For the first couple of weeks at Hoops HD, the Puppet has been at the forefront coming out with merit rankings and bracket projections. This week, it is John’s turn to come up with a bracket based on results from the first 3 weeks.
FIRST FOUR OUT: Nebraska, TCU, Maryland, UCLA
Indeed, it does make a difference as to what happens during exempt tournament season. Duke looked (a little) human and Gonzaga now has wins of significance to justify a spot on the 1-line. Kansas has also looked superb, and teams like Michigan and Ohio State are well into protected seed territory now.
Again, this is merely a current checkpoint – this is why I have teams like Buffalo and Furman in the top 16 at the moment. Villanova also went back to their winning ways over the weekend, but will more likely than not look like a protected seed later on in the season.
While the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 all had solid showings during the exempt events, so did the Big East (except Xavier, who is nowhere to be found anywhere close to this field). Seton Hall rebounded from a pair of losses (including a bad one at home to Saint Louis) and is now in the field, as are the Creighton Bluejays.
The SEC was not quite as impressive overall – that is why a team like Kentucky is only a 7-seed at the moment. The merit is not there yet, and there are going to be more question marks as they go into conference play in about a month. The A-10 was a tire fire last week and that is one reason Davidson shows up in the bracket as a #13 seed.
One final note – this bracket was assembled before the release of the NET rankings. For what it’s worth, Ohio State was #1 on the initial NET listing.
COMMENTS FROM THE HOOPS HD STAFF
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-I know that we’re splitting hairs at this point, but in terms of merit I’m not quite there with Washington. They’ve beaten one team with a winning record, and that’s at home against San Diego (who I do think is good, but not first ballot good). If anything I think a team like Lipscomb has done more with their wins at TCU and SMU.
-It’s hard for me to decide how to tackle Nebraska. As a superfan hyperbole, of course I think they belong in on the #1 line because they are undefeated in games not played in the Spring Center! As an analyst, they need to do something they really didn’t do last year, and that’s beat a good team away from home. They came up short against Texas Tech (who I think is again a lot better than most people realize at this point), and they get another chance tonight against Clemson.
-I find it curious that Butler is in and Dayton isn’t (unless I’m missing them, which if I am it has been that kind of a day). Dayton did beat Butler on a neutral floor, and their loss against Virginia hardly seems notable.