Sunday, March 17, 2019

Final Grading

LOL at Belmont over UNC-Greensboro... ridiculous message the committee sent... 1st team out also sickening, if you think they are good then you just put them in... either should be in or not in first 4 out....

A lot of the 1v1 resumes between lines went the wrong way for me which is never fun but part of it

Teams Correct: 65/68 (Missed TCU, Alabama, UNC-G for Belmont, Ohio State and Temple... all teams in my first 4 out)

Correct Seeds: 42/65

Within 1 Seed: 60/65


Total Points: 195 + 126 + 18

Total: 339

Not bad, lost myself 12-15 points late tweaking auto-bid seeds but should be an average year and thats fine when you miss on 3 bubble teams

FINAL 2019 Bracket


1 Seeds: UVA, Duke, UNC, Gonzaga
2 Seeds: Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan State, Michigan
3 Seeds: Houston, LSU, Florida State, Texas Tech
4 Seeds: Kansas, Kansas State, Wisconsin, Auburn
5 Seeds: Purdue, Virginia Tech, Villanova, Miss State
6 Seeds: Marquette, Iowa State, Maryland, Cincinnati
7 Seeds: Wofford, Buffalo, Nevada, Louisville
8 Seeds: Seton Hall, Central Florida, Utah State, Minnesota
9 Seeds: Iowa, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Baylor
10 Seeds: Syracuse, VCU, Washington, Florida
11 Seeds: St. Mary’s, TCU, St. Johns, UNC-Greensboro, Arizona State, Alabama
12 Seeds: Oregon, Murray State, New Mexico State, Liberty
13 Seeds: UC-Irvine, Vermont, Saint Louis, Old Dominion
14 Seeds: Northeastern, Yale, Georgia State, Montana
15 Seeds: Northern Kentucky, Bradley, Colgate, Gardner-Webb
16 Seeds: Abilene Christian, Iona, North Dakota State, Fairleigh Dickinson, Prairie View A/M, North Carolina Central


Notes:

- All these bubble teams are bad other than UNC-Greensboro... I won't be surprised if Ohio State, Belmont, Indiana, Temple get in and if any of the teams on the 11 line don't get in... The committee had an impossible job, the mid-majors were good this year and the switch to NET from RPI really hurt them

- There is gonna be a wtf team or 2 today... surprise teams that could make it are Texas (really good wins, 17-15 Texas is prolly in but 16-16 looks so much worse), and Creighton... also I guess Furman


- Really looking forward to seeing what the committee cared about this year, if they want wins/ hard scheduling they'll come up with something close to me, if avoiding bad losses is king it will look different...

Thanks everyone for following again this year, will be up shortly after the bracket is released with the grading!

Calm Before the Sunday Storm

Bracket of 5am on 3/17

1 Seeds: Virginia, Duke, UNC, Tennessee
2 Seeds: Gonzaga, Kentucky, Michigan State, Michigan'
3 Seeds: Houston, Florida State, Lsu, Texas Tech
4 Seeds: Kansas, Purdue, Wisconsin, Auburn
5 Seeds: Kansas State, Miss State, Marquette Virginia Tech
6 Seeds: Villanova, Buffalo, Iowa State, Cincinnati
7 Seeds: Maryland, Nevada, Wofford, Louisville
8 Seeds: Iowa, Central Florida, Seton Hall, Minnesota
9 Seeds: Washington, Syracuse, Ole Miss, Utah State
10 Seeds: Baylor, Oklahoma, Florida, TCU
11 Seeds: VCU, Ohio State, Temple, UNC-Greensboro, St. Johns, Oregon
12 Seeds: St. Mary's, Murray State, New Mexico State, Liberty
13 Seeds: UC-Irvine, Northeastern, Vermont, St. Louis
14 Seeds: Old Dominon, Yale, Georgia State, Northern Kentucky
15 Seeds: Montana, Colgate, Bradley, Abilene Christian
16 Seeds: Gardner-Webb, Iona, North Dakota State, Fairleigh Dickinson, Prairie View AM, NC Central



Thoughts:

I don't see how Gonzaga can be a 1 seed, weird to move them down only losing once since mock bracket but UNC/Tennessee just better in every way

I feel oddly good about UNC-Greensboro getting in as the best mid-major bubble team, they challenged themselves and won all the games they should have... no shame in losing to a #2, #3 and a #7 seed as your only losses all year... this feels like a spot committee sends them to Dayton over the worst major bubble team

Every year there is a conference that does better/worse than expected and all year I've called the Pac-12 as that conference... they are lucky Oregon won or I could have easily seen them as a 1 bid league... don't think any wear white opening weekend


If St. Bonaventure beats St. Louis they slide into the St. Louis slot on the 13 line
If Harvard wins they take Yale's spot on the 14 line
If Tx State beats Georgia State, Texas St. goes to the 15 line and Montana becomes a 14 seed


Going to re-look at a bunch of the seed lines tomorrow but feel pretty good about this.

