I'm sure by now you've read all about the weak bubble this year so I won't bore you with another recap.
The last time around, I singled out Arizona State and Ohio State as the last two teams in. So with the Sun Devils beating USC and the Buckeyes losing to Minnesota, Arizona State moves up to an 11 seed while Ohio State finds itself on the outside looking in.
(Speaking of Arizona State...why the heck does Joe Lunardi have them going to Phoenix? They're the host! They can't be in the Phoenix regional.)
Florida suffered a loss at home to Mississippi State but a team hurt even more by a home loss was Maryland, who was up by 20 over Clemson and still managed to lose by 9. Both are hanging by a thread along with the last team in, Virginia Tech. Realistically though, the Hokies probably need to sweep its last two games to have a shot of staying in the bracket.
I said I would wait until New Mexico's game with UNLV before deciding to let them in or not, but alas with the weak bubble, they get to move up all the way to an 11 seed. A loss to UNLV however will place them outside until I see their performance in the conference tourney.
Texas Tech's win over Texas placed them all the way to second team out at the time this bracket was released but tonight's 54-point loss to Kansas probably puts the kabosh on any at-large chances, depending on how the conference tourney goes.
Now the rundown:
http://bracketproject.atspace.com/030308.pdf
Multi-bid conferences:
Big East - 7, ACC - 6, Big 12 - 6, Pac-10 - 6, SEC - 6, Big 10 - 4, Mountain West - 3, Atlantic 10 - 2, Missouri Valley - 2, West Coast - 2
New teams in the bracket:
American, Illinois State, NC-Asheville, New Mexico, Rider, Virginia Tech
Teams out of the bracket:
Loyola-Maryland, Navy, Ohio State, Southern Illinois, Syracuse, Winthrop
Last 4 Teams In:
Massachusetts, Florida, Maryland, Virginia Tech
Last 4 Teams Out:
Southern Illinois, Texas Tech, Oregon, Ohio State
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2 comments:
seriously, you need to respect the MO Valley (4 top 50 teams and only 2 bids). SIU should be a lock with how weak the bubble is. I think another thing that should be considered is which team has the balls to schedule tough OOC games. SIU's RPI (48) and SOS (12) as well as wins over Miss St, St Mary's, and Drake should help. Also, Creighton is not on many people's bubble list, but with an RPI of 50 and wins over St Joseph's, Oral Roberts, and SIU they should be.
The Salukis were in the bracket last time but were taken out after their loss to Illinois State. They're still part of the last 4 teams out due to 5 RPI top 50 wins but that balances out their 5 RPI 100+ losses. Creighton hasn't beaten anyone with an at-large bid in my bracket and has that Evansville loss hanging over its head. But with this year's weak bubble, a win by either of them over Drake or Illinois State would make a compelling case for inclusion.
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