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Bracket Racket 2009
UPDATED MARCH 15, 2009
Sticking with the trend of just one bracket a year. As was the case last year, let’s get straight to the bracket. Quick rundown of the bubble at the very end:
THE BRACKET: through games of 3/15/2009
Teams in bold underlined have earned automatic berths to the NCAA Tournament
Teams in italics are teams that are on the final bubble
INDIANAPOLIS REGION
#1 Pittsburgh vs. #16 Alabama St./UT-Chattanooga play-in winner (Dayton, Ohio)
#8 Utah vs. #9 Oklahoma St. (Dayton, Ohio)
#5 Purdue vs. #12 Virginia Commonwealth (Portland)
#4 Washington vs. #13 Mississippi State (Portland)
#6 LSU vs. #11 Southern Cal (Miami)
#3 Wake Forest vs. #14 Stephen F. Austin (Miami)
#7 Marquette vs. #10 Minnesota (Kansas City)
#2 Oklahoma vs. #15 Robert Morris (Kansas City)
GLENDALE REGION
#1 Connecticut vs. #16 Morgan St. (Philadelphia)
#8 California vs. #9 Brigham Young (Philadelphia)
#5 Tennessee (true 6 seed) vs. #12 Penn State (Miami)
#4 Florida State vs. #13 American (Miami)
#6 UCLA (true 5 seed) vs. #11 Maryland (Boise, Idaho)
#3 Missouri vs. #14 Portland State (Boise, Idaho)
#7 Ohio State vs. #10 Temple (Kansas City)
#2 Memphis vs. #15 Cal State Northridge (Kansas City)
MEMPHIS REGION
#1 Louisville vs. #16 Radford (Dayton, Ohio)
#8 Boston College vs. #9 Utah State (Dayton, Ohio)
#5 Illinois vs. #12 Western Kentucky (Portland)
#4 Gonzaga vs. #13 Northern Iowa (Portland)
#6 West Virginia (true 7 seed) vs. #11 Creighton (Minneapolis)
#3 Kansas vs. #14 North Dakota State (Minneapolis)
#7 Butler vs. #10 Siena (Greensboro, NC)
#2 Duke vs. #15 Cornell (Greensboro, NC)
BOSTON REGION
#1 North Carolina vs. #16 Morehead State (Greensboro, NC)
#8 Texas vs. #9 Michigan (Greensboro, NC)
#5 Arizona State vs. #12 Cleveland St. (Boise, Idaho)
#4 Villanova vs. #13 Akron (Boise, Idaho)
#6 Xavier vs. #11 St. Mary’s (CA) (Philadelphia)
#3 Syracuse vs. #14 Binghamton (Philadelphia)
#7 Clemson (true 6 seed) vs. #10 Texas A&M (Minneapolis)
#2 Michigan State vs. #15 East Tennessee St. (Minneapolis)
BUBBLE TALK
So I have some controversial exclusions: Wisconsin and Dayton. At the end of the day for me it came down to quality wins for these two teams.
When you compare Wisconsin to other teams on the bubble, or other teams on the bubble in their own conference, they just do not have the marquee wins that other teams have. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of excluding Wisconsin would be the fact that they swept Penn State in the regular season, but Penn State picked up four wins against the top three of the Big Ten (including two on the road, @ Michigan State and @ Illinois), while Wisconsin won just once, at home to Illinois.
As far as Dayton, they did beat Auburn and Marquette on a neutral floor in November, and they did beat Xavier at home, but they were 1-5 in their last 6 road/neutral games, including an 11 point loss to Duquesne in the A10 semifinals. Creighton easily could have missed the tournament in Dayton’s place, but something jumps out on the Flyers’ resume: an 18 point loss at Creighton in December.
St. Mary’s is easily the toughest call. With a healthy Patty Mills I don’t think there’s any doubt they are one of the 34 best at-larges. But is he healthy? That certainly is debatable, and they didn’t perform well against Gonzaga in the conference final. But the fact that St. Mary’s did put in some good performances even without Mills (losing by 2 to Gonzaga at home and beating Utah State at home), and the fact that they only lost six games, including three to Gonzaga, was enough to convince me that they do indeed belong in the field of 65.
Alright, now time to find out just how wrong I am