ESPN Bracketology

[wh]

As I recall, we went through all these gyrations last year and much to our surprise ended up being a throw-in with the other Indiana schools based on geographic proximity.  Not trying to put a damper on bracketology fun, but haven't we played ourselves into a similar situation this year?

[justducky]

So I'm currently trying to put together the bracket without having second round rematches, ala the real bracket, as opposed to a straight S-Curve. There are too many Big 10 teams and ACC schools. That damn challenge is causing all sorts of S-Curve silliness. Throw in the SEC-Big 12 challenge and these major conferences are too incestuous.

Yes but without these challenges half of them would be playing zero OOC road games. Then a bidding war would break out in their scramble to schedule SWAC level competition for their roadless non conference sitzkrieg. Then they would have to expand the number of D-1 teams just to keep their costs down and profits up! So yes it is incestuous but like any profit driven capitalist they are just trying to keep the money within the family. 

[Kyle321n]

Here's this week's Kyletology. Again the top 4 seeds see no change, just slight movement as Oklahoma moves above Virginia in the s-curve. As always the image is clickable to embiggen. The one that's interesting to me is Gonzaga, despite losing their conference lead stayed in the tourney at the play in game. They dropped 3 seed lines, but in the long run they might be in a better position to advance further.

Dropped out
Syracuse, Alabama, Butler, UNC ASHEVILLE


New Additions
ST. MARY'S, St. Bonaventure, Wisconsin, WINTHROP

Big Movers Down		Big Movers Up
CHATTANOOGA	24	Pittsburgh	-13
MONMOUTH	14	UAB	-13
Gonzaga	10	TEXAS SOUTHERN	-12
Colorado	9	STEPHEN F. AUSTIN	-11
Dayton	8	BUCKNELL	-10
USC	8	Baylor	-9
West Virginia	7	Utah	-8
Notre Dame	6	STONY BROOK	-8
Texas	6	Texas Tech	-7
St. Joseph's	5	NORTH CAROLINA	-6
		WICHITA ST.	-6
		SAN DIEGO ST.	-6
		BELMONT	-6

Last 8 out
South Dakota St.
Syracuse
Oregon St.
Vanderbilt
Butler
George Washington
BYU
Alabama

[agibson]

Did I miss the transition? It seems like we jumped from "always 41" on Lunardi's curve all the way to 35, deep into the at-large spots.

And several hours later Valpo will jump right back to 41 or lower.

A week later, presumably after the Wright State loss, and the CSU and Oakland wins (but before the Detroit win), we were #43 on Saturday's S-Curve from Lunardi.  The last four were 44, 45, (Monmouth 46), 47, 48.

In today's bracket, after bumping down to a 12 after Wright State, then back to an 11 we're... back down to a 12. Bwah? With Monmouth an 11? Do they get points for escaping on the road? Is this just a geography thing?

He's got us (12) against IU (5), could be fun, in Oklahoma City. The best of the 12's, maybe.

An 11-11 play-in (including Gonzaga who was all the way up at 34 on his S-Curve, but then they lost at home to St. Mary's) and a 12-12 (including Butler).

St. Mary's went from bubble-out to an 11 seed on the strength of that win on the road.  (Baylor got a 6 seed...).
Monmouth an 11 against Utah in Providence (is it only the top few seeds that get geographic protection? that seems awfully close to New Jersey).

[Kyle321n]

Here's the midweek Kyletology. We've got a new #1 seed, say hello to Xavier. In the movers and shakers, Wisconsin and Colorado are having themselves a nice surge moving squarely off the bubble into legitimate status. Florida on the other hand is in jeopardy of falling out of the bracket and Baylor is down to a 7 seed. They still have work to do to solidify their spots in the tourney. I want to point out the B1G has 4 teams in the 4-5 seed range and that caused Michigan to go from a high 12 seed to the 11 play in game.

Oh and the beloved are still in the 8-9 game in OKC, this time facing Seton Hall.



Dropped out
VCU, Providence, WINTHROP


New Additions
Vanderbilt, South Dakota St., UNC ASHEVILLE

Big Movers Down    Change       Big Movers Up    Change       Florida       16       Wisconsin       -12       AKRON       10       Colorado       -10       USC       9       HAMPTON       -7       Baylor       8       Tulsa       -6       St. Bonaventure       8       WAGNER       -6       Pittsburgh       7       YALE       -5       HAWAII       5       SAN DIEGO ST.       -5       Iowa       4       BELMONT       -5       Texas Tech       4       ARKANSAS LITTLE ROCK       -4       Arizona       3       MONMOUTH       -4       STEPHEN F. AUSTIN       3              -6       NEW MEXICO ST.       3              -6    Last 8 out Providence Oregon St. VCU George Washington Syracuse Butler BYU Hofstra

[Kyle321n]

There was quite a bit of movement, Virginia moved back to a 1 seed, Oklahoma fell to the 2 line, the B1G continues to be insane with 5 teams in the top 5 seed lines and we moved up.

Frankly, while I'm at work (for not sure how much longer) I've got chills and am dizzy right now, so looking at a spreadsheet to figure out where to remove rematches and where teams are going to play doesn't sound like something my mind is up for. Here's what you all care about...

• Valpo is a 7 seed playing UCONN
• 
  The 2 seed in our bracket is Oklahoma, playing Weber St.
• Before I move things around Butler and Providence are in the play-in game, without too much research Butler is out due to 0-2 vs Providence and a weaker SOS
• Indiana and Purdue are 4 seeds. Notre Dame is an 8 seed. IPFW is a 15 seed.
• Oregon is a 2 seed, Oregon St. is the first team out (or in the play-in game, depending on the Butler outcome) Belmont is a 15 seed

[agibson]

Lunardi's Feb 27 S-Curve is up on twitter: Valpo down one slot to #44 and behind St. Mary's, Monmouth, Temple, but ahead of at-larges Vanderbilt, Cincinnati, Tulsa, Butler.

And his bracket, from today, is up.  Valpo somehow still down at a 12 seed, playing Purdue. Not sure why he doesn't go with at least one 12-12 play-in. On the strength of their holding serve at home this weekend (and almost guaranteeing they'll end at least the regular season top-50 in RPI) he's got Oregon State in an 11-11 play-in.

Vanderbilt and Cincinnati get 10's, St. Mary's and Monmouth 11's.  (Geography pushing Valpo down to a 12?)

[agibson]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology/_/iteration/246
Still the 12 against Purdue at OK City. Monmouth and St. Mary's with the 11's, Temple with the AQ at 12, Oregon State, Butler, Gonzaga, and Michigan in the 11-11 play-ins. Indiana to a 3.