Barnes Bracketology

As you can see the countdown above, selection Sunday is coming quick. And that means the Madness is on the way too. In some ways, I feel March Madness is one of the reasons I am alive. Without it, I don't know what I would with my life. The first four days are the best four days in sports in my mind. Yes, that means better than the likes of the Masters (though that may change this April).

So in my effort to post more regularly on this blog, I am going to do a bit of bracket-guessing myself. As we get closer, I will become more detailed in terms of seeding and such but for this opening post, I am going to lay the groundwork and then, my hope is to update this every night after work. Trust me, I have the time.

So here is how it will work. We'll start with my LOCKS. In my mind, I think right now, there are 27 locks for the tournament. This means, they are in whether or not they win their conference tourney. They are, in no particular order:

LOCKS (27): 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, and Gonzaga.

After that, I picked who I thought would win the conferences and earn the automatic bid. I only picked conferences that did not have a representative in my LOCKS category. I call this my AUTO category. Right now, I have 20 of them. They are, in no particular order:

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)

So that means with 27 LOCKS and 20 AUTO, that leaves 18 AT-LARGE spots. From here, I compiled a list of teams who I consider on the bubble as of March 1st. As of now, I have a list of 32 BUBBLE sqauds. The thing is, 3 of them are also in the AUTO category because they are legit shots to earn an AT-LARGE if they lose their conference tourneys. So right now, these 32 teams are on the BUBBLE. They are, in no particular order:

BUBBLE (32): Miami (FL), BC, Maryland, VT, Georgetown, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Providence, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio St, Michigan, Penn St, Texas, 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.

Now again, I am just laying the groundwork right now, so I am not looking at conference numbers, SOS, or RPI. Instead for tonight, I am picking with my gut. I've watched a lot of college basketball this year and read about it even more so I feel fairly good about my 18 AT-LARGE selections. For the sake of this too, I did not even consider the 3 teams that were also in the AUTO category (Utah St, Creighton, Davidson). So, here are my 18 AT-LARGE teams. This one though, is in order for who I think is most safe to not so safe.

AT-LARGE (18): California, Texas, BYU, Tennessee, Ohio St, BC, Dayton, Wisconsin, Arizona, South Carolina, Michigan, Maryland, UNLV, Florida, OKST, Texas A+M, Cincinnati, and St. Mary's.


So there you have it. That's my field of 65 as of now. The LOCKS, AUTO, and AT-LARGE. Of course, this can all change daily. That's why I will be doing a post every night (hopefully) to give you my take on how things have changed. For now, here are the games to watch Monday that could play a major factor in my field of 65 projections.

MONDAY GAMES TO WATCH
Villanova @ Notre Dame - A must-win for the Irish. A loss all but bursts Notre Dame's already shaky bubble.
Baylor @ Texas - Longhorns are probably in as of now. But a loss here would hurt their case, especially with Kansas coming later in the week.

That's all for now. I'll get a bit more in-depth with my picks. Plus, I'll start adding some seeding. Hope you'll check back tomorrow. Until then, try to get as much work done as you can because when the Madness begins, it ain't getting done.