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

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

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

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

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

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

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