, Creighton
The 10s
Stanford, Ohio State, Southern Illinois, Florida
The 11s
North Carolina State, Kansas State, Florida State, Nebraska
The 12s
Louisville, Massachusetts, Kent State, UC-Santa Barbara
The 13s
George Mason, Western Kentucky, Davidson, Sam Houston State
The 14s
Utah State, Holy Cross, Winthrop, Cornell
The 15s
Siena, Belmont, Hampton, Portland State
The 16s
IUPUI, UMBC, Wagner, Austin Peay (Play-In Game), Alabama A&M (Play-In Game)
The Bracket
(Bracket courtesy Matt Reeves)
Questions? Comments? E-mail Bracketology 101 at bracketologyblog@yahoo.com
7 comments:
One mistake in your bracket: Tennessee is not allowed to play in the Birmingham Regional.
The SEC is the official host of the Birmingham site. Since the host isn't a particular school, any school can play there.
-matt r
Yea, I didn't realize that until after I posted the comment.
Just found out that Fla. State Jr. Forward Casaan Breeden has left FSU's basketball program and is no longer enrolled at the university (per warchant.com). Fox Sports.com is reporting that he is looking to transfer due to lack of playing time at FSU. Don't know how much this will affect FSU in the future, but he seemed like a pretty solid player when he played. Any thoughts/comments?
Just to add to my previous post: The 'Noles best player, Isaiah Swann has only scored 8 points (6 vs. Butler and only 2 tonight vs. College of Charleston).. How the 'Noles managed to win tonight vs COC with him scoring only 2 is pretty unreal.. Could the Breeden absence be affecting his play?
So because Syracuse loses a player, but they still go undefeated through the week and boast a top 20 RPI, they are now out? That makes a lot of sense.
A couple quickies...
The loss of Breeden obviously isn't good news for FSU, but in the end, the 'Noles are going to go as far as Isaiah Swann and Toney Douglas take them. (UPDATE: As we write this, FSU is down big to Providence in the second half...a loss would likely knock the 'Noles out of next week's bracket)
Taking Syracuse out of the bracket is a projection on our part. Again, our brackets are not done "as if the season ended today." We look ahead to see how we think a team will finish up the year, and without Eric Devendorf, we don't think that the Orange will be dancing in March.
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