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DEL.ICIO.USTony Barnhart’s daily picks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Following Tony’s update, log your own opinion in our daily blog.
WHO’S IN
• Louisville (18-8, RPI 53): Back to back road wins at Pittsburgh and Marquette proved that Rick Pitino’s Cardinals should be in the field.
• Drexel (19-7, RPI 51): Ignore the RPI. The Dragons won a Bracket Buster game at Creighton Saturday night. They are 12-4 on the road and have also won at Villanova, Syracuse, and Hofstra.
WHO’S OUT
• Illinois (18-9, RPI 39): The Illini are 3-8 against the Top 50 and the best team they have beat on the road is Northwestern (10-13).
• Florida State (17-10, RPI 38): The Seminoles have lost four straight and it figures to be five when they go to Maryland on Wednesday.
WHO’S WAITING IN THE WINGS
• Georgia (15-9, RPI 52): The Bulldogs have three wins against the top 50 but only one of those (Arkansas) has been on the road. They have two big road games with Mississippi and Kentucky coming up plus a home date with Tennessee. Win two of those three and Georgia should be in.
BREAKDOWN BY CONFERENCE
(There are 22 conferences that we project will receive only one bid. The rest of the 43 bids will be distributed accordingly.)
• ACC (8): Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina (projected champion), Virginia, Virginia Tech.
• Big East (6): Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh (projected champion), Villanova, West Virginia.
• Big Ten (5): Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin (projected champion).
• BIG 12 (5): Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M (projected champion), Texas Tech.
• COLONIAL (2): VCU, Drexel.
• Missouri Valley (3): Southern Illinois (projected champion), Creighton, Missouri State.
• Mountain West (3): Air Force, BYU (projected champion), UNLV.
• Pac-10 (6): Arizona, Oregon, Southern Cal, Stanford, UCLA (projected champion), Washington State.
• SEC (5): Alabama, Florida (projected champion), Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt.
• How do you see it?
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment | Categories: Tony Barnhart's daily picks
Comments
By Roy
February 18, 2007 07:23 PM | Link to this
Hey Tony just trying to figure this one out. ODU 43 RPI, beat Drexel 2 times, beats George Washington splits with VCU and has a 9 game winning streak and there record is 21-9. How does Drexel go!
By Matt
February 18, 2007 07:58 PM | Link to this
If Dawgs win 2 out of 4 against Miss, Miss St, Ken & Tenn and finish 9-7 in the conference, we should be in.
By Steve
February 18, 2007 08:24 PM | Link to this
Tony- Agree on most counts, but you missed one- the Missouri Valley gets 4 teams. Bradley wins soundly at VCU last night, will win their final 2 regular season conf games at home, reach the semifinal in the MVC tournament, and finish with 22 wins and a top-40 RPI. (A year after reaching the Sweet 16 with an almost identical resume) Add them to your list- they’re in.
By Brooks
February 18, 2007 08:42 PM | Link to this
Tony, how can you put Tech in the Big Dance right now. At best they finish 7-9 in the conference. They could very easily lose 3 of their last 4. Tech has not been impressive. Losing 17 straight conference doesen’t deserve an invite to the tourney. The SEC is no cake walk on the road either. You’ll be singing a different tune soon. GO DAWGS.
By Seth
February 18, 2007 08:55 PM | Link to this
Brooks, how can you put UGA over Tech? Tech won head to head, has beaten a top five team, played two teams that have been ranked #1 and one of them twice. Tech has more wins and more quality wins they get in over UGA right now. Go Jackets!
By D4
February 18, 2007 09:07 PM | Link to this
Georgia is 16-9 (7-5 SEC); record has been wrong (off one game) in the last two updates. Wins are hard to come by in the SEC, please don’t take any away. The Dawgs need two more SEC wins to dance, maybe one SEC tourney win.
By Rod
February 18, 2007 09:25 PM | Link to this
SEC had 2 teams in final 4 last year. One of those teams is still #1. Tony why do you think the sec should only get 6 teams in the dance?
By Braves fan 202
February 18, 2007 10:49 PM | Link to this
If georgia doesnt win two of the next three then they can still go with a good run in the sec tourney, maybe theyll make the sweet sixteen
By Brooks
February 18, 2007 11:32 PM | Link to this
Seth, who has Tech beaten besides Duke(who is way down this year) and a couple of teams in the Maui Invitational-which was at the very beginning of the year. Or Connecticut who is having one of their worst years in a long time. Georgia took an L because we didn’t have our point guard, arguably our best player. Tech loses a few more games without Crittendon. Georgia has played Florida twice. What’s your point? Tech will lose at Virginia and North Carolina at home. I think you can only use the head-to-head argument. How about the 17 game road conference losing streak? Tech will be playing on the road if they make the tournament. Georgia has road wins at Arkansas and South Carolina. 1 more conference road win that Tech. Tech has underachieved with the squad they have. We went from disaster to talking about the tourney in 3 years. Georgia deserves it more. GO DAWGS.
