Bracketology: Eric Prisbell's NCAA tournament field of 68
| Newark Region | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | Team | Conf* | Note |
| 1 | Ohio State | Big Ten* | Sullinger nation's best freshman |
| 2 | Villanova | Big East | Stokes shooting 47 percent from three-point range |
| 3 | Texas | Big 12 | Thompson leader in rebounds, blocks, steals |
| 4 | Washington | Pac-10* | Stanford edged Huskies on Thursday |
| 5 | Florida | SEC | Top 10 in RPI and SOS |
| 6 | Temple | Atlantic 10* | Fell behind 22-2 in loss to Duquesne |
| 7 | Nevada-Las Vegas | MWC | Came up short vs. San Diego State |
| 8 | North Carolina | ACC | Barnes got hot late vs. Hokies |
| 9 | Cincinnati | Big East | 16-2 but only one RPI top 50 win |
| 10 | Missouri State | MVC | Wichita State slipping |
| 11 | Marquette | Big East | Was up 18 on Louisville with less than six minutes left. Lost by one. |
| 12 | Oakland | Summit* | Should not be challenged in league play |
| 13 | Drexel | CAA | Plenty of good CAA teams |
| 14 | Austin Peay | OVC* | Governors have won six straight |
| 15 | Coastal Carolina | Big South* | Has not lost since Nov. 18 |
| 16 | Jackson State/N. Colorado | Play-in | Neither team has winning record vs. D-I teams |
| New Orleans Region | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | Team | Conf* | Note |
| 1 | Syracuse | Big East* | Unbeaten Orange one win from tying best start in program history |
| 2 | Kentucky | SEC* | Should cruise vs. SEC West |
| 3 | Notre Dame | Big East | Irish already with seven top 50 wins |
| 4 | Texas A&M | Big 12 | Scored OT win over Missouri for 13th straight win |
| 5 | Purdue | Big Ten | Fell short vs. Minnesota |
| 6 | Michigan State | Big Ten | Earned much-needed win vs. Wisconsin |
| 7 | Kansas State | Big 12 | Not the team we expected |
| 8 | Arizona | Pac-10 | Sean Miller has Wildcats contending |
| 9 | Boston College | ACC | The second-best team in the ACC? |
| 10 | Butler | Horizon* | Cleveland State biggest is challenger |
| 11 | Miami | ACC | Scored crucial win over BC to avoid 0-3 ACC start |
| 12 | Hofstra | CAA | Suffered first CAA loss to Old Dominion on Saturday |
| 13 | Utah State | WAC* | Won at Nevada by 14 |
| 14 | Belmont | Atlantic Sun* | Beat Jacksonville by 31 |
| 15 | Long Beach State | Big West* | Was 5-0 in Big West entering Saturday night |
| 16 | Wagner/Morgan State | Play-in | Take your pick in the MEAC |
| Anaheim Region | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | Team | Conf* | Note |
| 1 | Duke | ACC* | Not same team without Kyrie Irving |
| 2 | Pittsburgh | Big East | Thumped Georgetown on road |
| 3 | Brigham Young | MWC | Fredette in national player of year talk |
| 4 | Missouri | Big 12 | Suffered seventh straight loss to Texas A&M |
| 5 | Georgetown | Big East | Righted ship against Rutgers |
| 6 | Wisconsin | Big Ten | Let one slip away vs. Spartans, bounced back vs. Illini |
| 7 | Central Florida | C-USA* | Memphis has faded fast |
| 8 | West Virginia | Big East | Mountaineers pulverized Providence |
| 9 | Georgia | SEC | No need to look at SEC West |
| 10 | Tennessee | SEC | Vols waiting for Pearl return |
| 11 | Virginia Tech | ACC | Wanted: quality ACC opponents |
| 12 | Xavier/UAB | A10/C-USA | Xavier gets home state advantage in Dayton? |
| 13 | Ball State | MAC* | Lots of parity in MAC |
| 14 | Fairfield | MAAC* | Playing four straight road games |
| 15 | Vermont | America East* | Strong RPI for an America East team |
| 16 | McNeese State | Southland | Five-game road stretch starts Wednesday |
| San Antonio Region | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | Team | Conf* | Note |
| 1 | Kansas | Big 12* | Selby gives Jayhawks a chance at title |
| 2 | San Diego State | MWC* | Circle Jan. 26 game at BYU |
| 3 | Connecticut | Big East | Walker in player of year mix |
| 4 | Illinois | Big Ten | The latest to lose to Penn State |
| 5 | Louisville | Big East | Cardinals fell short at Villanova |
| 6 | Vanderbilt | SEC | Gave up 17-point lead in loss to Vols |
| 7 | Minnesota | Big Ten | Schedule eases up a bit |
| 8 | St. John's | Big East | Red Storm ranked second in SOS |
| 9 | Oklahoma State | Big 12 | Would rather forget trips to Texas A&M, Colorado |
| 10 | St. Mary's | WCC* | Won at Pepperdine by 25 |
| 11 | Old Dominion | CAA* | Playing five straight top 100 teams |
| 12 | Gonzaga/Washington State | WCC/Pac-10 | WSU stumbled in OT against Cal |
| 13 | Charleston | Southern* | Morehead State rout a blemish |
| 14 | Princeton | Ivy* | Tigers hovering around No. 50 in RPI |
| 15 | Florida Atlantic | Sun Belt* | Beat MTSU by 10 |
| 16 | Bucknell | Patriot* | Beat American by 15 |
* - Projected conference champion
By
Matt Bonesteel
| January 14, 2011; 4:00 PM ET
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I'll be very surprised if, when all is said and done, Georgetown is a higher seed than WVU.
