B101's Sunday Tweets

Our quick thoughts on Sunday's results:

The late night results from the ACC will have a major impact on the upcoming bracket. UNC dropped yet another ACC home game, this time to Virginia. The Cavs were able to open up a 21-point lead early in the second half and the Tar Heels were never able to climb back in it. The loss will knock UNC out of the bracket and its tough to see them getting back in this season with their brutal remaining schedule. The Cavs were led by Sylven Landesberg's 29 points and Sammy Zeglinski's five treys. If UVa were only able to hang on against VT earlier in the week, they would have been a given for this week's bracket. Elsewhere in the ACC, Clemson was able to end their three-game skid with a win over Maryland. The Tigers held Greivis Vasquez to just 10 points on 3-11 shooting.

Coming into this week, South Florida had never won back-to-back Big East games in school history. Now they've won three in a row. The Bulls followed up Friday's win over Seton Hall with a 70-61 upset of Pitt on Sunday at the Sun Dome. For the third straight game, Dominique Jones was the difference. The junior guard scored 37 points and added eight rebounds, and during the Bulls' three-game win streak, he is averaging 37 points and seven boards per game. South Florida begins a three-game road trip with a game at Georgetown on Wednesday, while Pittsburgh preps for a game Wednesday at West Virginia. The Panthers have now lost three of four after their 5-0 start in conference, and they'll probably fall a couple of seed lines in our next bracket as a result.

Virginia Tech blew a golden opportunity to sneak into next week's bracket by losing 82-75 at Miami. The Hokies were coming off a big road win at Virginia earlier in the week, but against the Hurricanes, they got down big early (they trailed by 17 at the half) and couldn't claw their way back. They'll spend another week on the Last Eight Out list as a result.

Chandler Parsons came thisclose to being the hero for Florida yet again, but in the end it was Scotty Hopson's long jumper with 21 seconds left that gave the Vols a 61-60 win over the Gators in Knoxville. Parsons, who already has two buzzer beaters to his credit this season, gave Florida the lead on a three with 30 seconds to play, but Hopson hit a tough, fade-away 19-footer on the other end to put Tennessee back on top. The Gators got the ball back with a chance to win, but Alex Tyus's eight-footer off the glass was off the mark. The win is huge for Tennessee, which was coming off a home loss to Vandy earlier in the week. The Vols will be a low 4/high 5 in next week's bracket. Florida, which plays at Alabama and home against Mississippi State next week, will stay in the 8/9 range.

Head-scratcher: Arkansas 80, Ole Miss 73.

Of note: Ohio State blew out Minnesota at home; Purdue beat Penn State at home; Cal lost at Arizona; Butler won at Wisconsin-Milwuakee; Xavier beat Fordham at home; William & Mary beat Drexel at home; IUPUI lost on a last-second shot in OT to IPFW at home; Wichita State hung on against Southern Illinois.

B101's Saturday Tweets

Our quick thoughts on Saturday's results:

Regular season games don't get much more exciting or intense than Kansas-Kansas State was on Saturday night. There were 14 ties and 20 lead changes in the game, which wasn't decided until Sherron Collins (who was suffering from leg cramps) converted a ridiculous lay-up (and got fouled) with 13 seconds left in overtime, leading Kansas to a 81-79 win. Collins finished with 16 points and Cole Aldrich added 18 points and 11 boards for the Jayhawks, who will be No. 1 in the polls and the No. 1 overall seed in our bracket on Monday. Jacob Pullen had 22 for Kansas State, which again proved that it is worthy of a spot on the 3 line. The Wildcats probably won't be able to catch Kansas in the race for the Big XII title, but right now they're playing like the second best team in what might be the deepest league in the country.

It's tough to top the Cameron Crazies, but the purple-clad student section at the Octagon of Doom has established itself this season as one of the loudest and most creative groups in the country. The atmosphere in Manhattan on Saturday night was unbelievable.

Remember when Texas was a 1 seed? Remember when they were a 2 seed? After the Longhorns' latest loss - at home to Tweety Carter (27 points) and Baylor in OT on Saturday - they very well could find themselves on the 3 line in Monday's bracket. The 'Horns have now lost three of their last four games, and it could get worse as they have to go on the road to face Oklahoma State and Oklahoma this week. Baylor, meanwhile, now has a signature road win on its resume, and has a good chance given its remaining schedule to finish fourth in the Big XII. The Bears play Iowa State at home and at Texas A&M next week.

Georgetown put on quite a show for the commander in chief on Saturday, destroying Duke 89-77 at the "grayed out" Verizon Center. Chris Wright and Greg Monroe each scored 21 points for the Hoyas, who shot 71.7 percent from the field in the victory. It was Georgetown's third win in three tries this season against ranked non-conference opponents, and depending on how the rest of the weekend plays out, it could keep the Hoyas on the end of the 2 line next week. At worst they will be at the top of the 3 line. The same could be said for Duke, who might stay a 2 (over a team like Purdue) because of their status as the favorite in the ACC.

It took UConn all of seven days to spoil last weekend's win over Texas. The Huskies capped an 0-2 week with an awful loss to Marquette at the XL Center, which dropped them to 13-8 overall and 3-5 in conference. Jimmy Butler's floater with 2.4 seconds left won it for the Golden Eagles, who led by double digits late in the first half. The loss will not only knock UConn out of our bracket next week, it may knock them out for a while - or maybe for good. With games at Louisville (on Monday), at Villanova, and at Syracuse left, it's very difficult to see the Huskies finishing any better than 10-8 or 9-9 in conference. Marquette, meanwhile, might be the odds-on favorite right now to be the Big East's seventh bid. Their schedule the rest of the way is not that tough at all, plus they play three of their next four at home, which includes a home date with Pitt on Feb. 18.

Kentucky avenged its loss to South Carolina with a statement win over Vanderbilt in Lexington. The Wildcats jumped out to a 19-point lead in the first half, and despite some foul trouble, was able to maintain a double-digit lead for most of the game. DeMarcus Cousins led the way with 21 points and 10 rebounds for Kentucky, who will slide down, but not fall off, the 1 line next week. Thanks to their win at Tennessee earlier in the week, Vandy will stay in the low 5/high 6 range.

Two Big East powers narrowly avoided the upset bug on Saturday. Syracuse erased an 18-point first half deficit to beat DePaul 59-57 and West Virginia came back from 12 down midway through the second half to edge Louisville 77-74. The Orange will hang on to their spot on the 1 line with the victory, and the Mountaineers will stay put on the 3 line. Syracuse has two very winnable games next week (vs. Providence, at Cincinnati), while West Virginia hosts Pitt on Wednesday and plays at St. John's on Saturday.

Gonzaga needed a huge second half comeback to escape with a win against Santa Clara its last time out. The Zags weren't nearly as lucky on the road against San Francisco on Saturday night, as they lost to the Dons 81-77 in overtime. Gonzaga took a 10-point lead early in the second half, but made just five field goals over the final 17 minutes of regulation to let the Dons back in it. San Francisco hit three three-pointers, including two by Dior Lowhorn, in OT to seal the win. The loss snapped Gonzaga's 22-game WCC winning streak and will knock them down a seed line or so next week. For the time being, it also dropped them into a first-place tie in conference with St. Mary's, who beat Loyola Marymount on Saturday night.

Rhode Island officially wrapped up a spot in the bracket next week by taking care of business at home against George Washington. The Rams led by as many as 16 points in the first half against the Colonials and held on late to improve to 5-2 in conference. They'll debut in the 10-11 range next week.

The already complicated race in the Colonial got even more confusing on Saturday thanks to Old Dominion's loss at Northeastern. The loss drops ODU into a second-place tie with the Huskies at 9-2 in conference. They're both a behind red-hot George Mason, which won at home against James Madison on Saturday for its ninth victory in its last 10 games. ODU remains the only at-large possibility out of the Colonial, and we'll have to decide Sunday night if we want to keep them in next week as the league's automatic.

Mississippi State couldn't have hoped for a better Saturday. They beat LSU handily at home, and perhaps more importantly, they saw another team (UConn) lose its spot in next week's bracket. We still aren't sold on the Bulldogs as an at-large worthy team following their loss at Arkansas, but they may sneak onto the Last Four In list on Monday because there won't be a whole lot of teams banging down the door to replace them.

Demetri McCamey's buzzer-beater not only gave Illinois a two-point win over Indiana, it may have thrust the Illini into next week's field. The Big Ten is likely going to get five bids in the end, and if Minnesota loses as expected at Ohio State tomorrow, Illinois would have the conference's fifth best resume. The Illini play at Iowa on Wednesday and then host Michigan State in what could be a season-defining game in Champaign next weekend.

