For the first time this season, here is my Field of 68, broken down by conference through games of January 27. Note that the winner of the conference is the team that I feel is the best team in the conference, which may at times not be the first place team.
America East (1): Stony Brook
ACC (5): Miami, North Carolina State, Duke, North Carolina, Virginia
Atlantic Sun (1): Florida Gulf Coast
Atlantic Ten (3): Butler, Virginia Commonwealth, La Salle
Big East (8): Syracuse, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Villanova
Big Sky (1): Montana
Big South (1): Charleston Southern
Big Ten (8): Michigan, Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa
Big Twelve (6): Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Oklahoma, Iowa State
Big West (1): Long Beach State
Colonial (1): Northeastern
Conference USA (2): Memphis, Southern Miss
Horizon (1): Valparaiso
Ivy (1): Harvard
Metro Atlantic (1): Iona
MAC (1): Akron
MEAC (1): North Carolina Central
Missouri Valley (2): Creighton, Wichita State
Mountain West (4): New Mexico, UNLV, Colorado State, San Diego State
Northeast (1): Bryant
Ohio Valley (1): Belmont
Pac 12 (4): Oregon, Arizona, UCLA, Colorado
Patriot (1): Bucknell
SEC (3): Florida, Ole Miss, Missouri
Southern (1): Davidson
Southland (1): Stephen F Austin
SWAC (1): Southern
Summit (1): South Dakota State
Sun Belt (1): Middle Tennessee
West Coast (3): Gonzaga, BYU, St. Mary’s
WAC (1): Louisiana Tech
Last four in: Iowa, Southern Miss, Colorado, St. Mary’s
Last four out: Maryland, St. John’s, Arizona State, Wyoming
Others considered: Charlotte, Saint Louis, Indiana State, Boise State
A few notes about this week’s field:
Villanova went from off the radar to into the field with two huge wins this week. However, they better not rest on their laurels, as they can easily slide right back out of the field. St. John’s has also been putting together some wins as of late and is very close to being in the field.
I am not sure how Iowa made it in my field, other than the fact that I just like their resume and their conference a lot more than anyone else. Their loss today to Purdue hurt though and they have a lot of work to do.
I have been among the biggest Pac-12 haters the past few seasons, but I had to concede that the top of the conference is finally coming around. Arizona and Oregon are both among the top 10-15 teams in the nation right now and UCLA is pretty solidly inn the current field. Colorado and Arizona State are also right there. Maybe the connference is finally coming back.
Finally, the SEC is starting to look like the worst of the power conferences. While Florida, Ole Miss and Missouri made it in easily, I didn’t even consider anyone else (not even Kentucky). That being said, I am very high on this Florida team and would not be shocked to see them cutting down the nets on a Monday night in April.
Finally, while still very early, here is my S-Curve of these 68 teams:
1. Michigan
2. Kansas
3. Florida
4. Indiana
5. Duke
6. Syracuse
7. Arizona
8. Louisville
9. Gonzaga
10. Oregon
11. Ohio State
12. Miami
13. Butler
14. Michigan State
15. Wichita State
16. North Carolina State
17. Kansas State
18. New Mexico
19. Creighton
20. Minnesota
21. San Diego State
22. Wisconsin
23. Georgetown
24. VCU
25. Notre Dame
26. Marquette
27. Ole Miss
28. Missouri
29. Colorado State
30. Belmont
31. Cincinnati
32. UCLA
33. Pittsburgh
34. UNLV
35. Akron
36. Illinois
37. Oklahoma State
38. North Carolina
39. Baylor
40. Middle Tennessee
41. Oklahoma
42. BYU
43. La Salle
44. Villanova
45. Iowa State
46. Memphis
47. Virginia
48. Southern Miss
49. Colorado
50. St. Mary’s
51. Iowa
52. Stephen F Austin
53. South Dakota State
54. Louisiana Tech
55. Bucknell
56. Montana
57. Long Beach State
58. Valparaiso
59. Northeastern
60. Harvard
61. Davidson
62. Iona
63. Southern
64. Florida Gulf Coast
65. Stony Brook
66. Charleston Southern
67. North Carolina Central
68. Bryant