Bracket - March 9

Another varied series of events this past weekend. Let's recap:

Creighton put up two very poor performances in the Missouri Valley tournament last week as they blew a 22-point lead in the second half against Wichita State and needed a last-second jumper to win. They followed that up with a 24-point loss to Illinois State. They are currently the first team out and are at the mercy of the tourney gods as other tournaments get started. It is their hope that an 11-win streak right before the tourney will turn some heads.

Penn State was pushed to last team in as they lost to Iowa. Wins by Penn State, Michigan, and Minnesota may ensure eight bids from the Big Ten.

Rhode Island was rewarded with a bid last Friday but followed that up with a loss against UMass, so they move back to first 4 out joining Creighton, UNLV, and Maryland.

New teams joining the madness include Michigan, with a huge win at Minnesota, and New Mexico, looking better after UNLV lost to SDSU.

For the NIT bracket, Davidson makes its first appearance here as they lost to College of Charleston in the semifinals of the SoCon tournament. A 5th seed may seem low but it's a reflection of the fact that they have little chance at an at-large and the teams above them do with their conference tournaments getting underway. In the end, their seed will probably settle at a 3 or 4.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/030909.pdf

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/NIT030909.pdf