Is UTEP the best team in Conference USA? That's up for debate, but there certainly isn't anyone playing better right now, especially on the road, than the Miners. Their 74-65 double-overtime win at UAB on Saturday night was their fifth straight victory, and it was their second huge road win in as many weeks. The Miners won at Memphis last Wednesday, and in beating the Blazers Saturday, they moved into a first place tie in conference. For the past two weeks, we have had Tulsa in as a place-holder out of C-USA, and our main reason was the Golden Hurricane's perfect home record. With the way UTEP has played away from home, we may have to re-evaluate our thinking.

Cornell left no doubt as to who the valedictorian of the Ivy League is, destroying Harvard 86-50 in Ithaca on Saturday night. The Big Red never trailed and used a 17-0 run midway through the second half to blow the game open. Harvard's Jeremy Lin (good story on him in SI this week) scored 19 points, but all five Cornell starters also ended up in double figures. The talk coming into this game centered the possibility of a two-bid Ivy if Harvard were to win. That talk can stop now.

Head-scratchers: Rutgers 74, Notre Dame 73; SMU 70, Memphis 60.

Of note: Missouri beat Oklahoma State at home; Florida State won at BC; Michigan State beat Northwestern at home; Cincinnati beat Providence at home; Texas A&M beat Texas Tech at home; Temple beat LaSalle at home; Charlotte won at UMass; BYU beat Utah at home; New Mexico won at TCU; Northern Iowa won by one at Missouri State; Dayton won at St. Bonaventure; Tulsa won at Central Florida; Richmond beat Saint Louis at home.

B101's Weekday Tweets - Thursday

Our quick thoughts on Thursday's results:

For Purdue to be considered a serious contender to win the Big Ten, the Boilermakers had to avoid getting beat a second time this season by Wisconsin. And that's exactly what they did Thursday night in West Lafayette, squeaking past the Badgers 60-57 to move to within a half game of Wisconsin for second place in conference. E'Twuan Moore led the way with 20 points for the Boilers, who have now won three in a row overall. With Georgetown losing, Purdue might be able to sneak onto the end of the 2 line with a win over Penn State on Sunday. Wisconsin doesn't play again until Tuesday's showdown against Michigan State at the Kohl Center, where they are a perfect 12-0 on the year.

Georgia Tech's name might not be at the top of the ACC standings, but no one has beaten more quality opponents in conference than the Yellow Jackets. They already had wins over Duke, Clemson, and Carolina under their belt, and on Thursday night they added the streaking Demon Deacons to that list, too. D'Andre Bell led five Yellow Jackets in double figures with 16 points and Tech held the potent Wake offense to just 32 percent shooting in a dominant 79-58 win. Next up for the Yellow Jackets is a tune-up against Kentucky State (why?) on Saturday and then a game in Cameron Indoor next Thursday. Wake Forest, meanwhile, is off until Tuesday when they face Miami at home. As disheartening as this loss might be to Demon Deacon fans, they can rest well knowing that of all the tourney-caliber ACC teams, they might have the easiest schedule of the bunch left. They're done with Duke, their remaining road games aren't all that tough (at FSU on March 3 might be the toughest), and they have GT, Carolina, and Clemson coming in.

Virginia Tech was down 10 points with less than four minutes to go at Virginia, but the Hokies stormed back to steal a huge road win, 76-71 in OT. VT scored 13 unanswered points after being down 62-52 with 3:44 left and almost won the game in regulation, but Sammy Zeglinski hit a 25-footer right before the buzzer for Virginia to send the game to overtime. The loss knocks the Cavaliers out of the bubble discussion for the moment, and keeps the Hokies in line for a bid next week if they can win at Miami on Sunday. VT also has Carolina and Clemson coming in next week, which gives them even more chances to prove themselves bid-worthy.

Mississippi State might have played its way out of the field by losing at Arkansas. The Bulldogs were a somewhat generous 9 seed this week, but after a second straight road loss - this time to a Razorbacks team that was 8-11 overall and 1-2 in the SEC coming in - their resume isn't looking very attractive at all. Considering the schedule they have coming up next week (games at Vanderbilt and at Florida), it might be time to bail on the Bulldogs even if they take care of business against LSU at home this weekend.

Cal's win at Arizona State may not seem like much given that the Pac-10 is a one-bid league right now, but it's results like this that may help the league get two bids when all is said and done. The Bears are now 6-2 in conference and have won five of their last six overall. If they can continue this roll and get finish 14-4 or maybe even 13-5 in conference, they'll be in a good position to get an at-large if they slip up in the Pac-10 tourney.

Of note: Gonzaga erased a 14-point halftime deficit to win at Santa Clara; Pittsburgh beat St. John's at home; Seton Hall lost at South Florida; Mississippi won at Auburn; Xavier beat Duquesne at home; Old Dominion beat Georgia State at home; St. Mary's won at Pepperdine; Siena won at St. Peter's; Oakland lost by 24 at IUPUI; Charleston lost at Davidson; Northern Colorado lost at home to Montana.

B101's Weekday Tweets - Wednesday

Our quick thoughts on Wednesday's results:

Is there a worse road team in our bracket than UConn? Their latest road debacle came against Providence last night. The Huskies got blown out of the Dunkin' Donuts Center in the second half and are now 0-4 on the road this season. They will hold onto their spot in the bracket next week as long as they are able to handle Marquette at home this weekend, but their seed could fall close to double digits. The Friars were led by Jamine Peterson, who had 23 points and 14 rebounds. The court rush was good (albeit a few seconds early), but isn't one of the unwritten rules to court rushing that you don't rush on a team that you are ahead of in conference standings?

The best conference on the had its two best teams face off on Wednesday night with New Mexico taking care of BYU in the Pit. The loss snapped the Cougars' 15 game winning streak and should put to rest all the talk of them being a top 4 seed. The debate now moves to which team should be the highest seeded team in the MWC. The Cougars still sit in first place in conference, but the Lobos have a much better OOC resume and a higher RPI. If they can win at TCU this weekend we'll have them higher on the S-Curve. The win has to be a big confidence boast for the Lobos as its only the second time that the have beaten the Cougars in the last nine meetings.

The second best team in the SEC is...Vanderbilt? As strange as it sounds, it's pretty hard to argue otherwise right now after the Commodores pulled away in the second half to win 85-76 at Tennessee. Vandy, which is off to its best start since 1966, has now won four straight conference road games and won 10 in a row overall. Even if that streak ends this weekend at Kentucky, Vandy will be at worst a 5 seed next week. They might be joined on that line by the Vols, who will try to snap their two-game skid Sunday against Florida in Knoxville.

It looks like we're going to be a week ahead of every other bracketologist when it comes to Charlotte. The 49ers beat Temple 74-64 at home on Wednesday night, handing the 15th-ranked Owls their first A-10 loss and extending their own winning streak to four games. It's very conceivable that given their next three games (at UMass, GW, at Fordham), the 49ers may be atop the A-10 standings for a little while. Provided they can get past the Minutemen this weekend, they'll probably move to the 9 line in our next bracket. Temple, who was pretty maxed out as a 4, will drop a line with the loss.

William & Mary's at-large dreams are over. The Tribe lost an absolutely brutal game at James Madison on Wednesday night, which dropped them into a tie for fifth in the Colonial. They've now lost three in a row after winning 14 of 15 and earning as high as an 8 seed in one of our earlier brackets. The Tribe won't have any number next to their name on Monday - they'll be on the Last Eight Out list and ODU will be the lone Colonial team in the field.

Of note: Texas beat Texas Tech at home; Oklahoma State beat Texas A&M at home; Duke beat Florida State at home; Villanova beat Notre Dame at home; Florida beat Georgia at home; Ohio State won at Iowa; Illinois won at Penn State; Northern Iowa beat Drake at home; Wichita State beat Illinois State at home.

B101's Weekday Tweets - Tuesday

Our quick thoughts on Tuesday's results:

It's rare that John Wall is the second-most exciting player on a basketball court, but on Tuesday night it was Devan Downey who was sending sportswriters scrambling for a thesaurus. Downey hit acrobatic shot after acrobatic shot and was basically a one-man offense for South Carolina in the Gamecocks' stunning 68-62 upset of the top-ranked Wildcats in Columbia. As far as the bracket goes, this game had very minimal impact (South Carolina picked up a ginorous win for its otherwise weak resume and Kentucky lost its two-day hold on the top overall seed), but for entertainment purposes only, games don't get much better than this. Wall and DeMarcus Cousins deserve a lot of credit for keeping Kentucky close in what was a raucous Colonial Center, but in the end this was the Gamecocks' night. Or should we say Downey's night. What a performance.

