CLICK HERE for Jon Teitel’s latest Bracket Projection (where he guesses the NCAA Selection Committee)
CLICK HERE for Rocco Miller’s Bracket Projection at Bracketeer.org (updated as of 3/5/18)
CLICK HERE for Galen Clavio’s Bracket Projection at CrimsonCast (updated as of 3/6/18)
Tonight, our Hoops HD Selection Committee not only met for our annual pasta dinner, but we began our process for selecting the NCAA Tournament field as all of our panelists submitted 2 lists to our chairman Chad Sherwood. The first list consisted of up to 36 at-large teams that is colloquially known as the “First Ballot.” For a team to be added to the At-Large board, teams needed to get at least 8 out of 10 votes from our panel (much like the NCAA Selection Committee that meets in New York tonight). As of tonight, 28 teams were voted on to the at-large board. This means that there will be a minimum of 8 more teams that will be voted on to our at-large board when our Committee convenes via Skype conference call tomorrow night. We will also vote on more at-large teams as teams currently on the at-large board win automatic bids in their respective conference tournaments.
The second list of teams consists of “Under Consideration” – any team that did not merit at-large consideration on the first ballot and received at least 3 votes (on either the first or second list) are added to the Under Consideration list. Teams that finished in first place in their conference in the regular season are also automatically added to the list of teams Under Consideration. As of tonight, we have 47 teams added to the Under Consideration list plus our Centenary Award winner that will be announced tomorrow night. (CLICK HERE for a history of the Centenary Award).
Without further ado, here is the current cross-country board: (click on the board to enlarge)
The teams listed on the left in blue are the 13 teams that have already clinched automatic bids into the NCAA Tournament. The teams listed in green are the 28 teams that are currently listed as at-large selections. The teams listed in white are teams under consideration for the final at-large spots. The column on the right hand side is the master seed list that we will begin to fill on Friday night.
For tomorrow, our first major task will be to scrub the list of teams that are under consideration. After we vote on our Centenary Award winner, we will fill the remaining 8 at-large spots from the 47 teams currently under consideration. Each committee member will debate and then vote on 8 teams in the first round of balloting via secret ballot; the top 8 vote-getters will then be ranked 1 through 8. The top 4 teams out of that group will be added to the at-large board. Once that round of voting is over, there will be further debate and then each panelist will vote in 4 more teams from the Under Consideration board. The top 4 teams will be added along with the 4 carryover teams from the previous round of balloting. Again, the teams will be ranked 1 through 8 and the top 4 vote-getters will be added to the at-large board. Depending on results from other major conferences tomorrow night, more at-large spots should open up, but it is likely they will not be filled until Friday at the earliest.