Hoops HD Mock Committee Report – Thursday, March 10

Click here for Jon Teitel’s latest bracket projection in which he guesses the actual committee’s bracket through games of Thursday, March 10

Tonight was the first night that our Hoops HD Selection Committee convened; prior to our meeting last night, we had named 27 teams on the first ballot to the at-large field. When we began our meeting tonight, our first order of business was to take a look at the Under Consideration board and make motions to remove teams that were not deemed worthy of at-large inclusion. 15 teams were scrubbed off of the Under Consideration board; this also includes 7 teams that won their conferences in the regular season but failed to win their conference tournament. The real stunner today was the UAB; they lost their Conference USA Tournament opener against Western Kentucky in Birmingham. These teams are still eligible for the NIT, CBI, CIT or Vegas 16.

We also named Chicago State as our Centenary Winner for 2016; they were deemed as the worst team in all of Division I this season. However, their prize for winning the award is their inclusion to the Under Consideration board; they will remain there for the duration of our Selection Committee meetings.

Most importantly, we began debating the merits of teams on the Under Consideration board and began voting teams into the At-Large field. For the first vote, each committee member voted for their own Top 8 teams to be included in the at-large discussion. The top 8 vote-getters were then seeded 1 through 8 by our Committee. The top 4 teams in the first wave of balloting were Wisconsin (they were voted in before their loss to Nebraska), Providence, Colorado and Butler. The bottom 4 vote-getters carried over and then each member of our committee added 4 more teams to be considered. Once again, the teams were then ranked 1 through 8. This time, the top 4 vote-getters were USC, Wichita State, Oregon State and Pittsburgh. Barring any votes to remove these teams from the at-large board, the aforementioned 8 teams will be part of the Committee’s NCAA Tournament field. The remaining 4 “carry-overs” will be considered in the next wave of voting that will take place tomorrow night.

There was one at-large spot that was not filled tonight, but we also learned that 4 more at-large spots will open up because the Big 12, ACC, Big East and Pac-12 champs will come off of the At-Large board and move over to the Automatic Bids column. It is also possible that 4 more at-large spots will open up pending the outcomes of the SEC, Big 10, Atlantic 10 and American conference tournaments. If you look at the Under Consideration board, teams highlighted in orange have completed play in the regular season. Teams not highlighted are still playing in their conference tournaments and therefore have the opportunity to further enhance their profiles. You can click below to view the results through Day 1:

Tomorrow, we will fill the remaining at-large spots that are eligible to be filled, although it is possible that a spot may be left open depending on Saturday and Sunday’s results. We will also begin the process of seeding the top 8 seed lines (32 teams total).