bukie

Also, in discussion today, filling the brackets for the bottom 3 seeds (taking mostly geography into account...and the play-in game rules), and filling in the 5-6 seeds into the bracket. And, discuss the bottom of the bubble (SDSU/VT/GT/Minn vs. Seton Hall/Miss/Miss St/URI).

So, for today, I only want one list, but it'll be a large one. Send me the teams in order from the remainder of the at-large and auto-bid list (including the 4 assumed auto bid bubble teams and the 6 additional bubble teams). We'll keep an eye on potential bid thefts in the WAC (Nevada), Conference USA (Houston), SEC (Mississippi State), Atlantic-10 (Rhode Island) or ACC (NC State or Miami). The Big East (Georgetown/WVU), Big 12 (Kansas/K-State), Pac-10 (Cal/Washington), MWC (UNLV/San Diego State) and Big Ten (Ohio State/Illinois/Purdue/Minnesota) will be assured of producing an auto-bid from existing at-larges (well, potentially with Minnesota).

Here are today's results: The next 8 spots on the S-Curve (seeds 5-6): 17. Georgetown 18. Temple 19. Maryland 20. Vanderbilt 21. Texas A&M 22. BYU 23. Clemson 24. Texas The bottom 13 spots on the S-Curve (seeds 14-16b): 53. Oakland (Summit) 54. Montana (BSky) 55. Southland winner (Sam Houston State) 56. MAC winner (Ohio) 57. Big West winner (Long Beach) 58. America East winner (Boston U) 59. North Texas (Sun Belt) 60. MEAC winner (Morgan State) 61. East Tennessee St (ASun) 62. Robert Morris (NEC) 63. Winthrop (Big South) 64. Lehigh (Patriot) 65. SWAC winner (Arkansas Pine-Bluff) Now, the bubble. First, a brief explanation: there are still 10 auto bids unaccounted for among lock and bubble teams: ACC, Atlantic 10, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Conference USA, MWC, Pac-10, SEC and WAC. Now, only 6 of those bids can be won by teams currently in the field, so there are a maximum of 6 bubble spots available. We will go forward assuming the other 4 are won by the highest rated team left in that conference, so here are the 4 auto-bid bubble teams (with the votes they actually received in parentheses): Conference USA - UTEP (12.8) Pac-10 - California (13) MWC - UNLV (13.8) WAC - Utah State (7.6) Which leaves the 6 bubble teams voted in: Illinois (12.67) Georgia Tech (12.6) Virginia Tech (11.8) San Diego State (11) Washington (8) Minnesota (7.2) And just below the bubble cutoff: Mississippi (5.8) Seton Hall (5.2) Rhode Island (4.6) Mississippi State (4.2) Arizona State (3.4) Dayton (2.2)

It's ok, it's a very fluid process the way we do it here, I just don't want it to look like it's all just what I think personally.

My lists: Auto-bids: Bubble: Tournament 17-32:

You guys are gonna win it all, but having seen most of your games you have played really well for maybe 5 halves all year. Very odd team. The only reasonable explanation is poor coaching.

It's 8am and I got 4. Anyone else who is around can get a list to me yet while I'm compiling the info and putting together my list, which I anticipate will take until about 8:30.

Don't forget to send me those lists for tomorrow.

And now Minnesota beats Michigan State.

Just posting a reminder.

Dayton and Mississippi State looking good right now. Xavier and Florida, not so much.

Lehigh officially took the Patriot league today, so they're officially on the auto bid list.

BTN is only doing the evening games today, both with Gus Johnson and Shon Morris. Damn, was really hoping he was calling the Turner shot.

Not opposed to the changes, although I had Wisconsin a lot higher on my initial list than anyone else, too. I still think they're worthy of their spot.

For those who got a chance to watch the early games, did Gus Johnson do the calls on the Big Ten network, or does the network just have the later games?

