Sunday, December 4, 2011

BCS 2011

Time for the annual BCS post. While LSU and Alabama are deserving, who's to say that Oklahoma State or Stanford would not have been equally compelling opponents? The ideal way to solve this is a playoff. However, I'm afraid we're years away from this. In the meantime, I'd really like to see a plus-one. This is how I'd see such a system implemented while keeping the BCS structure in place.

Even having the top 4 play each other sounds too much like a playoff so you have to work with what you've got.

1. Promote the Cotton Bowl to BCS status. This will keep the 10 team system the BCS currently has.
2. The champion from each of the BCS conferences receives an automatic berth.
3. The highest ranked non-BCS conference champion (or Notre Dame) will receive an automatic berth provided it is ranked higher than the lowest ranked BCS conference champion. If this lowest ranked team is unranked in the BCS, then the non-BCS team (or Notre Dame) must be ranked in the top 25.
4. Fill out the rest of the lineup with the highest ranked teams remaining in BCS order. Ignore the two-team limit per conference.
5. Pull out the Pac-12 and Big 10 champions and place them in the Rose Bowl (keeps them happy).
6. The top 4 teams remaining will play each other. The highest ranked of these 4 will play the lowest ranked team of these 4 that avoids a rematch. Then the remaining two teams will play each other. The same will apply to the bottom 4 teams.
7. Once matchups are determined, assign them to bowls. Apply conference affiliations (Big 12-Fiesta, ACC-Orange, SEC-Sugar) with the remaining game to the Cotton Bowl. If a bowl needs to give up a conference affiliated with them to another bowl, that bowl will have priority over the Cotton Bowl.
8. Play the games!
9. After the games are played, run the BCS system one more time and pit the top 2 teams against each other for a BCS champion.

How would it work this year?

This year's BCS conference champions were 1. LSU (SEC), 3. Oklahoma State (Big 12), 5. Oregon (Pac-12), 10. Wisconsin (Big 10), 15. Clemson (ACC), and 23. West Virginia (Big East)

18. TCU is the highest-ranked non-BCS conference champion, is ranked higher than West Virginia, and in the top 25. It gets an automatic berth.

The three remaining slots go to the highest-ranked BCS teams remaining: 2. Alabama, 4. Stanford, and 6. Arkansas.

As a result, these matchups are formed and matched with the following bowls.

Rose: 5. Oregon (Pac-12) vs. 10. Wisconsin (Big 10)
Sugar: 1. LSU (SEC) vs. 4. Stanford
Fiesta: 2. Alabama vs. 3. Oklahoma State (Big 12)
Cotton: 6. Arkansas vs. 23. West Virginia (Big East)
Orange: 15. Clemson (ACC) vs. 18. TCU

Look!  We have a seeded plus-one!  Plus, the rest of the teams are deserving (being in the top 6 or by winning their conference).  Playoffs are great.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

The 2011-12 Bracket Matrix Links

All the links used in the Bracket Matrix for 2011-12 are listed below.

Contributors on Selection Sunday: Please contact me or mark your bracket FINAL when you're done.

The window for new bracketologists to join the matrix is closed.
Exception: Those sites which appear on the rankings page can join this year's matrix by contacting me.

The Bracket Project - BP

ESPN - Joe Lunardi
CBS - Jerry Palm
Rivals - Mike Huguenin
Sporting News - Ryan Fagan
Sports Illustrated - Andy Glockner
Yahoo Sports! - Brad Evans

