Here we go, folks. My first bracket projection of the season. If you want to know why teams are where they are, please read my conference previews, where I talk about every single team listed before. There are still some recruiting, NBA Draft and transfer decisions to be made, so things are likely to change, but so it goes. I'll have another bracket projection the week of the NBA Draft, where I'll incorporate as much new information as I can.
For those new to this website, I want to explain a few things about the bracket projection below. First, teams in all caps are my projected conference tournament winners. Second, I break up my teams out of the NCAA Tournament by group rather than trying to rank each individual team. I don't think there's much point to trying to separate out the 30th team out of the Field of 68 vs the 31st team out of the Field of 68. It's meaningless.
So I can tell you that St. John's is my first team out of the NCAA Tournament, but don't ask me to list teams beyond that. Because I break up teams out of the Field of 68 into groups, they are sorted alphabetically, first by conference and then within each conference. So for example, Atlantic Ten teams are listed before Big East teams, and within the Atlantic Ten Richmond is listed before St. Joe's. I hope that makes sense.
It's a long way out to next season, and after all of the blogging I've done the past few weeks I'm going to need a little bit of a break here. But enjoy this bracket, interact with me in the comments, on twitter or via e-mail, and let's all settle into the offseason.
Here's how I see things ending up on Selection Sunday 2014:
1. MICHIGAN STATE (BIG TEN)
1. FLORIDA (SEC)
1. DUKE (ACC)
1. Kentucky
2. ARIZONA (PAC-12)
2. Ohio State
2. MARQUETTE (BIG EAST)
2. KANSAS (BIG 12)
3. Virginia
3. LOUISVILLE (AAC)
3. VCU (ATLANTIC TEN)
3. Georgetown
4. Oklahoma State
4. Wisconsin
4. GONZAGA (WCC)
4. North Carolina
5. Iowa
5. Villanova
5. NEW MEXICO (MWC)
5. St. Louis
6. Butler
6. Indiana
6. Pittsburgh
6. UConn
7. Colorado
7. Creighton
7. Tennessee
7. Michigan
8. Boise State
8. WICHITA STATE (MVC)
8. Notre Dame
8. Baylor
9. Stanford
9. Memphis
9. Syracuse
9. La Salle
10. UCLA
10. Cincinnati
10. UNLV
10. Maryland
11. Kansas State
11. HARVARD (IVY)
11. Alabama
11. Purdue
12. LOUISIANA TECH (CONFERENCE USA)
12. Dayton
12. Texas
12. NORTH DAKOTA STATE (SUMMIT)
12. BYU
12. Boston College
13. MANHATTAN (MAAC)
13. WEBER STATE (BIG SKY)
13. TOWSON (COLONIAL)
13. NEW MEXICO STATE (WAC)
14. WISCONSIN-GREEN BAY (HORIZON)
14. BELMONT (OVC)
14. GEORGIA STATE (SUN BELT)
14. TOLEDO (MAC)
15. MERCER (ATLANTIC SUN)
15. BOSTON UNIVERSITY (PATRIOT)
15. DAVIDSON (SOCON)
15. NORTHWESTERN STATE (SOUTHLAND)
16. VERMONT (AMERICA EAST)
16. UC IRVINE (BIG WEST)
16. HIGH POINT (BIG SOUTH)
16. NC CENTRAL (MEAC)
16. MT SAINT MARY'S (NEC)
16. SOUTHERN (SWAC)
Teams seriously considered that just missed the cut:
Houston, Georgia Tech, UMass, Providence, St. John's, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Indiana State, Utah State, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Denver, St. Mary's
Other teams with a decent shot to get onto the bubble:
SMU, Florida State, Miami (Fl), Richmond, St. Joseph's, Xavier, Northwestern, West Virginia, Southern Miss, UTEP, Wright State, Northern Iowa, Fresno State, San Diego State, Washington, Washington State, Arkansas, LSU, Missouri, San Francisco
Other teams I'm keeping my eye on:
Central Florida, Temple, NC State, Wake Forest, George Mason, Rhode Island, Seton Hall, Montana, Penn State, Drexel, Northeastern, Charlotte, Middle Tennessee, Detroit, Niagara, Buffalo, Western Michigan, Missouri State, Nevada, Oregon State, Lehigh, Texas A&M
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8 comments:
...and you're still hating on La Salle. Their returning guard play will get them 3rd in the A10 and a 12 seed in the tournament. You also stole my overall #1.
www.explorertownbracketologist.com
Sorry, just saw La Salle as a #9. No way A10 gets four teams in. A10 teams' RPI won't be carried like it was last year. UVA is a little high I think.
So does the fact that the first two blog comments are that I'm too high and too low on La Salle mean that I nailed their spot just right?
I sure hope so!
After seeing some of the teams in the "decent shot" and "keeping an eye on" category, I want to be the very first to say that the bubble looks awfully weak this year.
:)
Haha. Of course.
Well, the bubble is weak enough that apparently UTEP needs to be in both categories to fill up the numbers.
Oops. Thanks for noticing that typo. It's been fixed now.
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