Barnes Bracketology - March 10th

Only 8 games on Monday but for 4 teams, it was a big day as they secured their spot in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, some bubble teams took a breath of fresh air thanks to Siena's win in the MAAC championship. Not many changes to the blog today but that's no excuse of not keeping the daily posts going.

MY PROJECTED FIELD OF 65
(new teams in italics)

LOCKS: Nothing new here. Gonzaga was a lock whether or not they won the WCC championship anyways. The other three are found in the AUTO category.

LOCKS (32): Duke, UNC, Clemson, Florida St, Wake, Pitt, UConn, L'Ville, Villanova, West Virginia, Syracuse, Marquette, Michigan St, Illinois, Purdue, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Washington, UCLA, Arizona St, LSU, Utah, Memphis, Xavier, Butler, Gonzaga, Texas, Tennessee, California, Texas A+M and Ohio State.

AUTO: We have some a new name in here. Chattanooga won the SoCon are now going dancing. Other than that, Siena and VCU are in bold now, thanks to their tourney titles on Monday night.

AUTO (20): Binghamton (Am. East), East Tennessee St (A-Sun), Weber State (Big Sky), Radford (Big South), Long Beach St (Big West), VCU (Colonial), Cornell (Ivy), Siena (MAAC), Buffalo (MAC), Morgan St (MEAC), Northern Iowa (MVC), Robert Morris (Northeast), Morehead St (Ohio Valley), American (Patriot), Chattanooga (SoCon), Stephen F. Austin (Southland), Alabama St (SWAC), ND State (Summit), Western Kentucky (Sun Belt), and Utah St (WAC)

AT-LARGE: The only team to play among ths group was St. Mary's. Thye lost to Gonzaga so I'm not going to penalize them. But the loss does keep them near the bottom of the AT-LARGE list and at risk of falling out of the tournament field.

AT-LARGE (13): BYU, OKST, Michigan, Dayton, Wisconsin, Minnesota, BC, UNLV, Penn State, Arizona, Providence, St. Mary's, and South Carolina.

BUBBLE WATCH

Like I said in the intro, Siena's win was big because it's one less team in the BUBBLE category. So now we have 25 BUBBLE teams and only 13 AT-LARGE spots.

BUBBLE (25): BC, VT, Providence, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Penn St, OKST, Kansas St, Arizona, South Carolina, Florida, BYU, UNLV, San Diego St, Dayton, Utah St, Creighton, St. Mary's, Rhode Island, Davidson, New Mexico, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and Temple.

SEEDING

With only 8 games, there wasn't a lot of action. So no changes in the seeding except that Cornell is moving to a 13 seed while Chattanooga is a 14 seed. With an 18-16 record, they may be falling later but for now, I'll leave them there.

And again, if you haven't checked out my slideshow, please do. You can see just how serious I am taking this venture into bracketology as well as how great my wall decorating skills are!



SOUTH-WEST vs. MIDWEST-EAST (Click on bracket for enlarged version)

SOUTH REGION (Memphis)
1 North Carolina vs. 16 Morgan State (Greensboro)
2 Michigan State vs. 15 East Tennessee St (Minneapolis)
3 Wake Forest vs. 14 Western Kentucky (Miami)
4 Syracuse vs. 13 VCU (Boise)
5 Arizona State vs. 12 St. Mary's (Boise)
6 Butler vs. 11 Arizona (Miami)
7 West Virginia vs. 10 Dayton (Minneapolis)
8 Texas A+M vs. 9 Ohio State (Greensboro)

MIDWEST REGION (Indianapolis)
1 Pittsburgh vs. 16 Long Beach St/Alabama St (Dayton)
2 Duke vs. 15 Morehead State (Greensboro)
3 Kansas vs. 14 North Dakota State (Boise)
4 LSU vs. 13 Buffalo (Miami)
5 Purdue vs. 12 Northern Iowa (Miami)
6 Marquette vs. 11 UNLV (Boise)
7 California vs. 10 Wisconsin (Greensboro)
8 BYU vs. 9 Oklahoma St (Dayton)

EAST REGION (Boston)
1 UConn vs. 16 Robert Morris (Philadelphia)
2 Oklahoma vs. 15 Stephen F. Austin (Kansas City)
3 Villanova vs 14 Cornell (Philadelphia)
4 UCLA vs. 13 Weber State (Portland)
5 Illinois vs. 12 South Carolina (Portland)
6 Florida State vs. 11 Minnesota (Philadelphia)
7 Gonzaga vs. 10 Siena (Kansas City)
8 Tennessee vs. 9 Boston College (Philadelphia)

WEST REGION (Phoenix)
1 Memphis vs. 16 Radford (Kansas City)
2 Louisville vs. 15 American (Dayton)
3 Missouri vs. 14 Chattanooga (Minneapolis)
4 Washington vs. 13 Vermont (Portland)
5 Clemson vs. 12 Providence (Portland)
6 Xavier vs. 11 Penn State (Minneapolis)
7 Utah vs. 10 Michigan (Dayton)
8 Texas vs. 9 Utah State (Kansas City)

TUESDAY'S GAMES TO WATCH
Butler vs. Cleveland State (Horizon Championship) - Butler is safe and sound when it comes to the Big Dance. Cleveland State could join with a win.
Oakland vs. North Dakota State (Summit Championship) - Plain and simple, the winner is in. The loser is out.
South Alabama vs. Western Kentucky (Sun Belt Championship) - Last year, WKU was in the Sweet 16. That means nothing though because a loss in this game and they won't even be in the field of 65

Alright, that's your dose of Barnes Bracketology. Hope you enjoyed it. If you did, let me know. If you didn't let me know. Selection Sunday is just days away so let's argue while we can! Until tomorrow, enjoy the college basektball!