That being said this is first year of the NET era so who knows what the committee does... we are really working without any safety net so things could get wild tomorrow

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Conference Championship Week

Taking into account results up to Ohio State beating Indiana


1. Virginia, Duke, Gonzaga, North Carolina
2. Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, LSU
3. Michigan State, Texas Tech, Houston, Purdue
4. Kansas, FSU, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech
5. Kansas State, Marquette, Maryland, Miss State
6. Nevada, Buffalo, Iowa State, UCF
7. Villanova, Auburn, Louisville, Wofford
8. Cincinnati, Washington, Iowa, Baylor
9. Oklahoma, VCU, Syracuse, Ole Miss
10. Texas, Utah State, Minnesota, St. John's
11. Florida, Ohio State, Seton Hall, NC State
12. Arizona State, TCU, Belmont, Murray State, UNC-Greensboro, Temple
13. New Mexico State, Old Dominion, Vermont, UC-Irvine
14. Northeastern, Yale, South Dakota State, Georgia State
15. Northern Kentucky, Radford, Montana, Colgate
16. Bradley, Sam Houston State, Iona, Norfolk State, Prairie View A&M, Farleigh Dickerson

I'm sure I messed up one of the auto-bids but did that part quickly, but wanted to reflect UNC-Greensboro having a nice day with the bubble teams hurting themselves early so far... honestly that resume should be a 10 seed, they lost to teams only wearing white in this tournament but alas i think they are a last four in and Dayton bound for sure if they get in

Saturday, March 9, 2019

One Week Away

Tons of basketball to be played this week, planning on updates Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and then a final one on Sunday... appreciate everyone for the support this year... really hoping for a great bracket to get into the top 10 overall.

1. Virginia, Duke, Gonzaga, Tennessee
2. Kentucky, North Carolina, Michigan, LSU
3. Michigan State, Texas Tech, Houston, Purdue
4. Kansas, FSU, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech
5. Kansas State, Marquette, Maryland, Miss State
6. Nevada, Buffalo, Iowa State, UCF
7. Villanova, Auburn, Louisville, Wofford
8. Cincinnati, Washington, Iowa, Baylor
9. Oklahoma, VCU, Syracuse, Ole Miss
10. Texas, Utah State, Minnesota, St. John's
11. Florida, Ohio State, Seton Hall, NC State
12. Clemson, TCU, Belmont, Lipscomb, Furman, Temple
13. New Mexico State, Hofstra, Vermont, UC-Irvine
14. Old Dominion, Yale, South Dakota State, Texas State
15. Northern Kentucky, Radford, Montana, Colgate
16. Bradley, Sam Houston State, Iona, Norfolk State, Prairie View A&M, St. Francis (PA)

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

It's Almost March!

March is right around the corner so time to fire up another bracket as we approach the end of conference play:

1 Seeds: UVA, Duke, Gonzaga, Kentucky
2 Seeds: Michigan State, UNC, Tennessee, Michigan
3 Seeds: Houston, Marquette, Texas Tech, LSU
4 Seeds: Purdue, Kansas, Wisconsin, Florida State
5 Seeds: Kansas State, Maryland, Nevada, Iowa State
6 Seeds: Virginia Tech, Miss State, Buffalo, Iowa
7 Seeds: Louisville, Cincinnati, Washington, Auburn
8 Seeds: Villanova, Baylor, Texas, Ole Miss
9 Seeds: Oklahoma, Ohio State, St. Johns, Syracuse
10 Seeds: NC State, TCU, VCU, Wofford
11 Seeds: UCF, Florida, Utah State, Temple
12 Seeds: Arizona State, Seton Hall, Minnesota, Alabama, Belmont, Lipscomb
13 Seeds: NM State, Yale, Old Dominion, Vermont
14 Seeds: Hofstra, UC-Irvine, South Dakota State, Montana
15 Seeds: Texas State, Radford, UL-Chicago, Wright State
16 Seeds: Bucknell, Rider, Norfork State, St. Francis PA, Sam Houston State, Prarie View A&M




The hardest part of this bracket (and bracketology this year) is actually the Southern conference, they appear to be 4 deep but none of them actually got non-conf wins to prove it, this conference desperately could have used that old mid-major weekend to prove it belongs on the level of an A-10 this year... I can't give the league 2 bids without any wins... but if the bubble starts weakening, I might change my mind

Thursday, February 14, 2019

2019 First Bracket

Little later than I expected to post the first bracket but I was really happy with my results last year by waiting and not getting caught up in early brackets and having that influence my opinion because the committee members aren't doing that so by mimicking the committee I feel I had much better results.

This year NET instead of RPI will be the big change and no one knows how the committee will use and value that which could lead to big extremes. With that being said lets get to the 1st bracket of the 2019 season:

1 Seeds: Duke, Virginia, Tennessee, Gonzaga
2 Seeds: Michigan, Kentucky, Michigan State, Kansas
3 Seeds: UNC, Houston, Purdue, Marquette
4 Seeds: LSU, Nevada, Louisville, Wisconsin
5 Seeds: Iowa State, Villanova, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech
6 Seeds: Kansas State, Maryland, Florida State, Cincinnati
7 Seeds: Iowa, Miss State, Auburn, Washington
8 Seeds: Buffalo, Ohio State, Baylor, Syracuse
9 Seeds: TCU, Ole Miss, Texas, St. Johns
10 Seeds: Wofford, NC State, Oklahoma, Alabama
11 Seeds: Minnesota, Lipscomb, ASU, Clemson
12 Seeds: VCU, Indiana, UCF, Seton Hall, Butler, Belmont
13 Seeds: NM State, Hofsta, Vermont, Old Dominion
14 Seeds: Yale, UC-Irivne, South Dakota State, Northern Kentucky
15 Seeds: Texas State - San Marcos, Radford, UL-Chicago, Bucknell
16 Seeds: Montana, Sam Houston State, Norfork State, Prarie View A&M, Robert Morris, Monmouth


Notes:

- I think the SEC will have more staying power as their non-conf wins should hold up this year

- The Pac-12 could be in trouble again, it's hard to imagine it being a 1 bid league but at this point I think 1 is more likely than 3 bids which is shocking cause you didn't think it could get worse.

- Saint Louis's implosion could really hurt the A-10 when it comes to at-large bids, maybe if they can get hot and get to 20 wins heading into the tournament that win will look better


Look for weekly updates heading into conf tournament week when they will become close to daily updates.

As always if you got comments leave them below or tweet @BBracketologist