Snow Day Bracketology

Like I said in the previous post, there is 6-inches of snow on the ground, so what better way to spend it than by delving into some of this year's bracketology. I'm not sure if I'll ever get around to making a full-fledged bracket (and even if I do, it'd be amateur hour time for I have never attempted a projection bracket before and I have not seen near enough "mid-major" games to make an accurate, thorough projection without taking ideas from someone else's bracket), but alas here are my thoughts on certain aspects of the bracket.

• The number one seeds are very much in doubt at this stage. This has been a year of a lot of parity in college basketball whenever it seems like we've finally pegged that one team that will make a run for it and dominate the #1 spot, they lose a game. With that being said, I think that unless something drastic happens, while by no means a lock for the #1 overall, I think that UNC will definitley be a #1. And along with them, I project Oklahoma, UConn, and Memphis.
• The bubble is not quite as exciting as it normally is this year. It seems like this is one of the years where there the middle is not as cluttered as it normally is. That being said, here is my take on some of the more interesting teams to look for this year.
• Davidson. They were a great story this year, but there only hope is of making the field is to win the SoCon tournament. Their only win that really jumps off the page is West Virginia, but even then, they were without one of their big time starters, Alex Ruoff. The good news for Davidson, winning the SoCon should be much of a problem for them.
• Maryland. The Terps have been an interesting team to say the least. They have beaten the Tar Heels, yet they have been completely blown out by Duke and they were beat by Morgan State in non-conference play. Playing and doing well in the ACC will help them on Selection Sunday, but only if they have a deep run in the ACC Tournament. If they can make the Final Four of the ACC Tournament and have a strong showing in that game, win or lose, I think they'll be satisfied on Selection Sunday, if not, then it could be a sad day for Terps fans.
• The Big 10. How on earth Michigan State is in the discussions for a 2-seed is completely beyond me (not sure who they will be matched up against, but they are already on my 1st round upset radar), but the Big 10 as been just a tad above the SEC as far as weakness of major conference goes. The interesting stories coming out of the Big 10 this year are Penn State and Michigan, both of whom, while they have historically great football teams, their basketball teams have been less than stellar to say the least. In my opinion, I think that only one of these 2 teams is getting in, and that one team is Penn State (and I'm not saying this because PSU is my favorite football team and I can't stand Michigan, I'm looking at this from an objective viewpoint). Michigan may have the slight edge in quality wins, but Michigan has seemingly fallen apart in Big 10 conference and have done nothing to stand out at all. Meanwhile, while not a great record, Penn State's 9-7 and sole possession of 4th place in the Big 10 should be enough to get them into The Big Dance, barring a complete end of season/Big 10 Tournament collapse that sees them losing to a weak team.
• Doing some local analysis here, I personally as if the A-10 is the 7th best conference in college basketball. There are some really strong teams in that conference and almost regularlly get multiple teams into the conference tournaments. While Temple may have a very outside shot of an at-large, St. Joe's has no chance. The best (and maybe only) hope for both teams is to go into Boardwalk Hall and win the A-10 Tournament, which with the likes of Xavier, Rhode Island, and Dayton playing in it, will be a very difficult achievement.

Last four in: Penn State, Providence, Notre Dame, Cincinnati

Last four out: Michigan, Kentucky, Temple, Georgetown

The Latest Projecting The Field

We are officially less than 4 weeks away from Selection Sunday (and exactly 4 weeks from the first day of the first round) from one of my favorite times of year, March Madness. Only on Super Bowl Sunday do I ever stay with one channel as long as I stay with CBS during the day of their March Madness coverage, and seeing as this is my first year in college in The Middle Of Nowhere, PA, I've got the added bonus of having 2 CBS stations from which to choose, which in some cases means I may have two games from which to choose. Lucky me! Of course, MMOD is always available, but still, I'm not really one to watch sports on the computer unless there is no other television alternative.

Anyway, here is the latest CBSSportsline projecting the field. (Click on the image for a more readable version)



Yes, I know that San Diego, and not San Diego State, was the team that pulled the upset in the first round last year, but for the love of all humanity, if this indeed does end up being the bracket and Villanova really is playing San Diego State, PLEASE CBS, PLEASE! DO NOT ASSIGN TIM BRANDO TO BOISE, IDAHO!

Projecting the NCAA 2009 Field Part 1

Every week or so, one of the columnists at CBSSportsline posts what they think will be the bracket come the time for March Madness. And I know we still have over a month ago and there's a whole heck of a lot to be determined, but whenever I see one of the March Madness brackets, whether it be the real thing or a projection, I could stare at it for 30 minutes or so and just take it in. So thanks to my recent learning of how to take a screenshot (yesterday, to be precise), I have down below the screen shot of this week's projection for the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. Click on the image to see a larger version that is easily legible.



I'm kind of surprised that Penn State is not on there. Yes, I know that in their signature wins, Michigan State and Purdue, both of those teams had some key players missing, and they had a weak non-conference schedule, but come on, when you've been as consistently bad as Penn State has been over the past several years and you are all of a sudden out of nowhere doing half-decent, they should be projected in the tourney just as a congratulatory "way to turn things around!" Okay, maybe not, but still, it would be cool if they did do that.