Sunday, July 01, 2012

Post-Draft BP68

It's time for my mid-summer, post-NBA Draft bracket projection. My last one was done a week after the National Title game in March, which you can read here. This BP68 will have to hold you, because I won't have another one until Midnight Madness week in October. The regular weekly brackets will start in November.

Although if you think about it, we're really not that far from the next college basketball season. Midnight Madness is only a little more than three months away.

There haven't been too many player movements that had a big impact on the bracket. UCLA restoring some of its recruiting glory of the early part of the last decade helped them move up a bit, but we didn't have any truly huge transfers (any transfer announced prior to the post of my April bracket projection had already been accounted for).

The biggest change, honestly, is the fact that Butler and VCU were forced to accelerate their conference changes, and are (as of today, actually) officially members of the Atlantic Ten. That means Valparaiso moves into the Field of 68 as my new favorite to win the Horizon, and Drexel is my new pick to win the Colonial. I already had Drexel in as an at-large team, but the addition of Valparaiso costs the field an at-large team, and Purdue was the victim. Though being the first team out of the Tournament with approximately 35 games left in the 2012-13 season means that fans of the Boilermakers shouldn't give up hope quite yet.

I'll be posting on-and-off throughout the rest of the summer and into the fall. Near-daily posting will resume once we get into October and are closer to the start of next season. I'll see you all then.

1. INDIANA (BIG TEN)
1. LOUISVILLE (BIG EAST)
1. DUKE (ACC)
1. FLORIDA (SEC)

2. KANSAS (BIG 12)
2. Ohio State
2. Kentucky
2. North Carolina

3. MEMPHIS (CONFERENCE USA)
3.Michigan
3.Wisconsin
3.NC State

4. Notre Dame
4. Syracuse
4. ST. LOUIS (ATLANTIC TEN)
4. Michigan State

5. SAN DIEGO STATE (MOUNTAIN WEST)
5. Baylor
5. GONZAGA (WCC)
5. Marquette

6. Alabama
6. CREIGHTON (MVC)
6. Iowa State
6. Butler

7. STANFORD (PAC-12)
7. Georgetown
7. Virginia
7. UNLV

8. Minnesota
8. Tennessee
8. Miami (Fl)
8. California

9. New Mexico
9. Texas
9. UCLA
9. West Virginia

10. Cincinnati
10. VCU
10. St. Mary's
10. Arkansas

11. Missouri
11. UMass
11. BYU
11. DAVIDSON (SOCON)

12. Pittsburgh
12. DREXEL (COLONIAL)
12. Virginia Tech
12. Iowa
12. Illinois State
12. Temple

13. MURRAY STATE (OVC)
13. HARVARD (IVY)
13. UTAH STATE (WAC)
13. OHIO (MAC)

14. LOYOLA-MARYLAND (MAAC)
14. SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (SUMMIT)
14. MERCER (ATLANTIC SUN)
14. VALPARAISO (HORIZON)

15. MONTANA (BIG SKY)
15. MIDDLE TENNESSEE (SUN BELT)
15. ROBERT MORRIS (NEC)
15. CAL STATE FULLERTON (BIG WEST)

16. VERMONT (AMERICA EAST)
16. BUCKNELL (PATRIOT)
16. CHARLESTON SOUTHERN (BIG SOUTH)
16. STEPHEN F AUSTIN (SOUTHLAND)
16. SAVANNAH STATE (MEAC)
16. TEXAS SOUTHERN (SWAC)

Teams seriously considered that just missed the cut:
Clemson, Maryland, La Salle, Xavier, Rutgers, Northwestern, Purdue, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Central Florida, Akron, Northern Iowa, Colorado State, Arizona, Washington, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt

Other teams with a decent shot to get onto the bubble:
Florida State, St. Joseph's, Providence, Seton Hall, South Florida, Villanova, Illinois, Oklahoma State, Marshall, Toledo, Wichita State, Nevada, North Dakota State, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, Auburn, Georgia, Texas A&M, New Mexico State

Other teams I'm keeping my eye on:
Georgia Tech, Dayton, UConn, Penn State, Texas Tech, Delaware, George Mason, Hofstra, Houston, UTEP, Tulsa, Cleveland State, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Fairfield, Drake, Evansville, Boise State, Belmont, North Texas, USC, LSU, Mississippi State, Loyola-Marymount, San Diego, Denver, Louisiana Tech

2 comments:

DMoore said...

I would move Virginia Tech down a notch. Virginia Tech has had some serious personnel losses since the beginning of the summer, due to the loss of their coach. Dorian Finney-Smith has transferred (Florida), and Montrezl Harrell has decommitted (Louisville).

Jeff said...

I didn't realize Harrell had decommitted. I missed that one. So yeah, I might have to drop them out of the field at this point.

Though at this point, I always feel iffy about my final few at-large teams. They're basically just keeping those spots warm until some teams over-perform in November and December and move into the field.