I don't know if I'd say everyone, as Jerry Palm still has them out and John Gasaway/Joe Sheehan had them well out prior to today (and even guys who had them in like Glockner and Lunardi had them as the last team in not including the result of today's game). But now with 4 top 25 wins (3 of them away from home), it'd be difficult to envision a scenario where they don't make it, unless there are a ton of upsets in the remaining conference tourneys (say, Northwestern, Miami, Georgia, San Diego State, UCLA, Nevada, Rhode Island and Southern Miss all winning their respective tourneys). Yeah, they're in now. I was leaving them out up til this point, but they've earned the benefit of the doubt. Thing is, they're perfectly capable of beating OSU tomorrow too if the Buckeyes play like they did today. If Illinois somehow beats Ohio State and then Purdue/Michigan State in the finals, I'd have no idea where to put them in the field.

I don't know if I'd say everyone, as Jerry Palm still has them out and John Gasaway/Joe Sheehan had them well out prior to today (and even guys who had them in like Glockner and Lunardi had them as the last team in not including the result of today's game). But now with 4 top 25 wins (3 of them away from home), it'd be difficult to envision a scenario where they don't make it, unless there are a ton of upsets in the remaining conference tourneys (say, Northwestern, Miami, Georgia, San Diego State, UCLA, Nevada, Rhode Island and Southern Miss all winning their respective tourneys).

Generally, the committee tries to get teams as close to home as possible in regionals, while at the same time making an attempt to balance the bracket as much as possible. Purdue at this point is likely the lowest 2 seed. With almost zero good teams out west, the more likely scenario is to see KU paired up with the weakest 3/4 seeds to provide an overall balance to the bracket. Or, I could be wrong and Ohio State gets shipped out West and Purdue gets Midwest to keep the brackets more balanced up top.

He wasn't drafted yet, so yes.

Only about 45 picks away now!

They're not in yet, but this helps a lot. And by this I mean I think they're in, but I'm still rooting really hard for UTEP, Utah State, MWC favorites, Cal, and the ACC/SEC favorites.

This makes 4 RPI top 25 wins on the year for Illinois, more than any other bubble team and more than several "safe" teams. Three of the wins were away from home. If they don't make it I'll be disappointed, because it would mean that 2 games in Vegas in November ruined the season.

They're not in yet, but this helps a lot.

I think most of the Illinois fans are just now finally able to breathe again after those last 2 minutes.

I'm going to be heading out soon, so I'll post what I'm picturing the bracket to be right now. Feel free to discuss, disagree, suggest moving teams around, etc as much as you like, none of this is set in stone yet, just a prelim working bracket that's mostly balanced: -------------------------------------- Midwest Region - St. Louis, MO -------------------------------------- -- March 18/20 -- Oklahoma City, OK 1 Kansas 16 8 9 -- March 19/21 -- Spokane, WA 4 Butler 13 5 12 -- March 19/21 -- Milwaukee, WI 2 Ohio State 15 7 10 -- March 18/20 -- San Jose, CA 3 New Mexico 14 6 11 -------------------------------------- West Region - Salt Lake City, UT -------------------------------------- -- March 19/21 -- Milwaukee, WI 1 Kentucky 16 8 9 -- March 18/20 -- Providence, RI 4 Michigan State 13 5 12 -- March 18/20 -- New Orleans, LA 2 Purdue 15 7 10 -- March 18/20 -- Providence, RI 3 Villanova 14 6 11 -------------------------------------- South Region - Houston, TX -------------------------------------- -- March 19/21 -- Buffalo, NY 1 Syracuse 16 8 9 -- March 18/20 -- San Jose, CA 4 Tennessee 13 5 12 -- March 18/20 -- Oklahoma City, OK 2 Kansas State 15 7 10 -- March 18/20 -- New Orleans, LA 3 Wisconsin 14 6 11 -------------------------------------- East Region - Syracuse, NY -------------------------------------- -- March 19/21 -- Jacksonville, FL 1 Duke 16 8 9 -- March 19/21 -- Spokane, WA 4 Pittsburgh 13 5 12 -- March 19/21 -- Buffalo, NY 2 West Virginia 15 7 10 -- March 19/21 -- Jacksonville, FL 3 Baylor 14 7 10