After a month filled with mediocre and questionable court stormings, the rowdy South Carolina student section reminded us how it's supposed to be done on Tuesday night. They pulled off a near-perfect rush: we loved Downey waving the fans down to the court in the closing seconds, we loved South Carolina ignoring the SEC's ridiculous $25,000 court rush fine, and we especially loved the ridiculously fast court coverage which came from both ends of the floor. That's how it's done, Gamecock Nation. Excellent work.

We've been waiting for Rhode Island to win a statement game in conference for three weeks now, and they finally came through in a big way Tuesday night at Dayton. Marquis Jones' three-pointer with five seconds left gave the Rams a gigantic 65-64 come-from-behind win over the Flyers, who had won 30 straight at home. Dayton led by nine at the half, but URI battled back and led 62-61 with 30 seconds left. Chris Johnson hit three FTs for Dayton to give the Flyers the lead back with 15 seconds to go, but Jones ended up being the hero, hitting just his 13th three of the season to win it. URI will be in our bracket next Monday (provided they can beat GW at home on Saturday) and they might be in instead of Dayton. The Flyers' fate next week depends on Charlotte's game tomorrow night against Temple. If Charlotte wins, they're in as the A-10's fourth bid. If the 49ers lose, Dayton will (barely) remain in.

Maryland isn't just beating teams right now, they're destroying them. Their latest victim was Miami, who they routed 81-59 in College Park on Tuesday night. Greivis Vasquez had 16 points and nine assists to lead the Terps, who will be in next week's bracket if they can win at Clemson on Sunday. Maryland fans have to like their chances against the struggling Tigers, who dropped their third straight game on Tuesday, 75-69 at Boston College. If Clemson loses four in a row, they are looking at a double-digit seed in next week's bracket and they might even be as low as the Last Four in list.

Northwestern's return to the bracket lasted a grand total of 48 hours. The Wildcats lost a critical bubble battle to Minnesota on Tuesday night, dropping them to 3-5 in the Big Ten with a game at Michigan State looming this weekend. The fifth Big Ten bid now temporarily belongs to Minnesota, but the Gophers aren't guaranteed a spot in our next bracket unless they can win at Ohio State this weekend. If they win, they're way in. If they lose, we'll have to decide between Minnesota and Illinois for the fifth Big Ten spot.

For the second straight game, Kalin Lucas saved Michigan State from being rushed on. The junior guard, who hit a game-winning three for the Spartans in their win over Minnesota on Saturday, hit the go-ahead jumper with 3.5 seconds left to give the Spartans a hard-fought 57-56 win Tuesday night over the upset-minded Wolverines. The win moved Michigan State to 8-0 in the Big Ten for the first time in school history.

Kansas State has played its best ball against the best teams in the country this season, and Tuesday night was no exception. Led by Jacob Pullen's 25 points and two free throws with 8.2 seconds left, the Wildcats padded their already impressive resume with a huge 76-74 win at Baylor. The win further secures Kansas State's spot on the 3 line, and more importantly, it should give them a ton of confidence as they prep for a visit from the Jayhawks on Saturday. The loss drops Baylor to 2-3 in conference, and there's a good chance they'll be 2-4 after a visit to Austin on Saturday. An 0-2 week won't burst Baylor's bubble, but it might drop them to double-digit territory next week.

It's OK to come in off the ledge, Carolina fans. The Tar Heels put an end to their worst losing streak in seven years (and picked up their first road win!) in pretty convincing style on Tuesday night, winning by 14 at N.C. State. Carolina returns home to play Virginia this weekend, and if they win, they'll move up a couple of seed lines next week.

UAB was extremely impressive in disposing of Tulsa 65-55 at home on Tuesday night. The Blazers moved to 6-0 in C-USA with the win, which is their seventh in a row overall, and made a case to move up from the 7 line. Despite the rather convincing loss, the Golden Hurricane will be in our bracket again next week. Remember, we have Tulsa in our field not as an at-large but because we like them as a potential bid stealer out of C-USA. Tulsa is unbeaten at home, which also happens to be the site of the C-USA tournament. The Golden Hurricane play at UCF this weekend before returning home to play Marshall next Wednesday.

Of note: West Virginia won at DePaul; UNLV beat Air Force at home; Kent State won at Toledo.

B101's Questions For The Competition

Questions For The Competition is a weekly column that addresses our issues with the brackets of other bracketology "experts." This week's questions are reserved for ESPN's Joe Lunardi, SI.com's Andy Glockner, and CBSSports.com and CollegeRPI.com's Jerry Palm. Keep in mind that these questions are about each expert's most recent bracket, all of which were released before Monday's games.

Overview
Overall, we don't have a whole lot of questions this week. There are about 10-12 bubble teams that most experts were picking from this week, and a decent case can be made for all of them. Our three most debatable inclusions were Wichita State, William & Mary, and Charlotte. Some bracketologists agreed with us, while other opted for the likes of Maryland, Richmond, St. Mary's, or Rhode Island. We don't necessarily agree with those picks, but they aren't crazy by any stretch. Our biggest issue this week was with the seeds that some teams received and, in some cases, the inclusion of teams that were barely bubble-worthy.

Joe Lunardi (ESPN) - Jan. 25 Bracket
Who has BYU beaten to warrant a 3 seed if the season ended today?

How is West Virginia a 2 seed over Georgetown?

Florida (which has wins over Michigan State and Florida State) isn't worthy of an at-large, but Arizona State (who got pounded at home against Arizona on Saturday and whose best win is SDSU) is? Um...how?

Isn't Baylor a few lines too high at a 5? Isn't Ohio State a little low at a 7?

One good win (OK, one really good win) and UConn's already back up to a 5?

Andy Glockner (SI.com) - Jan. 25 Bracket
We know the bubble is weak, but how is Texas Tech in if the season ended today? The Red Raiders have no wins over tournament teams and their best win RPI-wise came against Washington. Home wins over Iowa State and Oklahoma are impressive enough to get them in this week?

Isn't Florida a little low at an 11 (or a 12 if you count where you had them before you moved them for numbers purposes?)

Our brackets, especially seed-wise, are pretty similar this week. Is it a case of great minds thinking alike, or do we need to submit your picks to turnitin.com?

Jerry Palm (CBS, CollegeRPI.com) - Jan. 25 Bracket
How would the Big East possibly get nine bids if the season ended today? St. John's and Seton Hall are worthy at-larges? How exactly?

Where's Mississippi State?

We like ODU as much as anyone, but do they really deserve a 7 seed?

B101's Weekday Tweets - Monday

Our quick thoughts on Monday's results:

Syracuse was in a pretty giving mood early on against Georgetown Monday night, spotting the Hoyas 14 points in the first three minutes of the game. The Orange weren't nearly as generous over the next 37 minutes, though, outscoring the Hoyas by 31 the rest of the way in an impressive 73-56 win at the Carrier Dome. Wesley Johnson had 14 points and nine rebounds and Andy Rautins had 15 points, six assists, and six steals for Syracuse, which protected its 1 seed for another week with the win (they play at DePaul on Saturday). Georgetown could have been a 1 seed next week had they won this game and then won at home against Duke on Saturday. Instead, they'll shoot for a 1-1 week against the Blue Devils. Depending on how the rest of the week goes, a win might be enough to keep them on the 2 line. At worst, they'll be a 3 next week.

Kansas continued to roll through its Big XII schedule, destroying Missouri 84-65 Monday night at Phog Allen Fieldhouse. Cole Aldrich's 12 points, 16 rebounds, and seven blocks led the way for the Jayhawks, who dominated despite committing 17 more turnovers than the Tigers. That discrepancy didn't matter in the end because Missouri shot an abysmal 28 percent from the field and got out-rebounded 52-28. Kansas will now turn its attention to its showdown with Kansas State in Manhattan on Saturday. Missouri, meanwhile, is left to lick its wounds and regroup. The Tigers can find some comfort in the fact that three of their next four games are in Columbia (where they haven't lost), beginning with a key home game against Oklahoma State on Saturday.

Of note: Charleston lost at Western Carolina; Morgan State beat MD-Eastern Shore at home; Texas Southern beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff at home.

