Wow, it sucks to be Kentucky. You get ETSU (which is a pretty good 16 seed) in the first round and then you get rewarded by having to play… Wake Forest or… drum roll please… TEXAS! Wow, Texas as an 8 seed. In Kentucky’s bracket. I’m going to stick by my prediction in the SEC preview.
Kentucky out in round two.
Don’t forget, in this bi-polar season for Texas, they were unstoppable and ranked number one.
Popularity: 2% [?]
I think Mississippi State did enough to grab the last spot. I have Minnesota out and will see how the game goes today. Win and their in, stay close is in, blown out is a loss. Here’s how I see it at 3:30.
In
Wake Forest
Virginia Tech
Mississippi State
Out
Minnesota
Illinois
If I have to put Minny in, I’m probably pulling VaTech out.
Popularity: 1% [?]
It’s Christmas in March as Selection Sunday is finally here.
Let’s start out with the auto-bids handed out yesterday.
SWAC – Arkansas – Peanut Butter – welcome to the play-in game, thanks for coming.
America East – Vermont beat Boston early and probably grab the lowest 15 seed
MEAC – Todd Bozeman leads Morgan State to the MEAC title and probably a date with K-State. They can hang for a bit but will ultimately get crushed.
Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 2% [?]
Only 36 hours ’til the brackets are announced. Time to bring this one home.
Out
Mississippi – A shaky profile and a loss yesterday probably sealed the deal. Out for now
In
Washington – getting hot at the right time. Baring a blow-out tonight against California they might be a lock
Pop
Dayton – my preseason pick in the A-10 just hasn’t done enough
Auto Bids
Patriot – Lehigh takes the Patriot bid and marches towards Syracuse
Today’s Bids
Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 1% [?]
Is it me or do the Bubble teams not understand that to get in or stay in, one must win? Thursday was an awful day for the bubble and no auto-bids were handed out.
Out
Memphis – couldn’t get the job done and unless UTEP loses Conference USA will remain a one bid league.
UAB – 44 points? That’s all? “44 Go%&%^amn points? Shhhhh, you can say Go%&%^amn on a blog. It doesn’t matter, nobody’s listening anyway.” (/Thanks, Major League). The loss hurts but the fat that they didn’t bother showing up is killer. UAB is done.
Kent State – the #1 MAC seed falls, opening the door for Akron to claim a 14-seed.
Jackson St – missed this one two days ago. It’s the SWAC so we’re talking play-out game anyway
Popularity: 2% [?]
Anthony Johnson put together an amazing performance last night. Johnson scored 42 points, including being perfect from the free throw line making all 14, and singlehandedly willed Montana to a win.
With the win, Johnson and the Grizzlies stunned Weber State and punched their ticket into the dance, winning the automatic bid from the Big Sky. (video after the jump)
We won’t penalize Johnson for having a completely unoriginal name. He must be the 35th Anthony Johnson to make headlines as a basketball player. You’d think he would come up with something distinguishing, like initials or a nickname that he can go by like “Weasel” or “Chet”. Maybe more fitting, for his spot in Montana Hoops lore, maybe he should officially change his name to Ochocinco, Grizz. See, Grizz Johnson sounds so much better than Anthony. (sorry, Mrs. Johnson) Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 2% [?]
Ohio State, Purdue and Michigan State all enter the Big Ten Tournament in a three way tie for first after regular season play at 14-4. Wisconsin finished fourth with a 13-5 conference record. The top four are head and shoulders above the rest of the field.
The Big Ten was dominated by Evan Turner this season. It’s essentially a foregone conclusion that he will be Player of the Year anywhere that matters, and has the stats to back it up. Turner averaged 19.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game to lead the conference. He also finished second in the conference in assists with 5.8 per game.
Popularity: 1% [?]
With only one team winning more than 20 games (Utah State), the most NCAA bids the WAC can hope for is two, and even that might be a stretch. After dropping its first two conference games, Utah State ran off fourteen in a row. With 25 overall wins and a 14-2 record in conference, you would think the Aggies are in the Big Dance whether they win the WAC Tournament or not, right?
Not so fast. Fifteen of their 25 wins were against sub 150 RPI ranked teams. Nevada has the best 1-2 punch in the conference with Luke Babbitt and Armon Johnson, but hasn’t been able to find enough consistent play from the rest of the roster, and finished with just 19 wins. New Mexico State probably has the most talented and deepest roster in the conference, but has been hurt by injuries/suspensions throughout the year.
Popularity: 2% [?]
While everyone knew this would be a down year for the Pac Ten, no one thought it would be this abysmal. Only three teams managed more than 16 total wins this season. There is some impressive individual talent in the conference – Klay Thompson, Quincy Pondexter and Landry Fields- come to mind. Overall, the conference is hurt by two things: not enough individual talent from top to bottom and lack of experience at the Division I level.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Almost all the preseason publications predicted the Big 12 to be the best conference in the nation this season, and with the exception of a couple teams failing to live up to the lofty hype, those predictions ended up being right on point. Kansas sprinted out to a 13-0 start before losing to Oklahoma State at the end of February, but had already wrapped things up at that point. Kansas State was a top 15 team all season and finished in a three way tie for 2nd place, along with Baylor and Texas A&M, going 11-5 in conference play.
Popularity: 2% [?]