Welcome back. The countdown to Selection Sunday continues and today, I'm going to take my projections a bit further by sharing not only my projected field of 65 but also the top 4 seeds. Here we go!
MY PROJECTED FIELD OF 65
(new teams in italics)
(new teams in italics)
LOCKS: With their convincing win over Baylor, I am moving Texas into this category. The win gave them 20 for the year and even with a loss to Kansas on Saturday, they have done enough.
LOCKS (28): 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 and Texas.AUTO: No changes here.
AUTO (20): Vermont (Am. East), Belmont (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), Creighton (MVC), Robert Morris (Northeast), Tenn-Martin (Ohio Valley), American (Patriot), Davidson (SoCon), Stephen F. Austin (Southland), Alabama St (SWAC), ND State (Summit), Western Kentucky (Sun Belt), and Utah St (WAC)AT-LARGE: With Texas now a LOCK, that leaves 17 at-large spots. Again, these are in order of safest to no so safe. Also, the 3 BUBBLE teams that are in the AUTO category were not considered for this category. No changes besides Texas moving out.
AT-LARGE (17): California, BYU, Tennessee, Ohio St, BC, Dayton, Wisconsin, Arizona, South Carolina, Michigan, Maryland, UNLV, Florida, OKST, Texas A+M, Cincinnati, and St. Mary's.BUBBLE WATCH
Big news today is that Notre Dame is out. That's right, their bubble has been burst after a 77-60 home loss to Villanova. And with Texas safe from Bubble Watch now, that leaves 30 teams fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives still.
BUBBLE (30): Miami (FL), BC, Maryland, VT, Georgetown, Cincinnati, Providence, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio St, Michigan, Penn St, OKST, Texas A+M, Kansas St, California, Arizona, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, BYU, UNLV, San Diego St, Dayton, Utah St, Creighton, St. Mary's, Rhode Island, and Davidson.SEEDING
This will be my first go at this. I did my best to seed the top 4 teams as well as place them in one of 8 first/second round locations. This wasn't really easy as it's tough to place the top 4 seeds without doing the rest of the bracket. But that will come in time. So for now, here's what I have.
EAST-WEST vs. SOUTH-MIDWEST (Click on bracket for enlarged bracket version)
EAST REGION (Boston)
1. UConn (Philadelphia)
2. Michigan State (Minneapolis)
3. Wake Forest (Miami)
4. UCLA (Portland)
SOUTH REGION (Memphis)1. North Carolina (Greensboro)
2. Louisville (Dayton)
3. Kansas (Boise)
4. Marquette (Minneapolis)
MIDWEST REGION (Indianapolis)
1. Pittsburgh (Dayton)
2. Duke (Greensboro)
3. LSU (Miami)
4. Missouri (Boise)
WEST REGION (Phoenix)
1. Oklahoma (Kansas City)
2. Memphis (Kansas City)
3. Villanova (Philadelphia)
4. Washington (Portland)
So what do you think? Lemme know in the comments section. I will update these daily now and as the days go by, I will be adding more seeds and yeah, someday, project the full bracket. That'll come later though. Gimme some time...please.
TUESDAY'S GAMES TO WATCH
Wake Forest @ Maryland - For Wake, this is a chance to move up to the 2-seed. For Maryland, this is almost a must-win. A win over Wake really helps the portfolio.
Georgetown @ St. John's - Simply put, a loss by Georgetown to lowly St. John's bursts their bubble
Ohio State @ Iowa - OSU is 3-6 on the road and 8-8 in the Big Ten. They cannot afford a loss to Iowa if they want to feel comfortable come Selection Sunday
Cincinnati @ South Florida - The Bulls have beaten Marquette already in Tampa. If they beat Cincinnati, the Bearcats will be facing an uphill climb to stay in the at-large conversation
Kansas State @ Oklahoma State - Two bubble teams in this one and it may be a win-and-in game. Both teams are 8-6 in the Big 12. Bigger for K-State than for OKST.
Alright, that's all for now. More Barnes Bracketology tomorrow. Again, leave all comments below. I love reading them and lets me know my hard work isn't going for naught. Later.
Georgetown @ St. John's - Simply put, a loss by Georgetown to lowly St. John's bursts their bubble
Ohio State @ Iowa - OSU is 3-6 on the road and 8-8 in the Big Ten. They cannot afford a loss to Iowa if they want to feel comfortable come Selection Sunday
Cincinnati @ South Florida - The Bulls have beaten Marquette already in Tampa. If they beat Cincinnati, the Bearcats will be facing an uphill climb to stay in the at-large conversation
Kansas State @ Oklahoma State - Two bubble teams in this one and it may be a win-and-in game. Both teams are 8-6 in the Big 12. Bigger for K-State than for OKST.
Alright, that's all for now. More Barnes Bracketology tomorrow. Again, leave all comments below. I love reading them and lets me know my hard work isn't going for naught. Later.
Posts
I would probably look for Memphis to get a one seed over Oklahoma at this point. And especially if they win out (which I think they will). Also, I think Kansas will get a 2-seed over either Michigan State or Duke if they win the Big XII regular season championship.
ReplyDeleteI agree about Kansas. But not so much with Memphis since Oklahoma's recent losses have been without Black Griffin. I think that's enough to keep them at a one seed
ReplyDeleteMissouri should fall in their next couple of weeks. They got a very tough one tomorrow night against Oklahoma and then at Texas A&M later in the week. Both teams are playing tough right now and Mizzou has a tough time against hot teams right now (see the game against Kansas).
ReplyDeleteEither way, I'm still bitter about Mizzou being this high when Illinois dominated them by 20 on an neutral court. My Fighting Illini have gotten no love this year.
The Memphis/Oklahoma debate is going to be a tough one.
ReplyDeleteOklahoma's losses were to Arkansas, Texas, and Kansas.
Memphis's losses were to Georgetown, Syracuse, and Xavier.
So each team has comparable losses.
Out of conference, Oklahoma's best win was @Purdue. But, they also have goon wins over Davidson, UAB, USC, and Utah.
Out of conference, Memphis's best win was probably @Gonzaga. But, they boast wins over Cincinnati, and @Tennesee.
I think, if both of these teams win out, it is going to be a close call for the committee. If both teams win their conference tournament, Oklahoma gets the spot. But, if Oklahoma faulters and Memphis wins, its going to be a close call..
Right now, I think the debate isn't that heated. Considering the Texas and Kansas losses were without Blake Griffin, Oklahoma will be fine. The committee won't penalize the team for playing without their best player against two great teams.
ReplyDeleteI agree though that if OU loses before the conference title WITH Griffin, they fall to the 2 seed behind Memphis.
Barnes do you realize in your first comment you called Oklahoma's stud player, "Black" Griffin?
ReplyDeleteFebruary is over man... you're livin in the past!! haha
haha, wow. Oops. You know what, I don't feel like changing it
ReplyDelete