1-3-1 Sports
5 Borough Sports - 5B
68 & 16 College Sportscast
96 Madness - 96M
ASN College Bracketology
Average at Best - AAB
Basketball Predictions - BaP
Big Underdog - BU
Bleacher Report - Jesse Kramer (BR-JK), Jay McAnany (BR-JM), Jonathan Goodman (BR-JG)Jordan Schwartz (BR-JS), Ross Bentley (BR-RB)
Brack Attack - BA
BracKENTology
The Bracket Board - TBB
Bracket Mensa - BM
Bracket Predictions - BrP
Bracketville - BV
Bracketville USA - BUSA
Brackonomics
Brad-ketology
Bucky's Bracket
Bulldog Brackets - BB
Busting Bracketologists - Bryce and CJ
Busting Brackets - Bust
Busting the Bracket - BtBr
College Sports Vault - CSV
Countdown to March - CM
Cracked Sidewalks - CS
Daily Bracket - DB
The D-World Society - DW
Here's to the ACC
Howard Salwasser's Bracket Watch - BW
Ivar's Bracketology
Jabesblog
Kentucky Sports Online - KSO
Kurt's Bracket
Kyle's Bracket Projections
Bracketology by Kyle Bradley - KB
March 24/7
March Madness '12 - MM12
Midwest Sports Fans - MSF
M+J's NCAA Basketball Bracket Watch - MJ
Nohe's Bracketology
Oak Creek's March Madness
Prime Time Bracketology - Buckeye (PTB-B) and HTTV
The Quantitative Prognosticator
Rainmaker's Bracketology
Random Nerd Bracketology - RN
RFS Bracket Science
Rock M Nation
Rush the Court
Russel's Bracketology - RB
Ryan's Bracketology
Schmolik 64 - S64
Seeding68 - S68
The Sports Headquarters - TSHQ
Stuck in 1977
Syracusefan7's Bracketology - SF7
The Washington Post - Eric Prisbell (WP)
White and Blue Review - Bluejay Banter Bracketology (BBB) and The Bracketeer (WBR-B)


2012 March Madness - MM
660 Sports
Abramatology 2012
Beer's Bracket
Bracket Facts
Bracket WAG
Bracketography
Bracketological Excellence
Bracketology 2012
Bracketology Expert - Blake Hofstad (BE-BH) and Daniel Evans (BE-DE)
College Hoops Net - CHN
The Columbus Dispatch - Bill Rabinowitz
Comradio's Bracketology - JDL
Coolpohle's Bracketology - CP
Crashing the Dance - CtD
Crimson Cast - CC
Crotistics - Cro
Cubbage32's Bracketology - Cub
db's Bracketology
Dre's Mock Bracket
Feature Presentation Online - FPO
Hatch Rankings
The Hoops Report - THR
Hoopville
Hoosierguy1019's Bracketology
Jason Wells' Bracketology - JW
LAOJoe's Bracketology - Joe
Lobofan2003's Bracketology
MAG's Bracket Projections
mistersuit's Bracketology
Real Time RPI
Regan NCAA Tournament Index
Roundball Chat - RBC
CSS Sports' School of Hard Knox - CSS
SB Nation's Blogging the Bracket - SBN
Seed Madness
Send it in Jerome - KJ
Shayne's NCAA Basketball Projections
smssportsreport
The Sports Bank - TSB
SportsRatings - SR
Stat Junkie
VTS Bracketmaker
Warren Nolan - WN
Wild Bill's Bracketology
The Washington Times - Patrick Stevens


Thursday, November 3, 2011

Welcome Back! 2011-12 Edition

Next week marks the beginning of a brand new season of college basketball and another edition of The Bracket Project. My first bracket projection won't be released until November 28 but watch out for the first release of the matrix on November 7.

If you want to contribute, please read this:

1. You need to set up a web site to place your bracket that will be consistent throughout the season. A blog will do. A web site will most definitely do. A bracket posted on a message board will not do. The link will change frequently and will get lost in various discussions, making it difficult for the average reader to find it. (Exception: A message board devoted exclusively to bracketology.) Also, you can't post it on Facebook or some other social networking site because not everyone can access it.  However, in order to promote discussion, an email address or some comment platform must be provided so that readers can praise or criticize your bracket.

2. You have to tell me where your site is. I don't have a sixth sense when it comes to finding these things. I rely on you and readers like you to tell me what kind of sites to add to this page.

3. The NCAA sets up procedures and principles for building a bracket. Read them! A seriously flawed bracket won't be posted. However, if your seedings are out of the norm, I'll still most likely post it provided that the principles are followed and you have an explanation as to why you've built the bracket like you did. I reserve the right to not post a bracket with something like a winless team as a #1 seed.

4. Please date-stamp your bracket. Brackets of a certain age will be removed from the list, and if there's no date-stamp, obviously I can't tell when your bracket was updated.

