B101's Bracket Banter - Wednesday

Bracket Banter is our daily open thread to discuss all things bracket. Readers can post comments and questions during the night's games, and we will answer those questions as the night goes on.

Wednesday's Games
The year's first installment of Duke-North Carolina is the main event tonight, but the undercard is shaping up to be pretty solid as well. Thirteen ranked teams are in action, with seven of those teams facing unranked opponents on the road, and the other six facing each other in three huge conference games.

The biggest of those games, and the most likely to cause Dick Vitale to spontaneously combust, will take place at Cameron Indoor. The freshly-ranked Tar Heels come in as the hottest team in the ACC over the last few weeks, winning their last three games by a combined 68 points. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, bounced back from their nightmarish performance against St. John's with blowout victories over Maryland and N.C. State last week. The winner of this game will have temporary control over first place in conference and will have temporary bragging rights until the teams meet again in the regular season finale on March 5. If Duke wins, they will add a sixth Top 50 win to their resume and inch a little closer towards returning to the 1 line. If Carolina wins, and then beats Clemson on the road this weekend, they could be as high as a 3 seed next week.

In the other two marquee games of the night, Notre Dame hosts Louisville and Syracuse hosts Georgetown. These four teams are pretty tightly packed between the 2 and 4 lines, and they could very well swap spots on those lines depending on what happens tonight. If Notre Dame or Georgetown win, they would tie Texas for the most RPI Top 50 wins in the country with eight.

There are also some huge bubble battles tonight in the Big XII, as Colorado hosts Texas A&M and Baylor hosts Nebraska, and in the Colonial, as VCU plays at Delaware and Old Dominion plays at William & Mary. We have Colorado behind Kansas State, Baylor, and Oklahoma State on the Big XII bubble list because of their 1-5 record in their last six games, but they have a chance to leap to the front of that line with a 2-0 week. They play a struggling Aggies team tonight and then host Kansas State on Saturday. Baylor, meanwhile, made it back in the bracket this week, (despite an underwhelming resume) because of the easy schedule they have left. One of the presumed wins on that schedule is this game against the Huskers. If the Bears lose, they'll be back on the outside looking in. VCU just edged ODU for the Colonial's second bid this week, and if both take care of business tonight on the road, their showdown at ODU on Saturday will determine who gets that at-large bid on Monday.

The last intriguing game of the night is Florida at South Carolina. The Gators are coming off a huge two-win week that vaulted them ahead of Kentucky in the SEC pecking order and up to the top of the 4 line in our latest bracket. Their victories over Vandy and Kentucky last week gave them a very respectable six Top 50 wins on the year. On the flip side, they also have three losses outside the Top 100, one of which was a home loss to the Gamecocks back on Jan. 15. If they can exact some revenge tonight, they'll open up a 2.5 game lead over Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia in the SEC East standings with six games to play.

Also keep an eye on: Texas at Oklahoma, BYU at Air Force, Villanova at Rutgers, Wisconsin at Iowa, UNLV at TCU, Utah State at Idaho, Marquette at South Florida, Fordham at Temple, Richmond at George Washington, Memphis at UCF, Bradley at Missouri State, Wyoming at New Mexico, Northwestern at Michigan

B101's Bracket Banter - Tuesday

Bracket Banter is our daily open thread to discuss all things bracket. Readers can post comments and questions during the night's games, and we will answer those questions as the night goes on.

Tuesday's Games
A lot of SEC questions are going to be answered this week, and we'll get some of those answers tonight as Kentucky hosts Tennessee and Georgia hosts Xavier. Kentucky is looking to regroup after off an 0-2 week that dropped them down to the 5 line in our latest bracket, while Tennessee (with Bruce Pearl back on the bench) is looking to bounce back from a bad home loss to Alabama over the weekend. Both teams need this game if they want to keep within striking distance of Florida in the SEC East standings, and Kentucky needs it to avoid falling under .500 in conference. Kentucky plays at Vanderbilt this weekend and Tennessee plays at Florida, so the loser of this game could be in for a tumble seed-wise next week.

The most intruiging game of the night, though, might be Xavier at Georgia. The Bulldogs hung on to their bid this week by beating Arkansas and Auburn, but their remaining schedule is no picnic. They still have four tough road games left as well as a home game against Vanderbilt next week. Getting a win here over a quality OOC opponent would be huge for a resume that has just two Top 50 wins on it. The game is equally big for Xavier, who could also use a quality OOC win to pair with their 8-1 record in the A-10. The Musketeers play at Duquesne this weekend, so it would be nice to get a win here to ensure at worst a 1-1 week.

Elsewhere, Boston College plays at Clemson in what is a key game for the Eagles. BC has a nice OOC win over A&M on its resume, but they haven't done much in ACC play besides win at Maryland (which isn't all that great of a win right now). The Eagles got blown out by North Carolina and eeked by Virginia Tech at home last week, and they'll have to play a lot better than that down the stretch if they want to finish with a winning record in conference.

Two mid-majors who slipped into this week's bracket are also in action tonight. Wichita State, this week's lone MVC representative, hosts Southern Illinois, and George Mason, our new automatic bid out of the Colonial, plays at UNC-Wilmington.

Also keep an eye on: Indiana at Purdue, Utah at San Diego State, Cincinnati at DePaul, Penn at Princeton

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." Today's questions are reserved for ESPN's Joe Lunardi and SI.com's Andy Glockner. Keep in mind that these questions are about each expert's most recent brackets, which were released before Monday's games.

Joe Lunardi (ESPN) - Feb. 7 Bracket
Missouri State would get an at-large if the season ended today? With two bad losses and one Top 50 win? How?

Who has Purdue beaten to deserve a 3 seed? They have a better resume than Syracuse?