By Thomas
February 19, 2007 02:42 AM | Link to this
Besides, you get in the tournament based on how your total season, not just early wins. Sure, Tech beat UGA earlier in the season and was the better team at that point. Would Tech beat UGA now? Could they beat UGA in Athens?
But, there are still two very important wins to get out of the next four games for UGA to think about being in the tournament. And, even then, the NCAA may screw us because of Harrick. They might not want reminders of that a***** during March Madness.
By 82DAWG
February 19, 2007 07:38 AM | Link to this
Georgia is not a traditional basketball school. Duh, right? So, while many can get a bid with 18 wins, UGA cannot. In fact, it may take 20 just to make the selection committee notice (especially with our hideous RPI). We have four games left plus the SEC tournament. To even have a chance, we must win two of our final four games AND at least one in the SEC tournament. Anything less will not get us noticed.
By TitletownUSA
February 19, 2007 08:01 AM | Link to this
Seth, when your best wins come in Nov. and Dec., and you’re looking at a losing conference record, you have to finish strong just to have a chance. Unless Tech finds a way to win some road games, they have no chance.
82Dawg, it all depends on who you have played as far as how many wins is the magic number. It’s not the same number every year. UGA has played a good schedule and has a strong RPI. That’s two major components of what the NCAA committee looks at each year. We could use another road win or two, preferably against a Kentucky.
But the Dawgs have made it into the tourney with 16 wins before with a strong schedule. The SEC is rated too highly this year for us to finish 9-7 and be left out. That’s pretty much the ONE requirement that I’ve heard every national pundit use for UGA.
And Thomas, Tech wasn’t the better team in December. We were without Sundiata and Tech was playing with a player that they knew was going to be academically ineligible in January.
By Hoop
February 19, 2007 09:06 AM | Link to this
D4-GA is only 15-9. One of those wins is agains DII school Valdosta St which doesn’t count towards your overall win total in the eyes of the Selection Committee.
By P
February 19, 2007 10:44 AM | Link to this
Brooke, last i checked, the dance was played on neutral sites… That being said, Tech needs to win 3 out of 4 to really have a definite shot or go 2-2 and make a run in the acc tourney..
By Rabid Dawg
February 19, 2007 10:52 AM | Link to this
I think 8-8 in the SECE is stronger than 9-7 in the SECW this year, but we still have to get 9 to be in. We are atop the bubble. How in the world does our RPI go from 34 to 58 with one make-up game against Kennesaw?
By jc_dawg
February 19, 2007 01:29 PM | Link to this
There seems to be a lot of disagreement as to what Ga has to do to get in. I personally feel that if Ga wins 2 of there final 4…that should be good enough.
Sat night…Mar 10th…I hope that the AJC has a topic whereby we all predict who is in from the SEC and who is not.
On the 11th we will find out. Go Dawgs!
By Tim
February 19, 2007 02:03 PM | Link to this
82 Dawg,
Was UGA a basketball school when they got to dance a few years back with a 16 and 14 record?
By Seth
February 19, 2007 03:56 PM | Link to this
Brooks, the ACC is a tougher conference then the SEC and I know the road losing streak for Tech looks terrible and was quite painful to watch. A win at Arkansas or S.C. is not like a road game at Maryland, UNC, or Duke. It is on about the level of the FSU win for Tech. The head to head matchup can not be ignored and I know that Gaines didn’t play in that game but that is not taken into consideration and Morrow wasn’t healthy until about halfway through the year and we lost Clinch before ACC play started but none of that matters to the selection people.
By Thomas
February 20, 2007 04:09 AM | Link to this
Titletown USA,
I hate to disagree but Tech was the better team the night the two teams played. You can make excuses all you want about injuries. However, injuries are part of the game and you play the games to determine who the best team was. You sort of sound like a Gamecock football fan trying to explain who USC has actually been the better team the past 5 years even though Georgia has won each of the past 5 meetings. :-)
Hey, there is no shame in Tech being the better team back when they played. If the Dawgs get into the Tourney and Tech does not, or if both teams get in and UGA advances further, we win in the end.