Home > March to Atlanta: Hoop Head > Archives > 2007 > February > 09
Friday, February 9, 2007
Mocking up the NCAA bracket
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A group of national sportswriters has simulated the NCAA’s final process for selecting the college basketball tournament field.
This is the bracket they filled out.
What do you think of the job the writers did? Which teams in this bracket would you have left out? Or added that aren’t there? How do you like where your favorite team was seeded?
The AJC’s Tony Barnhart, who was invited to participate in the mock proceedings, says it’s not as easy as fans think it looks on Selection Sunday.
Did Tony’s explanation of the process help you better understand what the committee goes through? What things would you change about how the bracket is put together?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Tony Barnhart looks at the conferences
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today we break down all 31 conferences and how many bids they are projected to receive. We also look at the hot races as we head down the home stretch of the regular season.
Then post your own opinion in our daily blog.
ACC (8 teams):
• Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Maryland, North Carolina (projected champion), Virginia, Virginia Tech.
• Weekend watch: Maryland (17-7, RPI 40) is in for now but the Terps, who are 1-4 in ACC road games, need to beat somebody away from home. Duke comes to College Park on Saturday.
AMERICAN EAST (1)
• Vermont (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Vermont (18-6, RPI 97) leads Albany (18-7, RPI 90) by one game in the standings. The two teams meet in Albany on Sunday.
ATLANTIC 10 (1)
• UMass (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: UMass (17-6, RPI 60) leads Xavier (17-7) and Rhode Island (12-10) by a half game. Xavier plays at fourth place George Washington (15-6) on Saturday.
ATLANTIC SUN (1)
• East Tennessee State (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: ETSU 16-8, RPI 134) should win its final four games against North Florida (twice), Stetson, and Mercer. The Buccaneers will still have to win the A-Sun tournament.
BIG EAST (6)
• Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh (projected champion), Villanova, West Virginia.
• Weekend watch: West Virginia (17-5, RPI 45) is creeping close to the bubble with UCLA (20-2, RPI 1) coming to Morgantown on Saturday followed by a trip to Georgetown. Ditto for Notre Dame (18-6, RPI 53) which is 1-5 in Big East road games after losing at DePaul Thursday night.
BIG SKY (1)
• Weber State (Projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Weber State (14-10, RPI 154) is 10-4 in the league and only has two regular season games left with Montana (11-11) on Feb. 14 and Sacramento State (6-17). Wildcats will have to win conference tournament.
BIG SOUTH (1)
• Winthrop (Projected champion)
• Weekend watch: The Eagles (16-4, RPI 75) are in command in the regular-season conference race but will still have to win their tournament to get in.
BIG TEN (5)
• Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin (projected champion).
• Weekend watch: Purdue (16-8, RPI 38) has a chance to get in with a big game at Ohio State on Saturday followed by a home game with Indiana.
BIG 12 (5)
• Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M (projected champion).
• Weekend watch: Texas Tech (15-9, RPI 42) has fallen out and may be permanently out after road games at Oklahoma State and Texas A&M in the next five days.
BIG WEST (1)
• Long Beach State (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Long Beach State (15-6, RPI 93) has a slight lead over UC Santa Barbara (14-6) and Cal State Fullerton (15-5) in the conference standings. The 49ers play both teams in the next five days.
COLONIAL (1)
• VCU (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: VCU (21-4, RPI 46) has a two game lead over Hofstra and Old Dominion (17-7) with five games left to play. The Rams travel to Old Dominion on Saturday.
CONFERENCE USA (1)
• Memphis (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Nobody is going to touch Memphis (20-3 RPI 8) in the league. But the Tigers do play Gonzaga in a Bracket Busters game on Feb. 17.
HORIZON (1)
• Butler (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Butler (22-2, RPI 30) has a half game lead over Wright State (18-8, RPI 101) for the regular season championship. The two teams meet Saturday at Wright State.
IVY (1)
• Yale (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Yale is 8-10 but right now the Elis lead Penn (11-8) by a full game in the standings. The two meet again March 2 at Penn. There is no conference tournament so the regular season winner gets the automatic bid.
METRO ATLANTIC (1)
• Marist (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Marist (18-7, RPI 17) has already split games with Loyola of Maryland, which is tied for second place in the league. A big game with Manhattan, also tied for second place, looms next week.
MAC (1)
• Akron (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Akron (17-4, RPI 96) currently has the best conference record (9-1) in the MAC, but the Zips have a big game Saturday at Toledo (8-2).
MEAC (1)
• Delaware State (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Delaware State (11-11, RPI 132) holds a slight edge in the standings over Norfolk State (8-13) and Morgan State (9-12), who beat the Hornets by 14 on Monday. This conference tournament looks wide open.
MID-CONTINENT (1)
• Oral Roberts (projected champion).
• Weekend watch: Oral Roberts (16-8, RPI 99) has climbed back on top of the conference standings ahead of Oakland (14-11). They meet again on Feb. 24 and probably once more for the tournament title and automatic bid.
