We're Back...Almost

The 2009-2010 college basketball season officially tips off this week - and so does a new season at Bracketology 101.

Over the next five months - just as we have for the last six years on this site - we will bring you our projections, insight, and opinions on all things bracket-related. As always, our focus will remain on our weekly bracket, but we will supplement the bracket with daily Games To Watch, polls, mailbags, tweets, podcasts, and more.

Our first orders of business are our conference champion picks and our first Field of 65, all of which will be posted later this week. Our preseason Final Four and national championship picks will also be posted. Check back later this week for our first posts of the new season.

Chris & Craig
Bracketology 101

B101's Summer Reading List

Things are pretty quiet college basketball-wise right now, but there are still a few ways for fans to get their fix while relaxing on the beach this summer. These five books, all published over the last couple years, detail everything from national championship games to mid-majors to Division II recruiting, and each will give the reader an inside look at all levels of college basketball.

We will be back this fall with our pre-season bracket (we'll have an occasional "tweet" in the meantime, too.) Until then, enjoy the list and enjoy the sun...

When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball
By Seth Davis
In "When March Went Mad," Davis explores, in vivid detail, the 1979 national championship game between Indiana State and Michigan State - the "Bird vs. Magic" game. Aside from reliving the game itself, Davis also tells the tale of how each superstar ended up at their respective school, how the seasons unfolded for both teams en route to the championship game, how different Magic and Bird were off the court, how Indiana State fought all season to earn respect, and how Michigan State dealt with lofty expectations. Davis also discusses the cultural impact that game had on the world of college basketball which, at the time, was just beginning to grow in popularity. Twenty years later, the 1979 championship game still has the highest rating of any basketball game in history, and as you read through Davis' book, you'll know exactly why America was so excited to watch Bird and Magic square off.

Destination Basketball: A Once in a Lifetime Adventure to Meet the Best Coaches in College Hoops
By Andrew Hemminger & Dave Bensch
Hemminger and Bensch began their 15-month trek to write this book with only a Honda Civic and a dream - and when all was said and done, the two best friends and college basketball fanatics had compiled a book full of lengthy, candid interviews with 29 of the country's most accomplished coaches. Among their interviewees: John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Calhoun, Roy Williams, Rick Pitino, Lute Olson, Jim Boeheim, Dean Smith, Gary Williams, Tom Izzo, John Chaney, and Billy Donovan. Each coach gets their own chapter in the book, and the interviews themselves are funny, informative, thought-provoking, and enlightening and show the true personalities of some of the most important figures in the game.

Birds, Dogs, and Kangaroos: Life on the Back Road of College Basketball
By Rich Zvosec & Greg Echlin
Most fans have never heard of Rich Zvosec, and that's part of the reason why he and Echlin wrote this book. Zvosec has spent his entire coaching career at small conference schools like St. Francis, North Florida, and UMKC. "Birds, Dogs, and Kangaroos" brings the reader into the world of small conference basketball, where coaches are responsible for way more than just Xs and Os. They need to raise money to keep programs afloat, find their student-athletes housing, and do a slew of other tasks that are often reserved for the team manager at big-time college programs. Zvosec tells a ton of funny and touching stories in this book, and all of them show just what life as a coach in a one-bid league is all about.

Cinderella Ball: A Look Inside Small-College Basketball in West Virginia
By Bob Kuska
If "Birds, Dogs, and Kangaroos" is small-college enough for you, "Cinderella Ball" should do the trick. In the book, Kuska chronicles a year in the life of the Division II Alderson-Broaddus College basketball team, which plays in the West Viriginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (what?...you didn't know that?). Not only does Kuska point out the myriad of differences between big-time Division I basketball versus Division II ball, he captures the underdog mentality that the team, the town, and the conference all have as they battle to stay relevant in the ever-expanding world of college sports. The book certainly has a "Hoosiers"-type feel to it, and Kuska tells the inspirational story perfectly.