Bracketology 101's Field of 65 - Jan. 25

This was by far the hardest week of the season for us to come up with 65 bracket-worthy teams. Six teams are gone from last week's bracket, and four of their replacements were not even on our Last Eight Out list a week ago. That's a ridiculous amount of movement for one week, which speaks to just how soft the bubble is right now.

Two big conferences were able to pick up additional bids this week. UConn re-entered the field as a 7 seed after their upset of Texas and Oklahoma State jumped in on the 10 line after their win at Kansas State, giving the Big East and Big XII seven bids each. The ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-10 all lost bids this week. After a one-week cameo, Virginia is out after its loss to Wake Forest, making the ACC a six-bid league. Washington and Arizona State are out from the Pac-10, and Cal enters the field as the Pac-10's lone team. Minnesota's loss to Michigan State (their fourth loss in five games) and Illinois' losses to Purdue and Northwestern knocked the Gophers and Illini out of the bracket - and in turn helped Northwestern get in (do we get a PTI shout-out, Wilbon?). We admit we are still pretty scared by the Wildcats' upcoming schedule, but right now they have the fifth-best resume in a conference that is almost certainly going to get five or more bids down the road. That's enough to earn them a spot on the Last Four In list.

Our toughest decisions this week came when figuring out what to do with a handful of mid-majors teams. Despite the fact that each of them lost games, we kept William & Mary and Wichita State in the field. In Wichita's case, we are banking on them finishing a strong second in the Valley, possibly sweeping Northern Iowa, and winning their BracketBuster game. William & Mary stayed in as the second Colonial bid, despite losing at VCU and at home to Old Dominion, because we still like the Tribe's OOC wins (at Wake, at Maryland, Richmond) and we think that there's a chance they could lose just two more games the rest of the way. ODU is in the bracket as the Colonial automatic this week, although we think there's a pretty good chance that the Monarchs are at-large worthy when all is said and done.

Our final at-large switch was in the A-10, where Charlotte replaces Richmond as the league's fourth bid. (Sorry, URI fans, your Rams are the first team out again this week.) As good as Richmond's OOC resume is, we can't ignore their double-digit loss to the 49ers on Wednesday or the brutal conference schedule they have left. We also like Charlotte's chances to beat Temple at home this week and to maybe not lose again until their showdown at Dayton on Feb. 20. We don't think there's any chance the A-10 gets five bids, so we didn't consider keeping Richmond (or adding URI) as a fifth A-10 team.

Bracket Breakdown
Last Four In
Northwestern, Charlotte, William & Mary, Wichita State

Last Four Out
Rhode Island, Minnesota, Richmond, Maryland

Next Four Out
St. Mary's, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech, Virginia

---------------------------------------------------------------

Conference Breakdown
Big XII (7), Big East (7), ACC (6), SEC (6), Big Ten (5), A-10 (4), MWC (3), Colonial (2), C-USA (2), MVC (2)

America East - Stony Brook

ACC - Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, North Carolina

Atlantic Sun - Campbell

A-10 - Temple, Xavier, Dayton, Charlotte

Big East - Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Cincinnati

Big Sky - Northern Colorado

Big South - Coastal Carolina

Big Ten - Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Northwestern

Big XII - Kansas, Texas, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Missouri, Oklahoma State

Big West - Pacific

Colonial - Old Dominion, William & Mary

Conference USA - Tulsa, UAB

Horizon - Butler

Ivy - Cornell

MAAC - Siena

MAC - Kent State

MEAC - Morgan State

MVC - Northern Iowa, Wichita State

MWC - BYU, New Mexico, UNLV

Northeast - Robert Morris

Ohio Valley - Murray State

Pac-10 - California

Patriot - Lehigh

SEC - Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Mississippi, Florida, Mississippi State

Southern - Charleston

Southland - Sam Houston State

Summit - Oakland

Sun Belt - Middle Tennessee State

SWAC - Texas Southern

WAC - Louisiana Tech

WCC - Gonzaga

----------------------------------------------------------------

The Seeds
The 1s
Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse, Villanova

The 2s
Texas, Michigan State, Duke, Georgetown

The 3s
Purdue, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Kansas State

The 4s
Tennessee, Gonzaga, Temple, Wake Forest

The 5s
Pittsburgh, BYU, Butler, Ohio State

The 6s
Vanderbilt, New Mexico, Clemson, Georgia Tech

The 7s
Connecticut, UAB, Mississippi, Baylor

The 8s
Florida, Texas A&M, Missouri, Florida State

The 9s
UNLV, Mississippi State, Northern Iowa, Xavier

The 10s
California, Oklahoma State, North Carolina, Old Dominion

The 11s
Cincinnati, Dayton, Northwestern, Charlotte

The 12s
Cornell, William & Mary, Tulsa, Siena

The 13s
Wichita State, Louisiana Tech, Charleston, Oakland

The 14s
Kent State, Murray State, Northern Colorado, Coastal Carolina

The 15s
Pacific, Sam Houston State, Morgan State, Stony Brook

The 16s
Campbell, Robert Morris, Middle Tennessee State, Lehigh (Play-In Game), Texas Southern (Play-In Game)

The Bracket
(Bracket courtesy Matt Reeves)












Questions? Comments? E-mail Bracketology 101 at bracketologyblog@yahoo.com

B101's Sunday Tweets

Our quick thoughts on Sunday's results:

We knew that Pittsburgh was due for some market correction after a 5-0 start in conference, but we certainly didn't think it would happen this quickly. Four days after suffering a rare home loss to Georgetown, the Panthers struggled mightily again on Sunday, losing 68-64 at Seton Hall. Pitt shot just 35 percent from the field against the Pirates and were unable to capilatize on Jeremy Hazell's early foul trouble. Hazell, who came in averaging 23 points per game, finished with just nine points in 16 sporadic minutes. The loss will knock Pitt from the end of the 2 line to perhaps as far as the top of the 5 line in Monday's bracket. Seton Hall, who beat Louisville at home on Thursday, is still not at-large worthy but is suddenly relevant in the crowded Big East. Their next three games are all tough and all on the road - at South Florida, at Villanova, and at Pitt.

Florida State saved its spot in the bracket by completing a huge season sweep of Georgia Tech. Solomon Abali's two free throws with 22 seconds left were the difference for the 'Noles in a 68-66 win in Tallahassee. The win is especially huge for FSU considering that their next two games are at BC and at Duke, and that Maryland, a team they have already lost to, has become increasingly relevant in the ACC bubble race. The 'Noles will likely move from the 10 line up to an 8 thanks to the victory, while Georgia Tech should remain right around the top of the 7 line. The Yellow Jackets' next two conference games are big ones - at home against Wake on Thursday and at Duke on Feb. 4.

Cincinnati's road woes continued on Sunday as the Bearcats lost at Louisville 68-60. The loss is Cincinnati's third straight away from home and it drops them to 4-4 in conference - but it won't necessarily drop them out of our bracket on Monday. The Bearcats have a couple of good OOC wins (Vandy and Maryland), their win over UConn is looking better than ever, and they have Providence coming in for their only game this week. That will probably be enough to earn them one of our last few bids.

Of note: Wisconsin rallied from 16 down in the second half to beat Penn State 79-71 in Madison (Jordan Taylor scored the last eight points of regulation and 10 more in OT to lead the Badgers); Northern Iowa won at Indiana State.

B101's Saturday Tweets

Our quick thoughts on Saturday's results:

We were at Gampel Pavilion on Saturday to witness UConn's stunning 88-74 win over Texas. Like everyone else in the building, we couldn't believe that the Calhoun-less Huskies were still hanging around after a 16-turnover first half. But Jerome Dyson, who scored a career-high 32, Stanley Robinson, Kemba Walker, and seldom-used Donnell Beverly refused to let the game get out of hand, and each of them made huge plays in UConn's 15-0 run that took the Huskies from down eight to up seven with 12 minutes to play. (How Rick Barnes didn't call a single timeout during that run is beyond us.) Walker's rainbow three-pointer with 6:21 left, as the shot clock was winding down, all but ensured a victory for the Huskies, who amazingly have still never lost to a non-conference opponent in Gampel in the regular season.

As a result, UConn will jump back into the field this week and likely fall somewhere in the 7-8 range. The Huskies at worst should go 3-1 in their next Big East games, which means they won't be dropping back out of the bracket anytime soon. Texas, meanwhile, will make the rare fall from top overall seed to the 2 line with their two-loss week. Villanova will move up to the 1 line to replace them, and Kentucky will be the top overall seed.

