Sunday, December 28, 2008

W-11 BP65

I know that posting has been light, and there are some games from the past few days that I want to talk about, but those will have to come after the BP65. Don't worry about the slow college basketball action, as things will heat up this coming week, when most BCS conference teams will begin conference play. Until then, here's how I see things:

1. NORTH CAROLINA (ACC)
1. UCONN (BIG EAST)
1. TEXAS (BIG 12)
1. UCLA (PAC-10)

2. Duke
2. MICHIGAN STATE (BIG TEN)
2. TENNESSEE (SEC)
2. Pittsburgh

3. Notre Dame
3. Oklahoma
3. GONZAGA (WCC)
3. Purdue

4. Wake Forest
4. Georgetown
4. Florida
4. Louisville

5. Ohio State
5. Syracuse
5. MEMPHIS (CONFERENCE USA)
5. Arizona State

6. Baylor
6. Marquette
6. BYU (MWC)
6. Clemson

7. XAVIER (ATLANTIC 10)
7. Maryland
7. West Virginia
7. Wisconsin

8. Miami (Fl)
8. Michigan
8. Villanova
8. Kansas

9. California
9. Texas A&M
9. Illinois
9. DAVIDSON (SOUTHERN)

10. Dayton
10. UNLV
10. Saint Mary's
10. CREIGHTON (MVC)

11. Florida State
11. USC
11. LSU
11. Minnesota

12. BUTLER (HORIZON)
12. Kentucky
12. Arizona
12. MIAMI (OH) (MAC)

13. UTAH STATE (WAC)
13. SIENA (MAAC)
13. VCU (COLONIAL)
13. SOUTH ALABAMA (SUN BELT)

14. PORTLAND STATE (BIG SKY)
14. PACIFIC (BIG WEST)
14. LIBERTY (BIG SOUTH)
14. CORNELL (IVY)

15. NORTH DAKOTA STATE (SUMMIT)
15. ALBANY (AMERICA EAST)
15. AMERICAN UNIVERSITY (PATRIOT)
15. AUSTIN PEAY (OVC)

16. STEPHEN F AUSTIN (SOUTHLAND)
16. STETSON (ATLANTIC SUN)
16. HAMPTON (MEAC)
16. CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE (NORTHEAST)
16. JACKSON STATE (SWAC)


Other teams considered, but that missed the cut:
Boston College, Cincinnati, Northwestern, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Illinois State, Stanford, Washington, South Carolina, Vanderbilt

Other teams with a decent shot, but that need to improve their resume:
Georgia Tech, NC State, Rhode Island, Temple, Providence, Seton Hall, Iowa, Kansas State, Hofstra, George Mason, UAB, Houston, Illinois-Chicago, Evansville, San Diego State, Utah, Washington State, Arkansas, Mississippi, Western Kentucky

Other teams I'm keeping an eye on, but that need to drastically improve their resume:
Virginia, Virginia Tech, George Washington, St. Joseph's, St. John's, Penn State, Nebraska, Texas Tech, UTEP, East Carolina, Cleveland State, Niagara, Drake, Southern Illinois, New Mexico, Wyoming, Oregon, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Mississippi State, San Francisco, Boise State

2 comments:

Ken Miller said...

I agree with you in not buying into the Illinois State hype just yet, but I'm a little surprised to see Stanford not getting a little at-large love.

It was interesting to see Illinois-Chicago and Cleveland State both mentioned as either worth consideration or needing to improve their resume - it's not often to see three Horizon League teams in even remote consideration. Nonetheless, it's hard to picture anyone but the conference tourney champ getting an invite, even if someone does upset Butler this year.

Jeff said...

Stanford was probably the first team out. If you do a search of this blog on Stanford you'll see what I've said about them recently. Although the way that they utterly destroyed Texas Tech last night means that they're likely to get into the BP65 next week.

As for the Horizon teams, you're right that it's unlikely that any team other than Butler can get an at-large bid, but Cleveland State and Illinois-Chicago are good enough that they're worth keeping an eye on. I mean, are their odds really any worse than Seton Hall or Georgia?

I list a lot of teams, just because sometimes a team goes on a crazy run late in the year to sneak into the Tournament (see: Kentucky, last year). It's always worth it to keep an eye on more than just the 65 best teams in the nation.