MISSOURI VALLEY (3)
• Southern Illinois (projected champion), Creighton, Missouri State
• Weekend watch: Southern Illinois (19-5, RPI 11) and Creighton (17-7, RPI 25) share the lead atop the Valley. They meet in a huge game Saturday at Southern Illinois.
MOUNTAIN WEST (3)
• Air Force, BYU (projected champion), UNLV
• Weekend watch: All three schools are locks to get in the field, but BYU is playing the best right now with five straight wins heading into the weekend.
NORTHEAST (1)
• Central Connecticut State (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Central Connecticut (14-10, RPI 205) has a three-game lead in the conference standings but will still have to win its tournament to get in.
OHIO VALLEY (1)
• Austin Peay (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Austin Peay (14-7, RPI 125) has a two-game lead over Samford (13-10) in the conference standings. The two teams meet Saturday in Birmingham.
PAC-10 (6)
• Arizona, Oregon, Southern Cal, Stanford, UCLA (projected champion), Washington State.
• Weekend watch: Oregon (20-4, RPI 20), which has seen its seeding slip with losses to UCLA and Southern Cal, could use a win at home against Arizona (16-7 RPI 7) on Saturday.
PATRIOT (1)
• Holy Cross (projected champion).
• Weekend watch: Holy Cross (19-6, RPI 67) holds a half game lead over Bucknell (15-8, RPI 105) going into Friday night’s meeting at Bucknell.
SEC (6)
• Alabama, Arkansas, Florida (projected champion), Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt.
• Weekend watch: While Florida at Kentucky is the huge national game on Saturday night, the big game for NCAA Tournament purposes is Vanderbilt (15-7, RPI 49) at Tennessee (16-8, RPI 16).
SOUTHERN (1)
• Davidson (projected champion).
• Weekend watch: Davidson (19-4, RPI 71) has won five straight and has a big game Monday with Bobby Cremins and the College of Charleston (16-8, RPI 118).
SOUTHLAND (1)
• Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: TAMU-CC (17-5, RPI 92) has the most wins in the league but may be challenged in the conference tournament by Sam Houston (16-7), which beat the Islanders on their home floor on Feb. 3.
SUN BELT (1)
• South Alabama (projected champion).
• Weekend watch: After posting a big win over Western Kentucky (17-9) last Thursday, South Alabama (16-7, RPI) looks like the best team in this league. The Jaguars will still have to win the conference tournament.
SWAC (1)
• Jackson State (projected champion).
• Weekend watch: This race is going to be tight as Mississippi Valley (11-12) is tied atop the standings with Jackson State and Grambling and Alcorn State are only a game behind. The big game Saturday is Alcorn State (7-14) at Mississippi Valley.
WAC (1)
• Nevada (projected champion).
• Weekend watch: Nevada (21-2, RPI 24) will get in the field even if it doesn’t win the conference tournament. But the Wolf Pack is playing down the stretch to improve their seed.
WEST COAST (1)
• Gonzaga (projected champion)
• Weekend watch: Gonzaga (17-8, RPI 54) is tied for the lead in the WAC with Santa Clara (16-7, RPI 87). The two teams meet on Monday at Gonzaga.
• OK, there it is. Now let’s hear your thoughts.
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment | Categories: Tony Barnhart's daily picks
Duke’s on a swoon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three consecutive ACC losses. Five total in conference play. Tied with Clemson and Florida State.
This is Duke after fading in the second half Wednesday in a 79-73 loss to North Carolina. As the losses mount, so do some worries that the Blue Devils may in danger of missing an NCAA berth.
While the schedule does them no favors, the prospect of sitting home in March seems far-fetched. But Duke probably has blown any chance of earning a top 16 seed. If the Coach K’s crew loses again, it will be assured of its worst ACC finish in a decade.
Some of this was to be expected following the losses of Shelden William and J.J. Redick to the NBA. Josh McRoberts is an amazing talent, but Duke doesn’t have the overall talent or depth to hang with the likes of the Tar Heels.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: ACC Watch
‘Cats not clawing on defense
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kentucky’s offensive output in recent games has been crowd-pleasing, but quite a few Wildcats fans are a bit concerned about what they saw in Wednesday’s 95-89 thriller over South Carolina:
A 61-point second half for the Gamecocks, and a career-high 36 points for USC guard Tre Kelly. Tubby Smith’s decision to bench former Atlanta prep star Randolph Morris for defensive lapses got through, but it didn’t spread throughout the team.
So imagine Smith’s thinking heading into Saturday’s showdown with the top-ranked Gators and their twin post demons Al Horford and Joakim Noah. That’s all you can do, imagine, since the coach isn’t elaborating about why he did what he did with Morris. Morris will have his hands full, and probably won’t be able to count on Lukasz Obrzut for any backup.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: SEC Watch