5. To make it easier on me, please format your bracket so that at least half of it can be seen on the screen at any one time. You can make it even easier for me by publishing a seed list of your 68 teams. Brackets must have at least 48 seeded teams to be listed in the matrix. Sites that merely list teams with no seeding can be linked to the page but will not be added to the matrix. To be listed in the final matrix of the season, you must have all 68 seeded teams.

6. No new sites will be added to the 2012 page after March 1, 2012 unless you appear in the rankings page (linked to the side), in which case, you will be grandfathered in. In addition, no bracket will be accepted to the final matrix of the season after the beginning of the Selection Sunday show.

7. Link to my site! I've linked to yours!

8. I'm only one guy. If this could pay me what I get at my regular job, I'd update this site 24/7. That simply is not the case. If someone else can do this better, I'll gladly step aside, but from the looks of it, I'm the only (crazy) one. So if you don't see your site on here, an update hasn't been done for a while or I don't respond to you, I hope you'll understand why.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Bracket Project Predictions - 2011

Here are my predictions for this year's bracket.

Clemson, USC, UNC-Asheville and UTSA are my First Four winners.

My final four consists of Ohio State, Kansas, Pittsburgh, and Texas with KU over OSU for the championship.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/Bracket%20Project%20Prediction%20-%202011.pdf

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Bracket Matrix Results - 2011

Bracketologists - Please check the matrix and double-check your scores in case I made a mistake. I did just look at 89 brackets today.

Congratulations to Jordan Schwartz at FOX Sports for having the highest Paymon score among all bracketologists this year. He was the only one to miss one team in the bracket (nobody had a perfect bracket).

Bracket Facts, 68&16 Sportscast, Ivar, and Ryan had the most teams seeded correctly at 38 out of 68.

Countdown to March had the most teams seeded within one at 59 out of 68.

The average Paymon score (3 points for each team picked, 2 points for each team seeded correctly, and 1 point for each teams seeded within one) was 311.6. Joe Lunardi and his team of bracketologists were slightly below average at 310.

Historical rankings will be updated Monday (edit: Wednesday at the latest).

Final NIT Bracket - 2011

Here's the NIT bracket. Hope it doesn't turn out as bad as the NCAA prediction.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/NIT031311FINAL.pdf

Final Bracket 2011

Here it is. Read it and weep.

Ohio State, Kansas, Pittsburgh, and Duke are the top seeds. USC was the last team in over Alabama.

Watch for matrix updates all the way up to the selection show.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/031311%20-%20FINAL.pdf

Saturday, March 12, 2011

NCAA + NIT Update - March 12

For the NCAA bracket, I moved Penn State and Alabama into the bracket. I may waver a bit on Penn State tonight if they lose today and after that very slow and ugly win over Wisconsin (but hey, a win's a win right?). Falling out are St. Mary's and Boston College.

In the NIT, with the addition of two more automatics at the bottom, Drexel was the odd team out (UTEP left too as the CUSA rep in the NCAA, but Tulsa was left out of the NIT bracket).

One final bracket on Selection Sunday with matrix updates throughout the weekend are on tap.

NCAA - 3/12 for games thru 3/11:

1 - Ohio State, Kansas, Duke, Pittsburgh
2 - Notre Dame, San Diego State, BYU, North Carolina
3 - Purdue, Texas, Syracuse, Louisville
4 - Kentucky, Florida, Wisconsin, Connecticut
5 - Georgetown, West Virginia, Arizona, St. John's
6 - UNLV, Cincinnati, Kansas State, Vanderbilt
7 - Xavier, George Mason, Texas A&M, Temple
8 - Washington, Villanova, Utah State, Old Dominion
9 - UCLA, Missouri, Marquette, Illinois
10 - Michigan State, Butler, Gonzaga, Michigan
11 - Clemson, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Tennessee
12 - Richmond, Georgia, Colorado, Penn State, Alabama, Belmont
13 - Harvard, Oakland, UTEP, Bucknell
14 - Morehead State, Long Island, Long Beach State, Kent State
15 - Indiana State, Wofford, St. Peter's, Northern Colorado
16 - NC-Asheville, Boston University, McNeese State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Hampton, Alabama State

NIT - 3/12 for games thru 3/11

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/NIT031211.pdf

Friday, March 11, 2011

NCAA + NIT Update - March 11

The only change in teams was UAB falling out after losing its first game in the CUSA tourney. Tulsa replaces them as the CUSA rep.