The UConn student section deserves an A for its persistence, but their court rush ended up C-level at best. About 40 security guards did a good job of holding back the sea of students from both ends, making the rush very slow to develop. Eventually, though, the students pushed their way through to celebrate at mid-court (a crowd-surfing Jonathan the Husky Dog was a nice touch, too). A note to the UConn security staff: isn't it more dangerous to forcefully hold back 2,000 bum-rushing students than to just let them go? We certainly think so.

The Big Ten bubble is getting more and more confusing. Minnesota could have really secured the bracket win a win at home over Michigan State on Saturday, but the Gophers faded down the stretch and lost 65-64. The Spartans battled back from a 13-point second half deficit and took their first lead of the game on a Kalin Lucas three with 1:27 to go. Minnesota had the ball last, but Russell Westbrook missed a runner in the lane and Blake Hoffarber's tip-in attempt rimmed out. Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Illinois lost at Northwestern in what was essentially a play-in game for this week's bracket. As much as we still don't like the Wildcats, they might find a way to sneak into this week's bracket. Minnesota and Illinois will be on the outside looking in.

Saturday was a bad day for the last two teams in our field. Wichita State, after its impressive win at home against Northern Iowa earlier in the week, lost a real head-scratcher at Drake, 78-64. As much as we still like Wichita's chances to maybe win the MVC tourney or even win the regular season conference title, their 6-3 mark in the Valley is tough to ignore right now. Their status is going to be one of the toughest decisions for us to make Sunday night. The other Last Four In casualty was Virginia, who not-so-unexpectedly lost at Wake Forest. We had to hold our noses when we put the Cavaliers in last week, hoping that they might be able to pull the upset against the Demon Deacons, but their convincing loss in Winston-Salem now makes them a real tough sell to stay in the field.

There has officially been a changing of the guard in the Colonial, and it looks like it's going to cost William & Mary a spot in next week's bracket. The Tribe capped an 0-2 week by losing at home to Old Dominion on Saturday, dropping them to 6-3 in conference and a full two games behind ODU, George Mason, and Northeastern. Even with W&M's impressive OOC resume, two games in the standings (in the 12th-rated conference) is a lot to overlook at this point in the year. They also have games at ODU and at VCU left, which means they very well could finish with 5-6 conference losses. That's not going to get them an at-large. The best at-large candidate in the Colonial right now is ODU - the Monarchs have that huge win at Georgetown in their back pocket, they have a 35 RPI, and they have a great chance given their remaining schedule to win the Colonial regular season title. That alone might get them an at-large. We will give some consideration to a two-bid Colonial for Monday's bracket, but if it ends up that way, ODU will be the automatic and someone else (maybe W&M) will be a bid-stealer.

Just when the Pac-10 looked like it might be worthy of two bids, the conference's top two teams went out and laid some serious eggs. Arizona State got destroyed at home against Arizona and Washington finished up a pathetic 0-2 week by losing by 26 at USC, meaning that once again, the Pac-10 will be a one-bid league come Monday. That one team (we can't believe we're writing this) is going to be Cal, who nipped Oregon State at home Saturday to move to 5-2 in conference.

Oklahoma State slipped all the way off our Last Eight Out list last week by losing a pair of road games, but they may have leaped their way back in this week after Saturday's stunning win at Kansas State. James Anderson scored 30 points to lead the way for the Cowboys, who beat a Top 10 team on the road for the first time in 52 years. Oklahoma State's resume is still far from solid (this is their only win over a team currently in the field), but we love the fact that it came on the road in a league where no one wins on the road. We also like that Oklahoma State has Texas A&M and Texas coming in over the next eight days, which gives them two more really good chances to pad their resume.

The A-10 might be a three bid league again on Monday. Richmond was able to eek out a win at George Washington, but their loss at home to Charlotte earlier is the week is still troubling and might cost them a spot in the field. Rhode Island, meanwhile, saw its resume get a boost thanks to Oklahoma State's win, but then the Rams lost at Xavier. The loss will keep URI on its familiar spot on the Last Four Out list this week. If a fourth A-10 team does make it in this week, it could be Charlotte. The 49ers are now a half-game ahead of Richmond in conference, they have a head-to-head road win over the Spiders, and they play Temple at home this Wednesday.

If Florida ends up making the tournament, they'll have Chandler Parsons to thank. The junior forward, whose 75-footer at the buzzer beat N.C. State earlier this month, was a last-second hero again for the Gators again on Saturday, hitting a three at the horn to beat South Carolina, 58-56. Devan Downey (who scored 36) had just hit a runner to put the Gamecocks up one with 5.1 seconds left, but Parsons took the ensuing inbounds, set his feet, and drilled a three from the left wing as time expired. The win will likely keep Florida, who some people still have way out for some reason, on the 8 line next week.

Of note: West Virginia picked up a huge win for themselves and for the Big East, beating Ohio State 71-65 in Morgantown; Duke finally won a true game, beating Clemson 60-47 at Littlejohn; Tennessee lost at Georgia; Villanova won at St. John's; Syracuse beat Marquette at home; Georgetown beat Rutgers at home; Kansas won at Iowa State; Texas A&M beat Colorado at home; Baylor beat UMass at home; Missouri beat Nebraska at home; Kentucky beat Arkansas at home; Mississippi won at LSU; Mississippi State lost at Alabama; Vanderbilt beat Auburn at home; Virginia Tech beat BC at home; Maryland beat N.C. State at home; Purdue beat Michigan at home; Temple won at Fordham; New Mexico beat Colorado State at home; UNLV won at TCU; BYU won at SDSU; Butler won at Illinois-Chicago; UAB won at Marshall; Tulsa beat Rice at home.

B101's Weekday Tweets - Thursday

Our quick thoughts on Thursday's results:

Is the Pac-10 back to being a one-bid league? Probably. One thing is for sure though - no matter how many Pac-10 teams are in the bracket on Monday, Washington won't be one of them. The Huskies, who are now 0-4 on the road, continued their insanely inconsistent season Thursday night, losing 62-61 at UCLA on a buzzer-beater by Mustafa Abdul-Hamid. Washington led by four at halftime, and then scored a grand total of six points in the first 10 minutes of the second half to let the Bruins back in it. Venoy Overton's basket with 3.2 seconds left put the Huskies up one, but Abdul-Hamid took the ensuing inbounds pass, drove and hit a jumper from the top of the key just as time expired.

As exciting as the last minute of this game was, the final result is disastrous for the Pac-10. The league needed a team (like Washington) to start pulling away from the pack and establish themselves as an at-large candidate. The Huskies played like a team capable of that last week, but after this loss they're 3-4 in conference and pretty irrelevant in terms of at-large consideration. Arizona State and Cal (who crushed Oregon at home Thursday) are now tied atop the Pac-10 standings at 4-2, but neither is at-large worthy by any stretch.

Indiana fans have been taking a lot of heat (and deservedly so) for rushing the court when the Hoosiers beat Minnesota on Sunday, but there may not have been a more inexcusable court rush (ever?) than UCLA rushing after Abdul-Hamid's buzzer beater. Rushing may have just officially jumped the shark. We're speechless.

It's a pretty slow night when the second-most tweetable game involves Louisiana Tech. That was the case on Thursday, though - and the news wasn't good for the WAC favorites. The Bulldogs lost 87-76 on the road to Adrian Oliver (39 points) and San Jose State, all but crippling their already slim at-large hopes. We don't think there's any way for La Tech to stay in the at-large discussion unless they lose a max of two conference games, win the WAC regular season title by 2-3 games, and then win their BracketBuster game. A loss this early in conference, to a pretty poor team, puts them in a really, really tough spot.

The first leg of Butler's four-game road trip almost ended in disaster Thursday, but the Bulldogs were able to escape with a 48-47 win at Loyola (IL). Butler was ice cold from the field the whole night, shooting 38 percent and going 3-for-20 from three. The Bulldogs took the lead on a Willie Veasley free throw with 34 seconds left, and then on their final possession, Loyola missed a three-point attempt and a tip-in at the buzzer. The win temporarily protected Butler's current spot on the 5 line. Their next road test is at Illinois-Chicago on Saturday.

Of note: Gonzaga beat Pepperdine at home; Florida won at Arkansas; Western Kentucky dropped its second straight game, falling to Troy 77-69; St. Mary's beat San Diego at home; Cal destroyed Oregon at home; Siena beat Loyola (MD) at home; Charleston beat Furman at home; Oakland won at North Dakota State; Murray State won at Eastern Illinois; Pacific beat Cal State-Fullerton at home; Vermont lost at home to Stony Brook; Robert Morris won at Fairleigh Dickinson.