Cinderella: Inside the Rise of Mid-Major College Basketball
By Michael Litos
We've touted "Cinderella" before on B101, but in case you haven't read it yet, we highly recommend it (now available in paperback!). In the book, Litos gives an all-access look at the rise of the Colonial in 2005-2006, which culminated in George Mason's miracle run to the Final Four. The book gives a fantastic recap of the Patriots' rise to national fame that season, and it also details the reasons why several mid-major conferences across the country have risen to prominence over the last few seasons and gives a behind-the-scenes look at the day-to-day challenges that the player and coaches from the best teams in the conference (Old Dominion, George Mason, UNC-Wilmington, Hofstra, VCU, and Northeastern) faced that season.

Also receiving votes: Bo Ryan: Another Hill to Climb by Bo Ryan (Ryan’s autobiography details the path he took to get the Wisconsin job and the people who influenced him along the way); Rebound Rules: The Art of Success 2.0 by Rick Pitino (Pitino discusses the personal and professional challenges in his life and his strategy for dealing with them over the years); Playing For Coach Meyer by Steve Smiley (Smiley, a former player for Meyer, details his time with college basketball’s all-time winningest coach); The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team by Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K details his time spent building – and winning a gold medal with – Team USA); Taking The Shot: The Davidson Basketball Moment by Michael Kruse (Kruse tells the behind-the-scenes story of the Wildcats’ run to the Elite Eight in 2008)

Congrats and Thanks

Congratulations to T. Stote who was the winner of Bracketology 101's Bracket Challenge. He was able to top 140 other entries including Craig and Chris who finished 7th and 11th, respectively.

We'd like to thank everyone for another great year at B101. We appreciated all of the questions, comments, and support.

Check back in the next few weeks for NBA draft news and in the fall for our preseason bracket.

Down To Three...

In B101's Tourney Challenge group. It's a battle between M. Comisky, C. Fox, and T. Stote for the $50 prize. A Michigan State win gives Fox the win, while Comisky and Stote are pulling for UNC. If UNC does win and it comes down to the tie-breaker, Comisky will be looking for a game in the 60s, while Stote wants one in the 80s.

Sorry we haven't made many comments in regards to the tourney, but overall it's been a bit of a disappointment. Is it just us or was Championship Week a lot more exciting?

Bracketology 101's Bracket Picks

To view or download Chris', Craig's, and Matt's complete tournament bracket, click on the title of this post.

The brackets are printable and are saved in .pdf format.

Good luck in your office pools...

*Note: If the top link is not working for you, try this one.

Bracketology 101's Tournament Challenge

Do you want to see how your NCAA Tournament picks stack up against the guys from B101? Sign up for Bracketology 101's Tournament Challenge group at ESPN.com.

This year's winner receives a $50 gift card of their choice. The only rule to receive the gift card is that each person may only submit one bracket.

*Note: Group is now closed.

More Bracket Stats (We're Still No. 1...)

The Bracket Matrix has posted his final results matrix for all 61 brackets he monitors. He ranked the top brackets by category (number of exact seeds, etc.) and listed overall results based on the Paymon scoring system, which gives brackets three points for each correct team, two points for each exact seed, and one point for each team within one seed line.

This year we finished fifth in the overall standings and we tied for first in the number of exact seeds picked (35). We are the only bracketology site to finish in the top five in the overall standings each of the past four years, and over the last four years, we continue to be - by a pretty significant margin - the most consistently accurate bracketology site out there. This year, we finished well above the average bracket score of 303.4.

Top overall brackets for 2009 (Paymon scoring):
Bracketography: 325
Yahoo! Rivals : 318
Baseline Stats: 317
Bracketville: 316
Bracketology 101: 315
Jerry Palm (CollegeRPI.com): 315
Joe Lunardi's score: 307

Ranking The Bracketologists (*UPDATED to include 2009 stats*)
1. Bracketology 101
2. March Madness All Season
3. The Bracket Project
4. Bracketography
5. The Bracket Board
10. Joe Lunardi (ESPN.com)

For the complete rundown of how everyone fared this year, click here.

For an updated Ranking The Bracketologists list - which ranks bracketologists on how they fared over the past four years, click here.

Bracketology 101's Final Bracket Stats

Here are our final numbers for this year's bracket:

Teams correct: 64/65
Exact seeds: 35/65
Seeds within one of seed line: 53/65
*Paymon score: 315

For a complete breakdown of how every bracketologist did in predicting the field, click here.