In the NIT, UAB joins there as the top seed pushing fellow conference team Memphis to the 2nd line. Memphis could still pass them since they're still alive. Dayton also joins too to replace Baylor and Minnesota.

A full NCAA bracket comes tomorrow and a final bracket on Selection Sunday with matrix updates throughout.

NCAA - 3/11 for games thru 3/10:

1 - Ohio State, Kansas, Duke, Notre Dame
2 - Pittsburgh, San Diego State, BYU, North Carolina
3 - Purdue, Texas, Wisconsin, Syracuse
4 - Kentucky, Florida, Louisville, Connecticut
5 - Georgetown, West Virginia, Arizona, Xavier
6 - UNLV, Cincinnati, Kansas State, St. John's
7 - Vanderbilt, George Mason, Texas A&M, Temple
8 - Illinois, Villanova, Utah State, Old Dominion
9 - Washington, Missouri, Marquette, Florida State
10 - Michigan State, Butler, Gonzaga, UCLA
11 - Clemson, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Tennessee
12 - St. Mary's (CA), Georgia, Richmond, Boston College, Colorado, Belmont
13 - Harvard, Oakland, Tulsa, Bucknell
14 - Morehead State, Long Island, Long Beach State, Kent State
15 - Indiana State, Wofford, St. Peter's, Northern Colorado
16 - NC-Asheville, Boston University, McNeese State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Texas Southern, Bethune-Cookman

NIT - 3/11 for games thru 3/10

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/NIT031111.pdf

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

NIT Bracket - March 9

Just a quick update to reflect the inclusion of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and College of Charleston into the bracket. Other than that, it's largely unchanged from Monday's bracket since only two teams from the last bracket actually played. And those two teams I didn't find a compelling reason to move. Virginia Commonwealth still has a case for a NCAA at-large but has to wait for teams above them to lose. Princeton beat Penn and awaits a playoff against Harvard for the Ivy League championship.

I switched Missouri State and Wichita State after concluding that the regular season championship would carry more weight than WSU's better non-conference and road performance.

Since I have to include Milwaukee and Charleston, I had to kick out two teams. The at-large 7 seeds in the last bracket were Drexel, Tulsa, and Valparaiso. Iona was in the mix too since they lost to St. Peter's in the MAAC championship. In the end, I could only keep one and chose Drexel on the strength of their wins over Louisville on the road, Old Dominion, and VCU.

I'll re-assess the entire bracket on Friday. By that time, a lot more teams should have played a game.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/NIT030911.pdf

Monday, March 7, 2011

NCAA + NIT Brackets - March 7

I kept Duke at the top line. I'm thinking only one Big East team will be on the top line and Duke has an easier path to the conference championship than Pittsburgh or Notre Dame.

I held my nose and picked Colorado as my last team in. Here's hoping that some bid thieves will materialize.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/030711.pdf

I'm pretty intrigued by USC. Lots of good wins and bad losses, but the committee will probably gravitate toward the good wins. In the meantime, they're on the top line of the NIT along with Alabama, Colorado, and Penn State. 6 automatic qualifiers are currently in the field.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/NIT030711.pdf

Friday, March 4, 2011

Seeding Update + NIT Update - March 4

Not much change in the NCAA bracket after seemingly all the bubble teams lost or did not play. Cleveland State replaces Southern Miss. The NIT bracket is below the NCAA seeding. Washington State, with wins over Washington and USC, joins NCAA has-beens Southern Miss, Colorado State, and Wichita State on the NIT top line.