B101's Weekday Tweets - Wednesday

Our quick thoughts on Wednesday's results:

As if the race for the Big East regular season title wasn’t convoluted enough, Georgetown further complicated things (and picked up a huge road win) by beating Pitt 74-66 at the Petersen Events Center on Wednesday night. Chris Wright scored 27 points to lead the way for the Hoyas, and Greg Monroe added 13 points and 11 rebounds. The loss snapped Pitt’s 31-game home court winning streak and cost them a chance to go 6-0 in the Big East for the first time in school history. It was only the Panthers’ third loss in 13 home games against ranked opponents since the Petersen Events Center opened in 2002. Bracket-wise, both teams might find themselves on the 3 line next week as a result of this one (Pitt down from a 2, Georgetown up from a 4). The Hoyas could also sneak up to a 2 with some favorable results over the weekend.

Why doesn't Sidney Lowe wear his red jacket for every N.C. State game? The blazer certainly had some luck in it Wednesday night, as the Wolfpack put a beatdown on Duke 88-74 at the RBC Center. It's the second nice win in two weeks for N.C. State, who won at Florida State last Tuesday. Duke, meanwhile, is now 0-3 in true road games this year (they are 3-0 on neutral courts). That's an important stat considering their schedule over the next 10 days. The Blue Devils play at Clemson on Saturday and then at Georgetown next Saturday with a home game against Florida State sandwiched in between.

The N.C. State fans get a solid B for their court rush. We love any rush that comes from both ends of the floor, but there seemed to be some tables in the way that made things a tad slow. Gotta tell security to get those out of the way next time. Nice job overall, though. Keep up the good work.

UConn was pretty sluggish in the first half in its first game without Jim Calhoun, but the Huskies exploded offensively after halftime en route 75-59 win over St. John's in Hartford. Jerome Dyson led UConn with 21 points and Stanley Robinson added 18 points and nine boards. The Huskies now turn their attention to what could be a season-defining game against Texas in Gampel on Saturday. A win will not only get them back in the bracket, but it will get them back in with a pretty nice seed, too. The Huskies are obviously going to have to play a heck of a lot better than they did in Ann Arbor this past weekend, but we won't dismiss their chances at pulling the upset. We won't go as far as to predict a UConn victory (who's going to guard Damion James and Dexter Pittman for the Huskies?) but we have a funny feeling this one is going to be real, real interesting. St. John's, meanwhile, falls out of the bubble discussion with the loss, and we don't expect them to get back in the mix anytime soon with their upcoming schedule ('Nova, WVU, and Pitt are three of their next four).

North Carolina's free-fall continued in eye-popping fashion Wednesday night, as they got smoked 82-69 at home by Wake Forest. The Tar Heels trailed by just two at half time, but the Demon Deacons were unconscious from behind the arc in the second half, hitting seven of eight second half threes to take control of the game. Freshman A.J. Harris had 20 points in the second half for Wake, who improved to 3-2 in conference with the win. The bigger story here, though, is Carolina, which has now lost three straight for the first time under Roy Williams and four of five overall. They've also officially taken over UConn's spot as most debatable bubble team in the country. It's important to keep in mind, even with all of their struggles, that Carolina still has two quality OOC wins on its resume (Ohio State and Michigan State), which means a 9-7 ACC record is all the defending champs will need to eventually get a bid. With that being said, they still have Duke twice and games at Wake Forest and Georgia Tech remaining, so it won't be easy. The good news is they have a few extra days to try and work out their issues since their next game isn't until next Tuesday at N.C. State.

Dear ESPN, "Announcer Swap" is stupid. Give us Dan and Dick back. Thanks.

After Temple's 32 point home loss to Kansas a few weeks ago, we lost a lot of confidence in the Owls. We are now back on their bandwagon after they were able to beat Xavier 77-72 and take sole possession of first place in the A-10. Xavier will need to bounce back quickly and take down URI on Friday if they want to remain in next week's bracket. Elsewhere in the A-10, Richmond lost at home to Charlotte by double digits. The 49ers were able to close out the first half on a 12-0 run and never looked back. It's a bracket-ousting loss for the Spiders, who have now lost two questionable A-10 games. To climb back into the bracket, they will have to win at home against Temple on Feb. 6.

It's not so much that William and Mary lost on the road to a respectable VCU team, but to get blown out by 22 is a totally different story. The game got out of hand in the second half, when the Rams went on a 18-5 run to blow open a 5-point halftime lead. The loss is a serious blow for the Tribe, who now fall to 4th place in conference. It also puts added emphasis on the showdown that they have with ODU this weekend. The winner of that game will find themselves in next week's bracket, and it would be tough to envision W&M having the ability to recover enough to put themselves back into the at-large mix should they lose.

What a crazy night it was for the top five teams in Conference USA. The biggest headline was that UTEP won at Memphis, snapping the Tigers' 64-game (64-game!) conference winning streak. Ironically enough, it was a Memphis native - Jeremy Williams - who led the way for the Miners, scoring 18 points and adding 12 rebounds in the victory. Elsewhere, UAB rallied from a 9-point deficit with five minutes play to beat Southern Miss 57-56 at home, Tulsa (who we put in the bracket this week as the C-USA automatic) came back from 15 down in the second half to win at Oral Roberts, and Marshall nearly pulled off the upset of the night but lost 68-60 at home to West Virginia.

Head-scratcher of the night: DePaul 51, Marquette 50. The Blue Demons snapped their 24-game Big East regular-season losing streak on a Mike Stovall jumper with 0.7 seconds left. How much has it sucked to be a Marquette fan this year?

Head-scratcher of the night, Part II: Kent State 89, Buffalo 54.

WTF of the night: The halftime score of the North Carolina Central-Savannah State game was...13-5. (13-5!!) Savannah State (the "5") was 1-of-16 from the field in the first half and committed 14 turnovers - and they WON the game 46-44 in OT. (They scored 5 points in the first half and won!) Unreal.

Of note: Kansas fought off a heck of an upset bid by Baylor, pulling away late to win 81-75 at Phog Allen Fieldhouse; Wisconsin edged Michigan at home; Michigan State beat Iowa at home; Villanova won at Rutgers; Cincinnati beat South Florida at home; Mississippi beat South Carolina at home; Dayton beat George Washington at home; Rhode Island beat Duquesne at home; BYU beat Wyoming at home; New Mexico won at Air Force; UNLV won at Colorado State; Old Dominion won at Delaware.

B101's Weekday Tweets - Tuesday

Our quick thoughts on Tuesday's results:

It was more than a little ironic that the Clemson-Georgia Tech game came down to a pair of free throws, because each team could have built a state-of-the-art practice facility with the bricks they were throwing up for the first 39+ minutes. The teams combined to shoot 21-of-42 from the line, but in the end Zachary Peacock hit two big ones with 3.2 seconds left (after an ill-timed Trevor Booker reach-in) to give the Yellow Jackets a 66-64 win. Neither of these teams looked like a real challenger to Duke in this one - they played sloppy and combined for 29 turnovers - but it's still a huge win for Georgia Tech, who couldn't afford a loss at home. They now head to Tallahassee for a roadie with Florida State on Sunday, while Clemson gets ready for its showdown with Duke at home on Saturday.

Can the Northwestern faithful (Michael Wilbon included) pipe down for a couple days? The Wildcats looked far from bracket-worthy in Columbus on Tuesday, getting smoked 76-56 by Evan Turner and the Buckeyes. Ohio State led by double digits less than five minutes into the game and never looked back, building their lead to as many as 26 early in the second half. Turner (surprise, surprise) was a beast for the Buckeyes again: he finished with 20 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists, and two steals. We love John Wall as much as anybody, but Turner might deserve the national POY award regardless of the time he missed. He's turned Ohio State from a bubble team to legitimate 5 seed in a matter of weeks.

The only black mark on Tennessee's impressive resume heading into this week was that they only had one true road win. They doubled that number on Tuesday night, fighting off a scrappy Alabama squad to win 63-56 in Tuscaloosa. The Vols started slow, but led by as many as 11 in the second half before the Tide chipped away. Scotty Hopson had 17 points and Wayne Chism scored all of his 11 points in the final seven minutes for Tennessee, who faces another tricky road test at Georgia on Saturday. It their last two home games, the Bulldogs have beaten Georgia Tech and lost by just four to Mississippi. If the Vols come out of Athens with a victory, they may find themselves on the 2 line next week.

