3/14 Final Bracket

 Well it's been forever but we are back on Selection Sunday. As always I'll list all the teams with the seed liens and then do the first four out and how selection committee could take them over my last teams in the field. 

1 Seeds: Gonzaga, Baylor, Illinois, Michigan

2 Seeds: Ohio State, Alabama, Iowa, Houston

3 Seeds: Oklahoma State, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas

4 Seeds: West Virginia, Virginia, Villanova, Purdue

5 Seeds: Florida State, Creighton, Tennessee, Missouri

6 Seeds: USC, BYU, Texas Tech, Colorado

7 Seeds: Oklahoma, LSU, Clemson, Wisconsin

8 Seeds: Oregon, San Diego State, Florida, UConn

9 Seeds: St. Bonaventure, Loyola-Chicago, Georgia Tech, Rutgers

10 Seeds: North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Michigan State

11 Seeds: VCU, Louisville, Syracuse, Wichita, Saint Louis, Utah State

12 Seeds: Georgetown, Oregon State, North Texas, Winthrop

13 Seeds: Colgate, UC-Santa Barbara, Ohio, Liberty

14 Seeds: UNC-Greensboro, Abilene Christian, Morehead State, Eastern Washington

15 Seeds: Grand Canyon, Cleveland State, Drexel, Oral Roberts

16 Seeds: Iona, Hartford, App State, Mount St. Mary's, Norfolk State, Texas Southern

Should Cincy pull off a miracle: They go onto the 13 line, moving Colgate up to the 12 line, Georgetown to the 11 line and removing Utah State from the field

First Four Out: UCLA, Drake, Colorado State, Ole Miss

Notes

- After Michigan State none of these teams have any gripes if they miss, it's a big resume drop-off after that. 

- With that being said I think we see the committee do something whacky out of nowhere... I'll go through the candidates and how they get there (last teams in and first teams out in no particular order):

1) UCLA - Committee ignores fact Chris Smith is out for the season, lost their best Q1 chances with him, best win vs Colorado... basically accepts analytics that like them cause of lack of Q4 games

2) Wichita State - split vs Houston best win of any of these teams and committee ignores eye test from AAC tournament

3) Colorado State - Committee acknowledges whacky COVID season led to them not getting any Q1 chances at home thanks to back to back schedule of MW Conference... splits vs SDSU/Utah State solid on road

4) Ole Miss - honestly no idea how they get in... bad common record vs SLU, H2H loss to Wichita State, and just a lot of losses 

5) Drake - committee ignores fact that best non-conf game vs 178 NET and played 2 non D-1 games and accepts it because of COVID... thinks 1-2 vs Loyola-Chicago okay with all H/N games

6) Saint Louis - committee gives them a pass for 2 Q3 losses coming off of 5 week COVID break, 4-0 vs Q1/Q2 at home best record of the bunch

7) Louisville - This resume is basically Syracuse just with a win over Duke? Does that really push you over the edge? Louisville had chances at home Syracuse didn't... wins over Tech's are nice but is that NCAA safety worthy?

8) Syracuse - Never got opps for Q1 at home, 1-7 on road in Q1 isn't great but lots of tournament teams with similar Q1 records on the road. Decent home wins vs mid-level NCAA seeds... should prolly be good enough but you can see committee saying you had enough chances lets give these teams who didn't have them a shot in Dayton

9) Utah State - best wins all at home... had chances for Q1 wins on N/A settings and never got them. Did go 3-2 as well vs Q1/Q2 at home... Did schedule in non-conf and was competitive but do have the bad losses too... 

Things to look at early for bubble prospects

1) Pac-12 seedings... does USC get a 5 seed? Do they fall farther? USC on the 6 line and Colorado on the 7 line would be very dangerous stuff for UCLA

2) MW Seedings... how high does SDSU get

3) A-10: How high does St. Bonaventure go?

What did I get right vs wrong? Leave them in the comments section

3/13 Bracket

1 Seeds: Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan, Illinois

2 Seeds: Alabama, Iowa, Ohio State, Houston

3 Seeds: Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State

4 Seeds: Villanova, WVU, Virginia, Florida State

5 Seeds: Purdue, USC, Creighton, Tennessee

6 Seeds: Texas Tech, Colorado, BYU, Missouri

7 Seeds: Oklahoma, Oregon, Clemson, San Diego State

8 Seeds: Wisconsin, Florida, Loyola-Chicago, LSU

9 Seeds: VT, UConn, UNC, St. Bonaventure

10 Seeds: Rutgers, VCU, GT, Maryland

11 Seeds: Michigan State, Wichita State, Louisville, Drake

12 Seeds: Utah State, Saint Louis, Syracuse, UCLA,Winthrop, Western Kentucky

13 Seeds:  UC-Santa Barbara, Colgate, Liberty, UNC-Greensboro

14 Seeds: Buffalo, Abilene Christian, Morehead State, Eastern Washington

15 Seeds: Grand Canyon, Cleveland State, Drexel, Oral Roberts

16 Seeds: Iona, Hartford, Mount St. Mary's, Prairie View AM, App State, Norfolk State

First 4 Out: Colorado State, Ole Miss  Xavier, Boise State

 

UCLA vs Colorado State is interesting. MW Commish on committee and no Pac-12 rep... might flip it before the final run. 