All in all, we were slightly disappointed with our final stats, but pretty pleased with how we did this year compared to other bracketologists. It turned out to be a tough year for everyone seed-wise, but we think that our 315 Paymon score will put us among the top couple of scores yet again, and keep us atop The Bracket Project standings as the most accurate bracket over the last four years. We had hoped to match our 40-60 performance from last year, but some interesting seeding by the committee and some regrettable last-day changes prevented us from doing that.

Like everyone, we were pretty surprised that Arizona got in, considering their awful road record and the fact that they lost four of their last five games. Once USC won the Pac-10 tournament, we all but eliminated Arizona from serious at-large consideration. We thought a mid-major team like St. Mary's (or SDSU or Creighton) was worthy of that final spot, but yet again, the committee showed no love to the little guy. We are even more surprised that the big conference team they chose in the end was Arizona (over Penn State). The Wildcats were rewarded for what they did out of conference, and that gave them the edge over the OOC-challenged Nittany Lions. There were a handful of seeds given out that we found a little confusing, too. Boston College (and their 60 RPI) getting a 7 seed was the most shocking, and a Jerome Dyson-less UConn getting the last 1 seed over Michigan State or Memphis was a little bit of a surprise, too. Siena (a 9), Utah State (an 11), Marquette (a 6), Butler (a 9), Ohio State (an 8) and Wisconsin (a 12) all got questionable seeds as well, we thought.

Looking back over the season, we are proud of a couple of the predictions we made along the way. We thought all along that the Big Ten would get seven bids, and after a lot of debate, (especially on this site) that's exactly what they got. We also thought the MWC would max out at three bids (not 4 or 5 like some people had), and in the end only two teams from the conference made it. Finally, we were correct in predicting that Maryland would find its way back in the bracket and that the A-10 would eventually produce a bid-stealer. We had Temple in as our original A-10 bid stealer three week ago, and the Owls ended up making the field alongside Xavier and Dayton.

In the next couple of days, we will post our Final Four picks and our complete brackets. We will also set up the annual Bracketology 101 Tournament Challenge group on ESPN.com. The winner of this year's Tournament Challenge will get a $50 gift card of their choice.

In the meantime, feel free to post any bracket-questions in the comments section of this post. We'll check in periodically to answer as many of them as we can. Thanks to the tens of thousands of people who visited the site over the last week, and to the hundreds who posted comments and questions.

Enjoy filling out your brackets...

Live Selection Show Feedback

Here are our running thoughts as the bracket gets announced:

Wow! 3 Big East #1s. UConn always gets favorable seeding.

Big Ten not getting much love, Ohio State a 8.

Arizona in, WOW! That looks like the last team in.

Maryland looking good with BC getting a 7.

B101 can forget about getting 60 seeds within 1 this year.

Looks like the little guy is gonna get screwed. No SDSU, St Mary's or Creighton.

It's over for the bubble teams...9-12 lines will be Michigan, Western Kentucky, Temple, and LSU.

Bracketology 101's Final Field of 65

Bracket Breakdown
Here is Bracketology 101's Final Field of 65:

A couple of notes:
St. Mary's is our last at-large team in the field despite the fact that they are on the 11 line. We had to put Maryland down on the 12 line for numbers purposes.

Penn State was knocked out today by Mississippi State.

Last Four In
Minnesota, Dayton, Maryland, St. Mary's

Last Four Out
Penn State, San Diego State, Creighton, Arizona

Next Four Out
Auburn, Providence, South Carolina, Florida

---------------------------------------------------------------

The Seeds
The 1s
North Carolina, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Michigan State