Crazy to think about the Mountain West having a 2 seed AND a 3 seed in the tourney.
I also think it's very possible that Marquette ends up with a higher seed than Cincy. The only good BE team cincy has played is nova and they lost, while marquette has already banked wins against wvu and notre dame.
Posted by: WrongDog | January 14, 2011 5:06 PM | Report abuse
RPI this time of year is worthless at best and misleading at worst.
Posted by: MBP1 | January 14, 2011 5:28 PM | Report abuse
Ditto to the above comment. Also, projecting the field this time of year is totally worthless and a complete waste of time. Seems like it has more to do with getting the reporter's name out there (no offense Prisbell) than anything else.
I can't imagine more than a handful of people are even clicking on this page. Please don't put this junk out there every few days for at least another month.
Posted by: Barno1 | January 14, 2011 7:17 PM | Report abuse
My God, Barno, you're crabby.
The season's half over. Where are we? Granted the gut of the conference schedule is yet to come, but it's interesting to see what people who follow these things closely think at this point (and I confess I don't follow teams outside the Big East that closely).
Bracketology is a harmless exercise. Does no harm. Lighten up.
Posted by: blaneyboy | January 15, 2011 3:16 AM | Report abuse
man guy you bite the lemon a big lemon ....
don't you know Maryland is coming to dance ? Maryland is coming to the dance people ...MARYLAND IS COMING TO THE DANCE !
Posted by: doggydodo | January 15, 2011 7:50 AM | Report abuse
James Madison is 14-3 overall (better than Drexel, Hofstra & ODU) and 4-1 in the CAA (better than Drexel & ODU). We lost a relatively close game at Kansas State (75-61) and got a close win over presumed tourney team Princeton, who's 11-4 overall. I realize the season is only about halfway over, and to show we're legit we need to beat all the aforementioned CAA squads (along with GMU & VCU), but right now, the exclusion seems a little silly. Hofstra has a couple nice wins (over Drexel & GMU) but they also lost at home to UNC by 44. Drexel and ODU have similar resumes (two or three nice wins compromised by blowout losses to tourney teams), so at this point, shouldn't JMU be in over at least one of those teams?
(Yes, I'm a total homer, and thrilled that JMU making the big dance is even a slim possibility. J-M-U DUUUUUUUUUUUUKES!)
Posted by: evogood | January 15, 2011 6:01 PM | Report abuse
JMU corrections:
*15-3 overall
*5-1 in the CAA
*Better than Drexel, Hofstra & ODU overall AND within the conference (not to mention VCU, GMU, etc.)
Posted by: evogood | January 16, 2011 4:13 AM | Report abuse
Hard to believe that the author puts any effort into this at all. It is almost like he just resorts the same teams. Colorado beats Missouri, Kansas State and Oklahoma State. They are all in the brackets and Colorado is only mentioned as something OSU is going to have to forget. Because we already know who is going. I don't particularly care about Colorado, I just dislike lazy writers.
I would think the point of the exercise is who would make the tournament now or at least based on their current play. The great thing about college basketball is how much teams evolve over the season. This misses the point. I think that is what all of the negative posts are basically pointing out, and they are spot on.
Posted by: westernwear | January 16, 2011 5:16 PM | Report abuse
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