 Oregon State + Georgetown can steal bids to shrink the bubble. 

3/11 Bracket

3/11 Bracket

1 Seeds: Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan, Illinois

2 Seeds: Alabama, Iowa, Ohio State, Houston

3 Seeds: Arkansas Kansas, WVU, Oklahoma State

4 Seeds: Villanova, Texas, Virginia, USC

5 Seeds: Purdue, Florida State, Creighton, Tennessee

6 Seeds: Texas Tech, Colorado, BYU, Missouri

7 Seeds: Oklahoma, Oregon, Clemson, San Diego State

8 Seeds: Wisconsin, Florida, Loyola-Chicago, LSU

9 Seeds: VT, Uconn, UNC, St. Bonaventure

10 Seeds: Rutgers, VCU, GT, Maryland

11 Seeds: Michigan State, Wichita State, Louisville, Drake

12 Seeds: Utah State, Colorado State, Ole Miss, Saint Louis, Winthrop, Western Kentucky

13 Seeds: Toledo, UC-Santa Barbara, Colgate, Liberty

14 Seeds: UNC-Greensboro, Abilene Christian, Morehead State, Southern Utah

15 Seeds: Grand Canyon, Cleveland State, Drexel, Iona

16 Seeds: Oral Roberts, Hartford, Appalachian State, Mount St. Mary's, Prairie View AM, Coppin State

 First 4 Out: UCLA, Syracuse, Xavier, Boise State

Notes:

You could tell me any of the 12 seeds should be out and either UCLA or Cuse be in, it's razor thin... UCLA has 1 win vs a tournament team and that was Jan 2nd... St. Louis has 2 wins vs teams in white jerseys in NCAA, same with Ole Miss... gave them the benefit of the doubt.

3/1 Bracket

 It's MARCH!!! It's time for all the movement, all the upsets, all the big games... let's take stock of where we are starting in March:

1 Seeds: Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan, Ohio State

2 Seeds: Illinois, Alabama, Villanova, West Virginia

3 Seeds: Iowa, Houston, Florida State, Kansas

4 Seeds: Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Creighton

5 Seeds: Virginia, USC, Tennessee, Purdue

6 Seeds: Texas Tech, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, Clemson

7 Seeds: Colorado, Missouri, BYU, Virginia Tech

8 Seeds: Florida, SDSU, Rutgers, Loyala-Chicago

9 Seeds: UCLA, LSU, Louisville, UNC

10 Seeds: Oregon, Maryland, St. Bonaventure, VCU

11 Seeds: Boise State, UCOnn, Drake, Xavier

12 Seeds: Colorado State, Seton Hall, Michigan State, Saint Louis, Western Kentucky, Toledo

13 Seeds: Belmont, Winthrop, Colgate, UC-Santa Barbara

14 Seeds: Wright State, Furman, Liberty, Abilene Christian

15 Seeds: Eastern Washington, Grand Canyon, Siena, James Madison

16 Seeds: UMBC, Texas State, Bryant, South Dakota, North Carolina AT, Prairie View AM

2/20/2021 Bracket

 What a crazy 11 months it's been but we are back with the first of what will be at least bi-weekly brackets all the way up to the reveal in just a few weeks!

1 Seeds: Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan, Ohio State

2 Seeds: Illinois, Alabma, Villanova, Iowa

3 Seeds: Houston, Virginia, Oklahoma, WVU

4 Seeds: Tennessee, Florida State, Texas, USC

5 Seeds: Creighton, Texas Tech, Wisconsin, Missouri

6 Seeds: Kansas, Virginia Tech, Purdue, Arkansas

7 Seeds: Clemson, Rutgers, BYU, Florida

8 Seeds: Oklahoma State, Colorado, LSU, Loyola-Chicago

9 Seeds: Louisville, UCLA, SDSU, Xavier

10 Seeds: Oregon, VCU, Seton Hall, Minnesota

11 Seeds: Boise State, Indiana, Drake, St. Bonaventure

12 Seeds: Saint Louis, Colorado State, Maryland, UNC, Western Kentucky, Belmont

13 Seeds: Toledo, Colgate, Wintrhop, UC-Santa Barbara

14 Seeds: Wright State, UNC-Greensboro, Abilene Christian, Liberty

15 Seeds: Vermont, SDSU, Grand Canyon, Siena

16 Seeds: Eastern Washington, James Madison, Texas State, Bryant, Prairie View AM, NC A&T