1 - Ohio State, Kansas, Duke, Pittsburgh
2 - Purdue, BYU, San Diego State, Notre Dame
3 - Texas, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Syracuse
4 - Georgetown, Kentucky, Louisville, Florida
5 - West Virginia, Connecticut, Arizona, St. John's
6 - Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, Kansas State, George Mason
7 - Washington, Villanova, Texas A&M, Missouri
8 - Utah State, UNLV, Xavier, Temple
9 - Illinois, Marquette, Old Dominion, UCLA
10 - Michigan State, St. Mary's (CA), UAB, Florida State
11 - Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia Tech, Michigan
12 - Boston College, Butler, Gonzaga, Clemson, Richmond, Cleveland State
13 - Belmont, Missouri State, Oakland, Princeton
14 - College of Charleston, Bucknell, Fairfield, Long Beach State
15 - Coastal Carolina, LIU-Brooklyn, Vermont, Kent State
16 - Murray State, Northern Colorado, Florida Atlantic, McNeese State, Texas Southern, Bethune-Cookman

NIT - 3/4/11

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/NIT030411.pdf

Monday, February 28, 2011

Bracket - February 28

Note: Tuesday, March 1 is the deadline to contribute new sites to the matrix. If you've been in the matrix in years past, this deadline does not apply to you but you do need to let me know when you become active again. Thanks.

More shuffling after another tumultous weekend. Coming in are Michigan, after a road win over struggling Minnesota who falls out, and Boston College, which yo-yo's its way back in after a win over Virginia. They replace Colorado State after their loss to Air Force.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/022811.pdf

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Guide to the Conference Tournaments

I made a handy pdf of dates and times for the 30 conference championships this year. Check it out...conference tournaments start this Tuesday.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/Conference%20Tournaments%20-%202011.pdf

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Seeding Update + NIT Bracket - February 26

For any bracketologists out there, if you're not listed in this year's matrix list or on the rankings page, you have until March 1 to submit your bracket site to be included in the final matrix of the year.

Clemson, Gonzaga and Richmond moved into the bracket, pretty much for not losing, but the Zags got the biggest win with their road triumph over struggling St. Mary's. Moving out was Nebraska, Cleveland State and Boston College.

1 - Ohio State, Kansas, Duke, Pittsburgh
2 - Texas, BYU, San Diego State, Purdue
3 - Wisconsin, Georgetown, Notre Dame, North Carolina
4 - Arizona, Syracuse, Louisville, Florida
5 - Connecticut, Kentucky, Villanova, Missouri
6 - St. John's, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Cincinnati
7 - George Mason, Washington, Texas A&M, UNLV
8 - Utah State, Xavier, Temple, Illinois
9 - Kansas State, Marquette, Michigan State, Old Dominion
10 - Tennessee, Minnesota, Virginia Tech, UCLA
11 - Florida State, St. Mary's, Clemson, Georgia
12 - UAB, Butler, Southern Miss, Colorado State, Gonzaga, Richmond
13 - Belmont, Wichita State, Harvard, Oakland
14 - College of Charleston, Bucknell, Fairfield, Vermont
15 - Long Beach State, Coastal Carolina, LIU-Brooklyn, Kent State
16 - Montana, Murray State, Florida Atlantic, McNeese State, Texas Southern, Bethune-Cookman

NIT - 2/26/11

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/NIT022611.pdf

Monday, February 21, 2011

Bracket - February 21

Memphis and Baylor suffered bad losses to Rice and Texas Tech respectively to fall out of the bracket. To replace them, Nebraska and Southern Miss move in. Right now, I think the CUSA will get two teams in, but it's a toss-up to pick which teams. If nobody takes control of the conference race, they'll become a one-bid league quickly. Nebraska's in with their big win over Texas. Winning 3 of their last 4 will help a lot.

With all the top teams losing last week, Ohio State remains the top seed with Kansas right behind.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/022111.pdf

Friday, February 18, 2011

Seeding Update + NIT Bracket - February 18

Here's the seeding update for today. The NIT bracket link is below.

1 - Ohio State, Texas, Kansas, Pittsburgh
2 - Duke, BYU, San Diego State, Notre Dame
3 - Georgetown, Purudue, Wisconsin, Connecticut
4 - Arizona, Villanova, Florida, North Carolina
5 - Syracuse, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Louisville
6 - Missouri, West Virginia, Washington, St. John's
7 - George Mason, Texas A&M, Temple, Illinois
8 - Utah State, Xavier, UNLV, St. Mary's
9 - Cincinnati, Kansas State, Tennessee, Minnesota
10 - Virginia Tech, Marquette, UCLA, Florida State
11 - Michigan State, Old Dominion, Cleveland State, Colorado State
12 - UAB, Memphis
First Four At-larges - Butler, Georgia, Boston College, Baylor
13 - Belmont, Wichita State, Princeton, Oakland
14 - College of Charleston, Coastal Carolina, Vermont, Bucknell
15 - Fairfield, Montana, LIU-Brooklyn, Long Beach State
16 - Morehead State, Miami (OH)
First Four Qualifiers - Florida Atlantic, Hampton, Texas Southern, Texas State

