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DEL.ICIO.USTony Barnhart’s daily picks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In today’s projected NCAA field, the AJC’s Tony Barnhart first offers his conference-by-conference breakdown, then his 65 daily picks.
Following both of Tony’s forecasts, log your own opinion in our daily blog.
WHO’S IN
• Tennessee (16-8, RPI 14). The Vols have a gaudy RPI because of the non-conference schedule but we’ve been waiting on Chris Lofton to get back and for the Vols to beat somebody.
• Illinois (17-8, RPI 41) It’s shaky but the Illini are in for now.
WHO’S OUT
• Texas Tech (15-9, RPI 43), which has lost four straight after a horrible loss at home to Nebraska. With road games coming up with Texas A&M and Oklahoma State, things don’t look good for coach Knight.
• New Mexico State (17-5, RPI 78) lost at Utah State Monday night and that makes the WAC a one-bid league if Nevada (20-2, RPI 28) wins the conference tournament.
BY CONFERENCE
NOTE: At this moment there are 23 conferences that will receive only one bid to the NCAA tournament. We project the remaining 42 spots in the field will be distributed as follows:
ACC (7 teams):
• In: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech.
• Bubble: Georgia Tech, Maryland.
• Comment: The ACC is the only conference with eight teams inside the RPI Top 40. Maryland (17-7, RPI 39) needs a couple of big wins down the stretch to give the ACC eight bids.
BIG EAST (6):
• In: Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Villanova, West Virginia.
• Bubble: Louisville, Providence, Syracuse.
• Comment: West Virginia (17-4, RPI 40) might be in trouble with no impressive non-conference wins and consecutive games with Pittsburgh, UCLA, and Georgetown coming up.
BIG TEN (5):
• In: Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin.
• Bubble: Purdue.
• Comment: Purdue (15-8, RPI 45) still has a chance to get in if it can get hot, starting with tonight’s game with Michigan.
BIG 12 (5):
• In: Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M.
• Bubble: Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas Tech.
• Comment: Kansas State (17-6, RPI 37) could move into second place in the Big 12 with a win tonight at Kansas.
MISSOURI VALLEY (3)
• In: Creighton, Missouri State, Southern Illinois.
• Bubble: Wichita State, Bradley, Northern Iowa.
• Comment: Big week for Southern Illinois (18-5, RPI 11) if it wants to stay a high seed. The Salukis play Bradley (15-9, RPI 49) tonight and Creighton (16-7, RPI 26) on Saturday.
MOUNTAIN WEST (3)
• In: Air Force, BYU, UNLV.
• Bubble: None.
• Comment: Air Force (17-4, RPI 17) fell out of first place in the MWC by losing to San Diego State (62-41) Tuesday night.
PAC-10 (6)
• In: Arizona, Oregon, Southern Cal, Stanford, UCLA, Washington State.
• Bubble: California.
• Comment: Southern Cal (18-6, RPI 44) should be in but the Trojans have three straight road games coming up against UCLA (tonight), Arizona and Arizona State.
SEC (7)
• In: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt.
• Bubble: LSU, Auburn.
• Comment: Georgia (12-8, RPI 47) is in right now but it’s not solid. The Bulldogs have only three wins against the Top 50 in the RPI. A win at home over Florida would help.
TONY RANKS THE NCAA FIELD
If he made his bracket today, AJC’s Tony Barnhart would pick these teams to make it to the Big Dance:
1: Florida (SEC champ)
2: North Carolina (ACC champ)
3: UCLA (Pac-10 champ)
4: Pittsburgh (Big East champ)
5: Wisconsin (Big Ten champ)
6: Texas A&M (Big 12 champ)
7: Ohio State (at-large)
8: Kansas (at-large)
9: Kentucky (at-large)
10: Butler (Horizon champ)
11: Memphis (C-USA champ)
12: Duke (at-large)
13: Oregon (at-large)
14: Southern Illinois (Missouri Valley champ)
15: Nevada: (WAC champ)
16: Marquette (at-large)
17: Indiana (at-large)
18: Arizona (at-large)
19: Notre Dame (at large)
20: Air Force (at-large)
21: Stanford (at-large)
22: Oklahoma State (at-large)
23: Washington State (at-large)
24: Virginia Tech (at-large)
- Southern Cal (at-large)
26: Boston College (at-large)
27: Villanova (at-large)
28: Vanderbilt (at-large)
29: Texas (at-large)
30: Kansas State (at-large)
31: BYU (at-large)
32: Michigan State (at-large)
33: Virginia (at-large)
34: Georgetown (at-large)
35: Tennessee (at-large
36: Alabama (at-large)
37: Arkansas (at-large)
38: Clemson (at-large)
39: Gonzaga (at-large)
40: UNLV (at-large)
41: Creighton (at-large)
42: Georgia (at-large)
43: Florida State (at-large)
44: West Virginia (at-large)
45: VCU (Colonial champ)
46: Davidson (Southern champ)
47: Illinois (at-large)
48: Missouri State (at-large)
49: UMass (Atlantic 10 champ)
50: Texas A&M-CC (Southland champ)
51: Vermont (America East champ)
52: Yale (Ivy champ)
53: Winthrop (Big South champ)
54: East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun champ)
55: Holy Cross (Patriot champ)
56: South Alabama (Sun Belt champ)
57: Toledo (MAC champ)
58: Delaware State (MEAC champ)
59: Oakland (Mid-Continent champ)
60: Austin Peay (Ohio Valley champ)
61: Long Beach State (Big West champ)
62: Jackson State (SWAC champ)
63: Weber State (Big Sky champ)
64: Loyola of Maryland (MAAC champ)
65: Central Connecticut State (Northeast champ)
• What do you think of Tony’s conference choices, along with his comments?
• And how does his overall 65 picks differ from yours?
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