The 2s
Connecticut, Duke, Memphis, Oklahoma

The 3s
Missouri, Wake Forest, Villanova, Kansas

The 4s
Syracuse, Florida State, Washington, Gonzaga

The 5s
Illinois, Purdue, Xavier, Arizona State

The 6s
UCLA, Utah, West Virginia, Ohio State

The 7s
Tennessee, Texas, Clemson, Butler

The 8s
LSU, Marquette, California, Oklahoma State

The 9s
BYU, Utah State, Michigan, Texas A&M

The 10s
Boston College, Wisconsin, Minnesota, USC

The 11s
Siena, Dayton, Temple, St. Mary's

The 12s
Maryland, Mississippi State, Western Kentucky, Northern Iowa

The 13s
Cleveland State, VCU, Binghamton, American

The 14s
Stephen F. Austin, North Dakota State, Portland State, Akron

The 15s
Cornell, Morgan State, Robert Morris, East Tennessee State

The 16s
Cal State Northridge, Radford, Morehead State, Chattanooga (Play-In Game), Alabama State (Play-In-Game)

The Bracket
(Bracket courtesy Matt Reeves)













Questions? Comments? E-mail Bracketology 101 at bracketologyblog@yahoo.com

Selection Sunday Bracket Talk

We are putting the final touches on our Final Field of 65, which will be released around 4 p.m. ET.

In the meantime, readers can use this post to ask questions, discuss the bubble, or make their own predictions about who's in, who's out, and who's seeded where. We will check in periodically to answer questions.

Enjoy the last few hours before the Slection Show...

Bracketology 101's Field of 65 - March 14

On Friday we saw the amount of available bids shrink dramatically and we saw at least one bid stealer develop with both Dayton and Xavier falling in the A-10 semis. Virgina Tech, Florida, and South Carolina all lost games that will cost them tourney bids, while Maryland and SDSU may have punched their tickets with big wins. Here is how we see the field going into the weekend...

If we had to put a number on it we think that there are 4 bids still in question. All of the teams on the last 4 in line are still vulnerable, while everyone above them (the 10 line and better) are relatively safe.

SDSU held on against BYU to reach the MWC final. In the past two days, they have seen their RPI climb to all the way to 31. If the Aztecs lose to Utah in the MWC final they will have to sweat it out on Sunday. They still only have two Top 50 wins plus losses to St. Mary's and Arizona on their resume. It wouldn't be unthinkable for the Aztecs to be left out if they don't win the auto bid, especially if there are anymore bid stealers.

Maryland got into the bracket on the strength of their win over Wake Forest. The win sent their RPI up 10 points to 50 and gives them the chance to lock up a bid against Duke. So long as the Terps put up a good effort against the Blue Devils, it's tough to envision the committee not giving them a bid as the 7th best team out of the ACC.

Penn State hung onto a bid in our current field despite their blowout loss to Purdue. The Nittany Lions are clearly the #8 team from the Big Ten, which we have said for weeks is not a good place to be. They have six Top 50 wins on their resume, which is more than anybody else in consideration and finished above .500 in Big Ten play. They even have road wins over Michigan State and Illinois. The problem is that all of their Top 50 wins (Top 100 for that matter) came in conference and they blew a chance to lock up a bid at Iowa last week. They laid an egg on Friday against a red-hot shooting Purdue team and will now have to hope things hold throughout the weekend and no more bid stealers pop up.

Our last team in is St. Mary's, barely. Scheduling another game against Eastern Washington looks like it may pay off. It didn't hurt their RPI and the 20-point win on Friday night gives the committee another look at them, as opposed to their season ending on Monday with a blowout loss to Gonzaga. All week we liked Creighton ahead of the Gaels, but that changed with the results of Friday night. Dayton losing completes an absolute disaster week for Creighton. Not only has the bubble gotten squeezed, but all of the Bluejays' good OOC wins have lost. New Mexico lost to Wyoming, George Mason got blown out by VCU to drop out of the RPI Top 50, and now Dayton lost - giving Creighton ZERO Top 25 wins. St. Mary's, on the other hand, has benefited from SDSU playing so well, and they've seen Utah State (another team they beat) also climb into the Top 25 of the RPI. The Gaels also got some of their wins away from home (neutral vs SDSU and Providence). The biggest issue in all of this is the fact that the Gaels are 18-2 when Patty Mills has played the whole game. We think their bad road losses without Mills will get overlooked and, so long as no more bid stealers pop up, they will get a bid.