NIT - 02/18/11

As usual, regular season conference champions who do not earn a NCAA bid get an automatic NIT bid. So consider teams seeded 7 or 8 in the linked bracket to be on the NIT bubble.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/NIT021811.pdf

Monday, February 14, 2011

Bracket - February 14

A couple of weeks ago, I was not happy with the way the bracket was ending up. Ugly was the word I used. Now, I think I'm pretty content about it. Sure, there a few teams that don't seem like they should belong but it's like that every year. This year, the problem is magnified by the need to add 3 extra at-large teams.

Butler, Boston College, Richmond, and Memphis constitute the at-large first four while Baylor is the first team out.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/021411.pdf

Friday, February 11, 2011

Seeding Update + NIT Bracket - February 11

Here's today's seeding update with the NIT bracket link below.

1 - Ohio State, Kansas, Texas, Pittsburgh
2 - Duke, BYU, San Diego State, Notre Dame
3 - Georgetown, Villanova, Connecticut, Purdue
4 - Syracuse, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Arizona
5 - North Carolina, Florida, Louisville, Missouri
6 - West Virginia, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Texas A&M
7 - Washington, St. Mary's (CA), UNLV, Cincinnati
8 - Utah State, George Mason, St. John's, Temple
9 - Minnesota, Xavier, Marquette, Tennessee
10 - Kansas State, Florida State, Michigan State, UCLA
11 - Clemson, Virginia Tech, UAB, Cleveland State
12 - Belmont, Old Dominion, Wichita State, Georgia
First Round Games - Duquesne, Colorado State, Richmond, Boston College
13 - Coastal Carolina, Oakland
14 - College of Charleston, Princeton, Bucknell, Vermont
15 - Fairfield, Kent State, Long Beach State, LIU-Brooklyn
16 - Murray State, Northern Colorado
First Round Games - Florida Atlantic, Hampton, Texas Southern, Northwestern State

For the NIT bracket, please keep in mind that regular season conference champions who do not win their conference tournament receive an automatic bid to the NIT.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/NIT021111.pdf

Monday, February 7, 2011

Bracket - February 7

It was actually pretty quiet at the top of the bracket, but the bottom is really falling out and now teams who just win are moving ever higher in the bracket.

I've got George Mason up to an 8 seed after a dominating win over Old Dominion on Saturday. That win is their only win against a top 50 team but they've won 9 in a row and will probably make it 10 before challenging games against James Madison and VCU. 7 seeds Utah State and St. Mary's are having an easy time against their Western opponents so it's a good thing they're facing each other in the ESPN Bracket Busters in a couple of weeks.

On the other end of the scale, Michigan State has lost 5 of their last 6 including an embarrassing 26-point loss to Wisconsin on Sunday. Some brackets have them out and even though I've still got them at an 11 seed, it'll be hard even to keep that position. Much improved Penn State is coming up followed by OSU, Illinois, Minnesota, and Purdue.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/020711.pdf

Friday, February 4, 2011

Seeding Update + NIT Bracket - February 4

Today is the first day of NIT projections, gaining more popularity every year. These will be published on Fridays only along with a NCAA seeding update. Full NCAA brackets will only be published on Mondays.

Without further ado, here is the seeding update. The link for the NIT bracket is below the NCAA seeds.

