The start of conference play brought its typical craziness to the bracket, as a total of six major or mid-major bids changed hands this week. The Pac-10 and the Big East continue to be extremely tough conferences to figure out and to seed. Losses by USC, Providence, and Louisville knocked them out of the field, and they were replaced by Arizona State, Notre Dame, and Syracuse. We had removed the Orange from the bracket a few weeks ago after Eric Devendorf was lost for the year, but the continued improvement of the team’s talented freshmen (albeit against weak competition) and the fact that the Big East really has no better options at this point, gave Syracuse an opportunity to grab a bid. The other major development since our last Field of 65 is the upside-down world of the MVC, where bracket mainstays Southern Illinois and Creighton have been bumped (Southern Illinois maybe for good) and replaced by surprise conference leaders Drake and Illinois State. While we don’t have a ton of confidence in Illinois State at the moment, the Redbirds are 3-0 in the league and the MVC is worthy of two bids. The same could be said of the MWC, which earned a second bid this week with the addition of New Mexico to the field. We still like BYU to win the league’s regular season title, but we do not think the Cougars are a lock to win what will be a very competitive MWC tournament. We’re going with the upstart Lobos, who will bring a lot of OOC momentum into the MWC season, over UNLV and San Diego State as the conference’s second bid.
Out This Bracket
USC, Creighton, Providence, Louisville, Kansas State, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, Alabama A&M
In This Bracket
Notre Dame, Drake, Arizona State, Syracuse, New Mexico, Illinois State, South Alabama, Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Last Four In
Nebraska, Syracuse, New Mexico, Illinois State
Last Four Out
Louisville, Florida, Boston College, USC
Next Four Out
Kansas State, Providence, Connecticut, UNLV
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Conference Breakdown
Big East (7), Pac-10 (7), ACC (6), Big XII (6), A-10 (4), Big Ten (4), SEC (4), MVC (2), MWC (2), WCC (2)
America East - UMBC
ACC - North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, Miami-FL, North Carolina State, Virginia
Atlantic Sun - East Tennessee State
A-10 - Xavier, Dayton, Rhode Island, Massachusetts
Big East - Georgetown, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Villanova, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Syracuse
Big Sky - Northern Arizona
Big South - Winthrop
Big Ten - Michigan State, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio State
Big 12 - Kansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Baylor, Nebraska
Big West - UC-Santa Barbara
Colonial - George Mason
C-USA - Memphis
Horizon - Butler
Ivy - Cornell
MAAC - Siena
MAC - Kent State
MEAC - Hampton
MVC - Drake, Illinois State
MWC - BYU, New Mexico
Northeast - Wagner
Ohio Valley - Austin Peay
Pac-10 - UCLA, Washington State, Arizona, Stanford, California, Oregon, Arizona State
Patriot - Holy Cross
SEC - Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Mississippi, Arkansas
Southern - Davidson
Southland - Sam Houston State
Summit - IUPUI
Sun Belt - South Alabama
SWAC - Arkansas-Pine Bluff
WAC - Utah State
WCC - St. Mary's, Gonzaga
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The Seeds
The 1s
North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas, UCLA
The 2s
Washington State, Duke, Michigan State, Tennessee
The 3s
Texas, Texas A&M, Georgetown, Vanderbilt
The 4s
Wisconsin, Indiana, Butler, Marquette
The 5s
Mississippi, Xavier, Clemson, Dayton
The 6s
Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, St. Mary’s, Villanova
The 7s
Arizona, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Ohio State
The 8s
Notre Dame, West Virginia, Stanford, Gonzaga
The 9s
California, Drake, North Carolina State, Baylor
The 10s
Arkansas, Massachusetts, Oregon, Virginia
The 11s
BYU, Arizona State, Nebraska, Syracuse
The 12s
New Mexico, Illinois State, Kent State, George Mason
The 13s
South Alabama, Sam Houston State, Davidson, Utah State
The 14s
UC-Santa Barbara, Winthrop, Siena, Holy Cross
The 15s
Cornell, IUPUI, Hampton, Northern Arizona
The 16s
East Tennessee State, UMBC, Wagner, Austin Peay (Play-In Game), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Play-In Game)
The Bracket
(Bracket courtesy Matt Reeves)
(Bracket courtesy Matt Reeves)
Questions? Comments? E-mail Bracketology 101 at bracketologyblog@yahoo.com
3 comments:
Boy, I hope Dayton isn't a 5 seed. That's like a death sentence. If they beat Rhode Island, maybe they can work their way to a 4 seed.
On your place I would ask the help for users of this forum.
Yes, really. I join told all above. We can communicate on this theme.
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