Here's what the bubble team fans needs to hope for in Saturday's action: Memphis over Tulsa, LSU over Mississippi State, Tennessee over Auburn, Duke over Maryland in a blowout, ASU over USC, Temple over Duquense, Utah over SDSU, Utah State over Nevada, and most importantly - Missouri over Baylor. The potential of 4-5 more bid stealers still exists, so nobody on the last 4 in line is safe.

Our next and final bracket will be published on Sunday afternoon. Enjoy the weekend and good luck to your bubble team.

Bracket Breakdown
In This Bracket
Maryland, Temple

Out This Bracket
South Carolina, Creighton

Last Four In
San Diego State, Maryland, Penn State, St. Mary's

Last Four Out
Creighton, Arizona, USC, Auburn

Next Four Out
Providence, South Carolina, Florida, New Mexico

---------------------------------------------------------------

Conference Breakdown
Big Ten (8), ACC (7), Big East (7), Big XII (6), Pac-10 (4), A-10 (3), MWC (3), Horizon (2), SEC (2), WCC (2)

America East - Binghamton

ACC - North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Florida State, Clemson, Boston College, Maryland

Atlantic Sun - East Tennessee State

A-10 - Temple, Xavier, Dayton

Big East - Louisville, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia, Marquette

Big Sky - Portland State

Big South - Radford

Big Ten - Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Penn State

Big XII - Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M

Big West - Cal State Northridge

Colonial - VCU

Conference USA - Memphis

Horizon - Cleveland State, Butler

Ivy - Cornell

MAAC - Siena

MAC - Buffalo

MEAC - Morgan State

MVC - Northern Iowa

MWC - Utah, BYU, San Diego State

Northeast - Robert Morris

Ohio Valley - Morehead State

Pac-10 - Arizona State, Washington, UCLA, California

Patriot - American

SEC - LSU, Tennessee

Southern - Chattanooga

Southland - Stephen F. Austin

Summit - North Dakota State

Sun Belt - Western Kentucky

SWAC - Alabama State

WAC - Utah State

WCC - Gonzaga, St. Mary's

----------------------------------------------------------------

The Seeds
The 1s
North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Michigan State

The 2s
Connecticut, Duke, Oklahoma, Memphis

The 3s
Missouri, Wake Forest, Villanova, Syracuse

The 4s
Florida State, Kansas, Washington, Illinois

The 5s
Arizona State, Gonzaga, Xavier, UCLA

The 6s
Purdue, West Virginia, Texas, Utah

The 7s
LSU, California, Clemson, Tennessee

The 8s
Marquette, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Butler

The 9s
BYU, Boston College, Michigan, Texas A&M

The 10s
Siena, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dayton

The 11s
San Diego State, Utah State, Maryland, Penn State

The 12s
Temple, St. Mary's, Cleveland State, Western Kentucky

The 13s
Northern Iowa, VCU, Buffalo, Binghamton

The 14s
North Dakota State, American, Portland State, Stephen F. Austin

The 15s
Cornell, East Tennessee State, Robert Morris, Morgan State

The 16s
Cal State Northridge, Morehead State, Radford, Chattanooga (Play-In Game), Alabama State (Play-In-Game)

The Bracket
(Bracket courtesy Matt Reeves)














Questions? Comments? E-mail Bracketology 101 at bracketologyblog@yahoo.com

Bracketology 101's Field of 65 - March 13

The Thursday of Championship Week is always exciting, as all of the big conferences get their tournaments started. This one was no different. The biggest shocker of the day was that three No. 1 seeds went down. The upsets started when Pitt got beat up by West Virginia, and that was followed by Oklahoma getting knocked off by Oklahoma State in a last-second thriller. To top it all off was the 6OT epic battle/game of the year between UConn and Syracuse. The Huskies had plenty of opportunities in just about every OT period to put the game away, but they were unable to do so. It eventually became a game of attrition and by the sixth overtime, too many UConn big men had fouled out and they just went cold from the field. Syracuse continues to have the Huskies' number in the Big East tourney the past few years.

By the end of the night, Pitt was the only team that played that was able to hold onto their 1 seed. Oklahoma dropped down to the third 2 seed and really has no chance to climb back up. UConn, on the other hand, may be able to get back on the 1 line should Louisville lose to Villanova or Michigan State go down before the Big Ten final. Duke is also in the running for a one seed if they can make a run to the final of the ACC tourney, and even Wake Forest could get itself in the mix if it won the ACC tourney. Despite what some commentators may believe, we still think that Memphis has no shot at a 1 seed.