Purdue was able to snap its three game losing streak at Illinois on Tuesday night thanks to a balanced attack that saw five players score in double figures. The Boilermakers will have the chance to climb back up the Big Ten standings (and the bracket) over the next few weeks with three straight home games and then a trip to Indiana before their showdown with Michigan State on Feb. 9. The Illini, who made their first bracket appearance since November this week, will now need to complete a season sweep of Northwestern in the biggest bubble matchup of the weekend to stay in the field.

For the past two weeks, we have been the only major bracketology site to have Wichita State in. Our faith was rewarded in grand fashion on Tuesday night, as the Shockers upset MVC front-runner Northern Iowa 60-51 at Charles Koch Arena. Wichita led 29-17 at the half, but the Panthers scored the first 10 points of the second half to make it a game. The Shockers battled right back, though, going 13-of-17 from the line down the stretch to put the game away. The victory is obviously ginormous for Wichita's at-large hopes (and for the long-term possibility of the Valley getting two bids), and it could earn the Shockers a single digit seed in our next bracket. Northern Iowa, which had won 15 in a row coming in, is still at-large worthy but will slip a seed line or two next week.

Of note: Texas A&M scratched out a win over Oklahoma at home; Miami lost to BC at home; Vermont beat Hartford at home.

B101's Bracket Bag - Jan. 19

Some of the best questions we get each week aren't from people posting in the comments section, but from those who send us questions via e-mail. In a semi-weekly feature to B101, we will answer some of these questions posed by our readers.

Today's question comes from none other than SI.com's Andy Glockner, who we feature each week in our Questions For The Competition column.

Glockner writes:
I like reading your weekly question critiques of my and others' work. It's definitely food for thought. One note on your Qs this week for me - Cal is my auto bid team from the Pac-10. To avoid as many Virginia-type situations as possible, I go with the best RPI for teams tied in the loss column for first place. Note that Arizona State isn't in the bracket this week. If you care about answers to a couple other Qs, I think you're underrating UConn's SOS (as the committee always overvalues that) and they have been very competitive in their losses to top teams. Saint Mary's is a questionable inclusion, but the pool of possibilities at that point is so weak, you can make an argument for and against all of them. I've seen the Gaels a couple of times and think they're decent. BYU is much better than New Mexico, and the nonconf profiles aren't so gappy to mitigate that difference.

Keep up the good work...

Andy Glockner

B101: Thanks for the e-mail. We really respect your work as well, and that's why we analyze and discuss it on the site every week. Of all the "season ending today" bracketologists, we think that your brackets are often the most accurate and well-thought out. We will have to agree to disagree with you, though, about some of the teams you mentioned. We find it impossible to believe that just because they have the No. 1 SOS, the committee would give UConn a 7 seed if the season ended today. A solid SOS is of course important, but don't you have to beat someone to get a bid? Would the committee come out and say that UConn deserves a bid because of close losses? By that rationale, Marquette should be a 7 seed, too (and not out of the bracket altogether). They have a ton of close losses, they have the exact same overall and conference record as UConn, they have a very respectable 23 SOS, and they have two nice wins over Georgetown and Xavier. How are they out and UConn is a 7 seed? Furthermore, how is UConn, based on what they have accomplished (or not accomplished) seeded higher than teams like UAB, Texas A&M, New Mexico, and Richmond? Those teams actually beat people; UConn just played them close.

We agree that St. Mary's is not an outlandish pick, but what have they done to earn at-large other than pass your eye test? And how are they a 9 seed and not one of your last four in? The committee always stresses the importance of who you beat and where you beat them, and the Gaels have a very weak resume based on those criteria. There are plenty of teams that you left out (Florida, Northwestern, etc.) that have much better resumes. Plus, didn't St. Mary's pass the eye test at the end of last year with a healthy Patty Mills back in the lineup? That didn't help them very much on Selection Sunday.

In terms of New Mexico and BYU, we would argue that there is actually a considerable gap between their OOC resumes so far. New Mexico's best OOC wins are against Texas A&M, Dayton, Texas Tech, Cal, and Louisiana Tech - all of which are either in or almost in your bracket this week. BYU's best OOC wins are against Arizona State, UTEP, Nebraska, and Nevada. None of those teams, according to your bracket, are at-large worthy. Doesn't that consititute a big gap? We concede that the Cougars deserve credit for being a game and a half better in conference, but do they deserve five seed lines worth of credit? We don't think so.

Thanks again for your e-mail and we hope to hear from you soon. Maybe Lunardi and Palm will chime in next week. We won't hold our breath.

B101's Questions For The Competition

Questions For The Competition is a weekly column that addresses our issues with the brackets of other bracketology "experts." This week's questions are reserved for ESPN's Joe Lunardi, SI.com's Andy Glockner, and CBSSports.com and CollegeRPI.com's Jerry Palm. Keep in mind that these questions are about each expert's most recent bracket, all of which were released before Monday's games.

Joe Lunardi (ESPN) - Jan. 18 Bracket
We think we finally figured out how you seed UConn. It's like the ESPN/USA Today poll - every Huskies loss equals a one seed line drop. (Get excited UConn fans - you still have six more losses before you're on the bubble!) How in the world would they be a 6 seed if the season ended today?

We are extremely puzzled with your placement of Louisville. You had them in last week as a 10 seed (even though they had no wins over at-large worthy teams) and we gave you a pass because they were 3-0 in conference. Then they went out and lost two games and you not only left them in, but you moved them to a 9 seed this week? How is that possible?

Can you tell us how Cal is in as an at-large over Washington? The Bears have absolutely no quality wins and just lost to the Huskies by double digits. We know that Washington hasn't done anything too impressive, but at least they have a win over a tourney team (Texas A&M).

Richmond has more top 50 wins than Xavier, URI, and Dayton, yet they are behind all three in the bracket?

How is BYU a 4 and New Mexico a 10? They're really six seed lines better?

We can understand putting St. Mary's in (kind of), but isn't giving them a 9 seed a bit much?

Andy Glockner (SI.com) - Jan. 18 Bracket
If the season ended ended today, under what criteria would UConn be a 7 seed? How could the selection committee possibly defend that?

What has St. Mary's done to deserve an at-large if the season ended today? Beaten San Diego State and Oregon? That's all they need to get a bid?

How, if the season ended today, is Cal at-large worthy?

How is Georgetown a 2 seed over Pittsburgh?

How is BYU seeded five lines ahead of New Mexico? Don't the Lobos have a significantly better OOC resume?

Jerry Palm (CBS, CollegeRPI.com) - Jan. 18 Bracket
Wow...where do we start? The Big East deserves 9 bids? If the season ended today, St. John's would be an 8 seed? Rhode Isl...

Actually, on second thought, why don't we just do this? We'll save our keyboard the abuse, and we'll start asking you questions again when you stop using a hat and 70 tiny pieces of paper to pick your teams and seeds. What happened to your bracket knowledge, Jerry? What happened?

B101's Weekday Tweets - Monday

Our quick thoughts on Monday's results:

Teams have found it next to impossible to win on the road in the Big XII this season, and top-ranked Texas was no exception on Monday night. The Longhorns struggled mightily on offense all night against an inspired Kansas State squad, shooting 37 percent from the field and committing 18 turnovers in a 71-62 loss. The Wildcats dominated the flow of the game for the entire first half, and held Damion James and Avery Bradley to a combined 8-of-24 shooting for the game. Offensively, Jamar Samuels and Curtis Kelly turned in perhaps their best games of the season for Kansas State, combining for 37 points and 20 rebounds. Those numbers more than made up for the fact that Denis Clemente finished with just five points and that Jacob Pullen shot 2-for-15. The victory gives Kansas State five top 50 wins for the year, which is two more than Texas has and one more than Kansas has. If they can avoid a letdown and beat Oklahoma State at home on Saturday, they'll make a very strong case to move to the top of the 3 line and maybe even the end of the 2 line. Texas' fate in next week's bracket will be determined by how they fare in another tricky road game in Storrs this weekend.

As much as we would have loved to see a court rush, give the Kansas State crowd credit for it's "act like we've been here before" attitude at the end of the game. The student section was tremendous throughout the game (we loved the Pullen beards, all the purple, and the gigantic player heads) and refusing to rush, even after beating an unbeaten No. 1, was a nice, unexpected touch.

(The only person who took issue with the Kansas State crowd was none other than Bobby Knight, who complained several times during the telecast that the students' chants of "over-rated" and "we own Texas" should be replaced by "nice job" or "thank you" and directed at the home team, not the visitors. This advice, of course, comes from someone whose definition of acceptable behavior includes screaming at refs, throwing chairs, and hitting players. We're a little confused, Coach...but we digress.)