1 - Ohio State, Kansas, Texas, Pittsburgh
2 - Duke, San Diego State, BYU, Connecticut
3 - Notre Dame, Kentucky, Purdue, Georgetown
4 - Villanova, Louisville, Missouri, Syracuse
5 - Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Arizona, Washington
6 - North Carolina, West Virginia, Minnesota, Florida
7 - Vanderbilt, Illinois, Cincinnati, St. Mary's (CA)
8 - Utah State, UNLV, Tennessee, Temple
9 - George Mason, Cleveland State, Marquette, St. John's
10 - Xavier, Wichita State, Duquesne, Kansas State
11 - Michigan State, Georgia, Virginia Tech, Florida State
12 - Belmont, Maryland, Old Dominion, Penn State/UCLA
13 - Gonzaga/Washington State, Harvard, Oakland, UTEP
14 - Coastal Carolina, Fairfield, Vermont, Bucknell
15 - Florida Atlantic, Long Beach State, LIU-Brooklyn, Austin Peay
16 - Northern Colorado, McNeese State, Bowling Green, Texas Southern, Chattanooga, Bethune-Cookman

For the NIT bracket, keep in mind that regular season conference champions who do not win their conference tournament get an automatic bid into the NIT. Usually, this takes up to 4-6 spots from the possible 32 teams.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/NIT020411.pdf

Monday, January 31, 2011

Bracket - January 31

In all honesty, this is a pretty ugly bracket. Let's just read it and move on. A seeding update is scheduled for Friday as is the first NIT bracket, which could be even messier.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/013111.pdf

Monday, January 24, 2011

Bracket - January 24

San Diego State's undefeated season continues with its placement as the last #1 seed in my bracket joining Ohio State, Pittsburgh, and Duke. For those lucky enough to get CBS College Sports, this Wednesday's matchup against BYU figures to be the game of the year out west...at least until the rematch in one month.

Two mid-majors falling out of the bracket are Central Florida and Gonzaga. UCF looked poised to run away with the CUSA title until it lost its last 4 games, including two home games against East Carolina and Rice. Now the CUSA is a muddled mess. A team with as many as 6 losses in conference play could possibly claim the regular season title.

Gonzaga had a road trip to the SF Bay Area. It's a beautiful place so maybe the team was distracted with sightseeing. It certainly wasn't dominating opponents Santa Clara and USF like seasons past. Winning two of three against St. Mary's (twice) and Memphis seems like a must.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/012411.pdf

Monday, January 17, 2011

Bracket - January 17

I watched a few games over the weekend waiting for football to show up and there were lots of opportunities for bubble teams to distinguish themselves with an upset victory. In the end, two teams made statements this week to get into this week's bracket: Florida State beat Duke and NC State while Colorado beat Kansas State and Oklahoma State (as well as Missouri). Both teams have a questionable loss that will keep them near the bubble but their schedules are manageable enough to keep up the momentum.

This bracket also reflects 11 teams from the Big East. Considering no conference has gotten more than 8 teams into the tournament, it's certainly a mark worth keeping track of during the course of the season.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/011711.pdf

Monday, January 10, 2011

Bracket - January 10

So I was in DC for the past few days. Did I miss anything?

It was an upset-filled Saturday as many top teams fell. However, the top line stayed the same in this week's bracket and the second line had only one newbie, Purdue, now 4-0 in the Big Ten against middle-of-the-road competition. They have an interesting week with road games at Minnesota and West Virginia.

The notable team falling out of the bracket is Memphis. A 20-point loss to Tennessee shined the spotlight on the Tigers' middling resume so far. Three losses to top teams, its best win being a 4-point win at home vs. Miami, a 12 seed this week, and OT wins against Austin Peay and Arkansas State, also at home.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/011011.pdf

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Scheduling Update

I'll be in DC for a few days so no updates until Monday.

Starting Monday, I think I'll have a regular schedule in place for the rest of the season as follows:

Bracket Matrix:

Every Monday
Every Friday starting in February
Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday when needed
Saturdays are skipped except for the last Saturday of the regular season

Bracket Project:

NCAA: Full Bracket on Mondays, Seeding Updates on Fridays starting in February
NIT: Full Bracket on Fridays starting in February

Monday, January 3, 2011

Bracket - January 3

A quick update today with a new matrix up shortly. Today marks the start of weekly updates to the Bracket Project and will become more frequent as we get closer to mid-March.

Top seeds have remained consistent with Duke, Ohio State, and Kansas filling out the top 3 spots. The last spot has been going to the top Big East team, which for this week is Syracuse.

The first round games involving at-large teams pit Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee and Florida State vs. USC.

http://bracketproject.50webs.com/PDFS/010311.pdf