Now onto the all important bubble talk. The bigget winners of the day were the Big Ten bubble bunch, San Diego State, and Oklahoma State. The biggest losers were Providence, Arizona, and New Mexico. Here's another conference-by-conference breakdown:

In the A-10...
Rhode Island completely knocked themselves out of at-large consideration with their loss to Duquesne. Meanwhile, Dayton is now a lock for the tourney and Temple is back in the mix. The Owls' slim tourney were revived with URI going down, but they are still on life support. If the Owls can take out Xavier on Friday they would be back in the mix for an at-large, but they would still need a lot of help and only a close loss to Dayton in the final would give them any hope. They have some nice OOC wins and a solid RPI, but simply have too many bad losses.

In the ACC...
Maryland and Virginia Tech moved on to keep their tourney hopes alive, while BC locked up their bid. Now both the Terps and the Hokies have a chance to pick up another marquee win and play their way into the field. We wouldn't go so far as saying that both would be a lock with a win on Friday, but they would be in good shape and would likely find themselves in the tourney.

In the Big XII...
One of the big winners of the day was Oklahoma State. Their win over Oklahoma erases any doubt concerning their tourney chances and also moved them up to a 8 seed. Kansas State is officially done after they went down in a close battle with Texas. Kansas became the first conference one seed to go down out of the major conferences and opened up the possibility of Baylor running the table to steal a bid.

In the Big East...
The best games of the day were played at Madison Square Garden. Early in the day, Villanova dropped Marquette on a last second lay-up, and more importantly for those on the the bubble, Providence get blown out by Louisville. The Friars will remain in the mix until Selection Sunday because of their above-.500 conference record and wins over Syracuse and Pitt, but we can't see anyway that they climb back into the field. Their OOC resume contains no wins over any tourney teams (the loss to St. Mary's really hurts right now) and they continue to get blown out by Big East tourney teams away from their home court.

In the Big Ten...
We never like the admit we were wrong, but it looks like we have no choice in this one. We finally were forced to cave and put eight Big Ten teams in the field. Minnesota, Michigan, and Penn State all won easily to move onto the Big Ten quarters and all eight teams left in the Big Ten field look like they will be dancing. If we had to pick one team that would miss out on the dance at this point we would have to say Penn State. Their RPI is 25-30 points lower than the rest of the bubble teams and if they were to get blown out by Purdue it would not be unthinkable for the Nittany Lions to be left out.

In the Pac-10...
Arizona suffered yet another loss, making it five out of six losses to end the year. This team has a ton of talent, but they really just can't seem to make that translate into wins on the court. They will now have a long wait till Sunday and their streak of 24 straight tourney appearances is in serious trouble. They have plenty of good wins on their resume, but none of them were a true road game. The one point loss that the Wildcats suffered at Texas A&M back in December must really hurt UofA fans. They let a big lead slip away late in that one and if they could of just hung on they would be in ahead of the Aggies now. They are currently our last team out so they will remain in the mix throughout the weekend and will be the focus of plenty of debate. Will their five Top 50 wins be enough to earn them a bid, or will their poor finish keep them out? USC was able to keep their slim tourney hopes alive by knocking off Cal. They will need a win over UCLA on Friday to really recieve any serious consideration.

In the MWC...
Bubble teams throughout the land couldn't be happier with the way things went in the MWC today. We have been saying all season that the conference has no chance for four bids and it looks like we'll at least get that one correct. SDSU won yet again at UNLV to keep their tourney hopes alive, and in the process, destroy UNLV's chances. In the night cap, New Mexico was stunned by Wyoming. The Lobos can start preparing for the NIT since their at-large hopes are over. They may have finished in a three-way tie for first and have won 8 of their last 10, but they also have a 65 RPI, a disgusting OOC resume, and have no good road wins. Their loss also takes some luster off of Creighton's resume. The Aztecs, on the other hand, may have been the biggest winners of the day. Not only did they pick up another road win against UNLV, which helped pump their RPI up seven spots, but they are also the clear cut third choice out of the MWC. A win over BYU in the semis would be a good idea, though. They have only one win over a team in our current bracket, which is also their only top 50 win. If they can't get by BYU then their resume will not stack up very favorably when compared with fellow bubble teams that they lost to - Arizona and St. Mary's.