In their first game back as a 1 seed, Syracuse was able to get past Notre Dame in South Bend. It was an all-around solid performance for the Orange as they shot 49% from the field and 47% from three. With the way Syracuse has been playing lately and given the how their schedule plays out over the next few weeks, it's tough to see them dropping from that 1 line for quite awhile. Once again, Luke Harangody was able to put up big numbers (31 points, 14 boards) for Notre Dame in a losing effort. The Irish will be out of the discussion for a few weeks with the loss, but given their relatively easy conference schedule over the next month, we wouldn't be surprised to see them sitting at 9-4 or 8-5 and right in the mix going into their last few Big East games.

Virginia certainly didn't play like a tournament team against UNC-Wilmington on Monday night, needing a Sylven Landesberg jumper with 2.2 seconds left pull out a 69-67 win at home. The Cavaliers built up a 15-point second-half lead against the Seahawks, but then went without a field goal for over seven minutes and trailed by four with three minutes left. They'll have to play a whole lot better if they are going to win at Wake Forest this weekend.

Of note: Virginia Tech destroyed North Carolina-Central at home (and killed their RPI in the process); Siena beat Manhattan at home; Western Kentucky lost at Middle Tennessee; Morgan State won at Winston-Salem; Jackson State lost to Texas Southern at home.

Bracketology 101's Field of 65 - Jan. 18

For the second straight week, there were a lot of changes to our Field of 65, including the departure of one big name that isn't exactly used to seeing its name on the wrong side of the bubble.

That unfortunate distinction belongs to UConn, who lost at home to Pittsburgh and at Michigan this week to fall from the 9 line all the way to the Last Four Out list. For the past few weeks, we have been the Huskies' harshest critics and we have often voiced our complaints about the 4 and 5 seeds they were receiving from other bracketologists. It was clear to us that those seeds were being handed out because of UConn's reputation and not because of their on-court performance, but there is no way to support them as an at-large candidate any longer (right, Lunardi? Palm? Glockner?). The Huskies still have no quality Big East wins, they only have one halfway-decent OOC win (William & Mary...yikes), and (oh, by the way) they have a date with top-ranked Texas looming on Saturday. If they could ever knock off the Longhorns, this whole discussion would be moot. But based on how the Huskies played in Ann Arbor, it's almost impossible to envision a second-ever court rush at Gampel happening this weekend.

UConn's exit from the bracket, coupled with Notre Dame's removal (can we call a mulligan on the Irish?) means that the Big East, despite its No. 1 conference RPI, has just six teams in this week's field. That's just two more than the A-10, which now has four bids with the addition of Xavier to the bracket. The Musketeers knocked off Charlotte and Dayton at home to leap-frog Rhode Island as the league's fourth representative. For the second straight week, the Rams are the last team left out of our bracket. One reason why is the emergence of Xavier, but perhaps a more important reason is our long-standing belief that the A-10 will get a max of four bids come Selection Sunday. Everything would have to break perfect over the next month and a half (and especially during Championship Week) for all five tourney-caliber A-10 teams to make it, so we plan on sticking with four A-10 bids for the foreseeable future.

The other three additions to our field were a little more difficult to pick. One of them ended up being Arizona State, who jumped into the bracket thanks to a road sweep of the Oregon schools. The Sun Devils have now won four in a row in conference, and in doing so have helped bring a little bit of credibility back to the beleaguered Pac-10. The Pac-10 is back to a two-bid league this week, led by Washington on the 9 line. Illinois also found its way back into the bracket this week, despite losing at Michigan State on Saturday. We like the fact that at 4-1, the Illini are alone in second place in the Big Ten and that they have two quality OOC wins (Clemson and Vanderbilt) that are looking better by the day. We also think they have a great chance to pad their resume on Tuesday at home against Purdue.

Meanwhile, in the ACC, Virginia's home wins over Georgia Tech and Miami vaulted them into the bracket this week and knocked the slumping Hurricanes out. The upstart Cavaliers have now won seven straight and are the lone unbeaten in the ACC standings, and looking ahead, we think that's it's very conceivable that they can finish 10-6 in conference with the schedule they have left. They'll probably need those 10 wins to make up for a not-so-great OOC resume, but right now we like their chances to pull that off.

The most unexpected entrant in this week's field, though, has to be Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane haven't even been one of our Last Eight Out over the last few weeks, but nevertheless, they are in this week as the automatic bid out of C-USA. Why the automatic? First, we didn't like any of the at-large options we had left. Second, and more importantly, the C-USA conference tournament is being held this year on Tulsa's home floor, and as they showed again this week, the Golden Hurricane are a pretty dominant team at home. They blew out UCF by 20 at the Reynolds Center on Saturday and that win marked the ninth time in 10 home games that Tulsa has won by double digits. That streak includes a 21-point win over Oklahoma State back on Dec. 2. Looking ahead, we really like UAB's chances to win the C-USA regular season title and to get an at-large, but we think the conference tourney is going to be wide open. Four or five teams could win it, but it's hard not to like Tulsa based on what they've done in at home so far this season.

In terms of seeding, a couple of teams made big climbs this week. No team made a bigger leap than Ohio State, who moved from an 11 to a 5 after knocking off Purdue and Wisconsin. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, jumped from a 5 to a 2 thanks to wins over UConn and Louisville, and Vanderbilt moved from a 9 to a 6 after wins at Alabama and at South Carolina. The biggest drops belonged to North Carolina, who fell from a 4 to an 8 after an 0-2 week, and Minnesota, who fell from an 8 to the Last Four In list after losing at Michigan State and at Indiana.

Bracket Breakdown
Last Four In
Minnesota, Arizona State, Wichita State, Virginia

Last Four Out
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Miami (FL), Northwestern

Next Four Out
Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, St. Mary's, St. John's

---------------------------------------------------------------

Conference Breakdown
ACC (7), Big XII (6), Big East (6), Big Ten (6), SEC (6), A-10 (4), MWC (3), Pac-10 (2), C-USA (2), MVC (2)

America East - Vermont

ACC - Duke, Clemson, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Florida State, Virginia

Atlantic Sun - Mercer

A-10 - Temple, Richmond, Dayton, Xavier

Big East - Syracuse, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, West Virginia, Cincinnati

Big Sky - Northern Colorado

Big South - Coastal Carolina

Big Ten - Michigan State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Ohio State, Illinois, Minnesota

Big XII - Texas, Kansas, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Baylor, Missouri

Big West - Pacific

Colonial - William & Mary

Conference USA - Tulsa, UAB

Horizon - Butler

Ivy - Cornell

MAAC - Siena

MAC - Buffalo

MEAC - Morgan State

MVC - Northern Iowa, Wichita State

MWC - BYU, New Mexico, UNLV

Northeast - Robert Morris

Ohio Valley - Murray State

Pac-10 - Washington, Arizona State

Patriot - Lafayette

SEC - Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Mississippi, Florida

Southern - Charleston

Southland - Sam Houston State

Summit - Oakland

Sun Belt - Western Kentucky

SWAC - Jackson State

WAC - Louisiana Tech

WCC - Gonzaga

----------------------------------------------------------------

The Seeds
The 1s
Texas, Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse

The 2s
Villanova, Duke, Michigan State, Pittsburgh

The 3s
Purdue, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Kansas State

The 4s
Georgetown, West Virginia, Gonzaga, Temple

The 5s
Clemson, Butler, Ohio State, Wake Forest

The 6s
BYU, Mississippi State, New Mexico, Vanderbilt

The 7s
Georgia Tech, UAB, Northern Iowa, Mississippi

The 8s
North Carolina, Texas A&M, Florida, William & Mary

The 9s
Washington, Baylor, UNLV, Richmond

The 10s
Missouri, Florida State, Dayton, Xavier

The 11s
Cincinnati, Illinois, Arizona State, Wichita State

The 12s
Minnesota, Cornell, Louisiana Tech, Virginia

The 13s
Tulsa, Siena, Western Kentucky, Charleston

The 14s
Oakland, Buffalo, Northern Colorado, Coastal Carolina

The 15s
Murray State, Pacific, Sam Houston State, Vermont

The 16s
Morgan State, Mercer, Lafayette, Robert Morris (Play-In Game), Jackson State (Play-In Game)

The Bracket
(Bracket courtesy Matt Reeves)












Questions? Comments? E-mail Bracketology 101 at bracketologyblog@yahoo.com