NCAA Tournament Bracket Prediction - March 6, 2018
I need to stick with my convictions. As I wrote last week, I don't think St. Mary's has a strong at-large resume. They are now not a conference regular season champion and they lost in the semis of their conference tournament. St. Mary's is out of the Field of 68 this morning. I am moving Baylor back in, but the last spots in this field are wide open for bid stealers and power conference teams that want to add quality neutral court wins this week.
My only other topic for discussion this morning is whether I should have Cincinnati as a #2 instead of Auburn. I will monitor that one closely this week, but in all likelihood, those two teams will swap positions.
Seeds
1's - Virgina, Villanova, Xavier, Kansas
2's - Duke, Purdue, North Carolina, Auburn
3's - Michigan State, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Michigan
4's - Arizona, Wichita State, Texas Tech, Clemson
5's - West Virginia, Florida, Kentucky, Ohio State
6's - Miami FL, Houston, TCU, Gonzaga
7's - Texas A&M, Nevada, Arkansas, Virginia Tech
8's - Florida State, Seton Hall, Missouri, Rhode Island
9's - NC State, Creighton, Oklahoma, St. Bonaventure
10's - UCLA, Providence, Butler, Arizona State
11's - Kansas State, Texas (Marquette, USC, Syracuse, Baylor)
12's - Middle Tennessee, Loyola, New Mexico State, Buffalo
13's - Louisiana, South Dakota State, Northeastern, Murray State
14's - Montana, Vermont, Bucknell, UNCG
15's - Iona, Penn, Wright State, UC-Davis
16's - Lipscomb, Wagner (Prairie View A&M, Bethune-Cookman, Radford, SE Louisiana)
Still in consideration - Alabama, St. Mary's, Louisville, Utah, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Washington, Oregon
SOUTH (ATLANTA)
1 Virgina (Pittsburgh)
2 Auburn (Nashville)
3 Michigan State (Detroit)
4 Wichita State (Boise)
5 Florida (Boise)
6 Miami FL (Detroit)
7 Nevada (Nashville)
8 Seton Hall (Pittsburgh)
9 Oklahoma (Pittsburgh)
10 Butler (Nashville)
11 Baylor/USC (Detroit)
12 Middle Tennessee (Boise)
13 Louisiana (Boise )
14 Bucknell (Detroit)
15 UC-Davis (Nashville)
16 SE Louisiana/Prairie View A&M (Pittsburgh)
EAST (BOSTON)
1 Villanova (Pittsburgh)
2 Duke (Charlotte)
3 Tennessee (Dallas)
4 Texas Tech (San Diego)
5 Ohio State (San Diego)
6 Houston (Dallas)
7 Arkansas (Charlotte)
8 Rhode Island (Pittsburgh)
9 NC State (Pittsburgh)
10 Providence (Charlotte)
11 Texas (Dallas)
12 Buffalo (San Diego)
13 Murray State (San Diego)
14 UNCG (Dallas)
15 Penn (Charlotte)
16 Wagner (Pittsburgh)
MIDWEST (OMAHA)
1 Xavier (Nashville)
2 Purdue (Detroit)
3 Cincinnati (Wichita)
4 Clemson (Boise)
5 West Virginia (Boise)
6 TCU (Wichita)
7 Virginia Tech (Detroit)
8 Missouri (Nashville)
9 St. Bonaventure (Nashville)
10 UCLA (Detroit)
11 Marquette/Syracuse (Wichita)
12 Loyola (Boise)
13 South Dakota State (Boise)
14 Montana (Wichita)
15 Wright State (Detroit)
16 Bethune-Cookman/Radford (Nashville)
WEST (LOS ANGELES)
1 Kansas (Wichita)
2 North Carolina (Charlotte)
3 Michigan (Dallas)
4 Arizona (San Diego)
5 Kentucky (San Diego)
6 Gonzaga (Dallas)
7 Texas A&M (Charlotte)
8 Florida State (Wichita)
9 Creighton (Wichita)
10 Arizona State (Charlotte)
11 Kansas State (Dallas)
12 New Mexico State (San Diego)
13 Northeastern (San Diego)
14 Vermont (Dallas)
15 Iona (Charlotte)
16 Lipscomb (Wichita)
Hey there -- Eamonn Brennan from The Athletic here. I'm trying to put together a fun story about the explosion of amateur bracketology. The kernel that got me thinking about this was looking at the Bracket Matrix rankings from recent seasons and how that kind of tracking has quietly democratized the process of projecting brackets (such that someone like yourself stands out from a crowd in any given year in a way that might not have been possible before). Wondering if you'd be willing to chat with me for a bit on a call or via Skype? Would love to talk about how you got into this, how long you've been doing it, some of your background, your thoughts on the whole thing, etc. I can be flexible.
ReplyDeleteShoot me a note or DM on Twitter: @eamonnbrennan
Let me know what you think! Thanks!