Isn't Arizona a little high as a 5? Isn't Marquette a little high as an 8?

Andy Glockner (Sports Illustrated) - Feb. 7 Bracket
We know the Big XII bubble is complicated, but how in the world did you put Colorado in this week? Is it their one win (one!) in their last six games? How are they in over Kansas State, whose RPI is 56 points better?

The Colonial would really get three bids if the season ended today? Old Dominion is not only in, but they deserve a 10 seed? George Mason deserves a 9?

How is Butler, at 7-5 in conference, still one of your First Four Out?

Bracketology 101's Field of 68 - Feb. 7

Last week we saw very little turnover in the bracket, so it is not too surprising to see five teams replaced this week. We ended up dropping Penn State, Michigan State, Missouri State, Old Dominion, and Gonzaga from the bracket in favor of Colorado State, Wichita State, Kansas State, Baylor, and George Mason.

It was obviously a bad week for the Big Ten, as they saw both Michigan State and Penn State drop a pair of games. The Spartans are in absolute free-fall mode, having lost five of six and losing both games this week by 20+ points. Penn State made its first appearance in the bracket last week, but it appears to have been short-lived. Their bracket inclusion was based on the expectation that they could finish above .500 in conference , but it's very hard to envision that after their home loss to Michigan.

For weeks now, we have had two bids coming out of the Colonial and just one out of the Missouri Valley. The only thing that has changed week-to-week has been the teams that are in from each conference, which was again the case this week. Wichita State managed to slide back in out of the MVC, while George Mason replaced Old Dominion because of their head-to-head victory over the weekend. BracketBuster games will likely have a big say in which of these mid-major conferences gets two bids, with VCU playing at Wichita State and George Mason playing at Northern Iowa. If the MVC win both of these games and also does well elsewhere, they could very well be the conference with two bids in the end.

As we get closer and closer to March, we are sorting through the bubble even more in depth to try and find that team that has a good chance to go on a run and steal a bid in their conference tournament A team that got a lot of discussion this week was UTEP, based on the fact that the Conference USA tournament is in El Paso and the Miners sit atop the C-USA standings and have only lost one home game all year. If the Miners continue to stay atop the conference standings in the coming weeks, we will likely add them to our bracket as the C-USA auto bid. Right now, we think Memphis is the league's best team, so we kept them in as the automatic.

This week's biggest seed decliner was Texas A&M, who went from a 3 to a 6 because of their 20- point home loss to Texas and their home loss to Baylor. The other decliners this week were Kentucky and Washington, both of which slipped two seed lines after 0-2 weeks. The biggest seed increase was given to UCLA, who jumped from an 11 to an 8 because of their big OOC win over St. John's and because they now have sole possession of second place in the Pac-10. Other climbers were Syracuse, Arizona, and Richmond, who saw their seeds jump up two lines each.

Bracket Breakdown
Last Four In
Colorado State, Washington State, Baylor, Duquesne

First Four Out
Michigan State, Old Dominion, Gonzaga, Missouri State

Next Four Out
Alabama, New Mexico, Oklahoma State, UTEP

"First Four" Games
Colorado State vs. Washington State, Baylor vs. Duquesne, Long Island vs. Hampton, Jackson State vs. McNeese State

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Conference Breakdown
Big East (11), Big XII (6), ACC (5), Big Ten (5), SEC (5), A-10 (4), MWC (4), Pac-10 (4), Colonial (2)

America East - Vermont

ACC - Duke, North Carolina, Florida State, Boston College, Virginia Tech

Atlantic Sun - Belmont

A-10 - Temple, Xavier, Richmond, Duquesne

Big East - Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Connecticut, Georgetown, Villanova, Syracuse, Louisville, West Virginia, St. John's, Cincinnati, Marquette

Big Sky - Montana

Big South - Coastal Carolina

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

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

Big West - Long Beach State

Colonial - George Mason, VCU

Conference USA - Memphis

Horizon - Cleveland State

Ivy - Princeton

MAAC - Fairfield

MAC - Kent State

MEAC - Hampton

MVC - Wichita State

MWC - San Diego State, BYU, UNLV, Colorado State

Northeast - Long Island

Ohio Valley - Murray State

Pac-10 - Arizona, UCLA, Washington, Washington State

Patriot - Bucknell

SEC - Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Georgia

Southern - Charleston

Southland - McNeese State

Summit - Oakland

Sun Belt - Florida Atlantic

SWAC - Jackson State

WAC - Utah State

WCC - St. Mary's

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The Seeds
The 1s
Ohio State, Kansas, Pittsburgh, Texas

The 2s
Duke, Notre Dame, San Diego State, Connecticut

The 3s
BYU, Georgetown, Villanova, Syracuse

The 4s
Florida, Wisconsin, Louisville, Purdue

The 5s
Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, West Virginia

The 6s
Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Temple, Tennessee

The 7s
Arizona, Minnesota, UNLV, Xavier

The 8s
St. Mary's, Illinois, UCLA, Florida State

The 9s
St. John's, Washington, Utah State, Cincinnati

The 10s
Georgia, Boston College, Marquette, Richmond

The 11s
Wichita State, George Mason, Kansas State, Memphis

The 12s
VCU, Virginia Tech, Colorado State vs. Washington State (FF), Baylor vs. Duquesne (FF)

The 13s
Cleveland State, Belmont, Princeton, Coastal Carolina

The 14s
Charleston, Kent State, Oakland, Vermont

The 15s
Fairfield, Florida Atlantic, Bucknell, Montana

The 16s
Long Beach State, Murray State, Long Island vs. Hampton (FF), Jackson State vs. McNeese State (FF)

The Bracket
(Bracket courtesy Matt Reeves)

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