Hoops HD Mock Committee Report – Friday, March 11

Click here for Jon Teitel’s interview with Holy Cross’s Eric Green; also click here for Jon’s daily NCAA bracket prediction AND bonus audio commentary with David Griggs.

On Day 2 of our Mock Selection Committee meetings at Hoops HD, we were able to accomplish 3 things today – the number of teams Under Consideration shrunk down to 18 (including Centenary Winner Chicago State), the top 8 seed lines were voted into the seed list, and 4 more teams were voted into the At-Large field.

After debating the merits of the top-ranked teams in the field, each of the committee members submitted their top 12 teams for consideration. (The real committee would submit 8 teams, but we did 12 teams as a time-saving measure.) The next step was to rank each of those teams 1 through 12 (the real Committee would seed the top 8 teams 1 through 8). The top 8 vote-getters (top 4 for the real committee) became the teams seeded 1 through 8 on the overall seed list. After more debate, our committee then individually submitted the next 8 teams for consideration (top 4 for the real committee). These teams, in addition to the 4 carryover teams from the prior step, were then ranked 1 through 12 (ranked 1 through 8 by the real Committee). The top 8 vote-getters (top 4 for the real committee) became the teams seeded 9 through 16 on the overall seed list. This process was repeated until we had 24 teams on the seed list.

Once we got final results from the evening games, we debated on 4 more teams to add to the at-large field. Using the same process that was used last night to vote in at-large teams, our committee added Connecticut, Cincinnati, Michigan and Saint Joseph’s to the field. With Michigan’s inclusion to the field (along with the 3 other remaining Big 10 teams already voted in), we are now assured of another at-large spot opening up courtesy of the Big 10. This leaves us with a minimum of 2 more at-large teams to vote into the field tomorrow night; there could be as many as 5 teams depending on who wins the SEC, Atlantic 10 and American conferences. However, since either Tulane or Memphis is guaranteed to be in the American championship game on Sunday, we are guaranteed at least one contingency team. Another potential contingency lies in the A-10 depending on whether Davidson or VCU get to their championship game. Another spot could open up if Texas A&M and Kentucky play each other for the championship on Sunday, although either Georgia or LSU can also play the role of bid thief.

After the 4 additional teams were added to the field, we added 8 more teams to the Master Seed list and finished our meeting with 32 teams seeded. You can view the list below:

Tomorrow night, we will begin scrubbing the seed list to adjust for additional game results through Saturday night. We will vote in the 2 remaining guaranteed at-large spots and also choose additional contingency teams as necessary. The two remaining Sun Belt teams will be included in the master seed list as well as part of any multiple contingencies that would arise on Sunday. The remaining teams will also be voted into the seed list as well.