In the SEC...
There were really no surprises in Tampa yesterday. Florida beat Arkansas to set up an elimination game with Auburn. A win for Florida may be enough to get them a bid, and if they can get to the finals they would be a lock. Auburn, on the other hand, will need to beat Florida and Tiger fans should actually hope Tennessee avoids another upset against Alabama. Auburn needs all the good wins it can get and they will need to beat Florida and Tennessee to really like their at-large chances heading into the SEC championship. South Carolina faces a must-win against a Mississippi State team that they recently lost to. The Gamecocks also will need a run to the final to lock down a bid. Bubble teams throughout the land will have a close eye on the SEC, since right now the third and fourth best teams are looking like teams on either the Last Four In or Last Four Out lines come Sunday.

We will post one more bracket on Friday night before going into lockdown to produce our final bracket, which will be released Sunday afternoon. Enjoy the rest of Championship Week...

Bracket Breakdown
In This Bracket
Minnesota, St. Mary's, San Diego State

Out This Bracket
Arizona, Providence, New Mexico

Last Four In
South Carolina, Creighton, St. Mary's, San Diego State

Last Four Out
Arizona, Florida, Providence, Maryland

Next Four Out
Auburn, Virginia Tech, Temple, USC

---------------------------------------------------------------

Conference Breakdown
Big Ten (8), Big East (7), ACC (6), Big XII (6), Pac-10 (4), MWC (3), SEC (3), A-10 (2), Horizon (2), MVC (2), WCC (2)

America East - Binghamton

ACC - North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Florida State, Clemson, Boston College

Atlantic Sun - East Tennessee State

A-10 - Xavier, Dayton

Big East - Pittsburgh, Louisville, Connecticut, Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia, Marquette

Big Sky - Portland State

Big South - Radford

Big Ten - Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Penn State

Big XII - Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M

Big West - Cal State Northridge

Colonial - VCU

Conference USA - Memphis

Horizon - Cleveland State, Butler

Ivy - Cornell

MAAC - Siena

MAC - Buffalo

MEAC - Morgan State

MVC - Northern Iowa, Creighton

MWC - Utah, BYU, San Diego State

Northeast - Robert Morris

Ohio Valley - Morehead State

Pac-10 - Washington, UCLA, Arizona State, California

Patriot - American

SEC - LSU, Tennessee, South Carolina

Southern - Chattanooga

Southland - Stephen F. Austin

Summit - North Dakota State

Sun Belt - Western Kentucky

SWAC - Alabama State

WAC - Utah State

WCC - Gonzaga, St. Mary's

----------------------------------------------------------------

The Seeds
The 1s
North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Michigan State

The 2s
Connecticut, Duke, Oklahoma, Memphis

The 3s
Wake Forest, Villanova, Washington, Missouri

The 4s
Florida State, Xavier, Syracuse, Kansas

The 5s
UCLA, Gonzaga, Illinois, Arizona State

The 6s
Purdue, Texas, West Virginia, Marquette

The 7s
Utah, California, Clemson, LSU

The 8s
Oklahoma State, Tennessee, BYU, Ohio State

The 9s
Butler, Dayton, Boston College, Michigan

The 10s
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas A&M, Penn State

The 11s
Siena, South Carolina, Creighton, Utah State

The 12s
St. Mary's, San Diego State, Cleveland State, Western Kentucky

The 13s
Northern Iowa, VCU, Buffalo, Binghamton

The 14s
North Dakota State, American, Portland State, Stephen F. Austin

The 15s
Cornell, East Tennessee State, Robert Morris, Morgan State

The 16s
Cal State Northridge, Morehead State, Radford, Chattanooga (Play-In Game), Alabama State (Play-In-Game)

The Bracket
(Bracket courtesy Matt Reeves)













Questions? Comments? E-mail Bracketology 101 at bracketologyblog@yahoo.com