This week, it falls upon John Stalica to complete the Hoops HD Staff Bracket – this is his personal guess as to what the bracket should be. This is not the same as Jon Teitel forecasting the selection committee; click here to compare his predictions. Without further ado, here is the bracket:
First Four Out: UNC-Greensboro, Nebraska, Indiana, East Tennessee State
Others Considered: Utah State, Florida, Furman, Davidson, Fresno State, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Creighton
COMMENTS FROM JOHN
– It goes without saying that the Big Ten has cannibalized itself out of a #1 seed during the past week. Michigan fell down to the 2-line after stumbling at Iowa, and Michigan State fell out after a surprising loss at home to Indiana. Duke and Virginia edge out Tennessee for the top two spots overall, and Gonzaga is back on the 1-line this week.
– We are now in the part of the Kansas season cycle where we start to wonder how we get suckered into thinking this is the year they will finally lose the Big 12. It goes without saying that either a team like Kansas State, Baylor or Texas Tech has to be the one to finish above them. Texas Tech failed miserably in their attempt to win at the Phog in back-to-back seasons. Baylor is a great story in how they’ve improved, but I’m not sold that they finish above the Jayhawks, however. Kansas State hosts Kansas in the Octagon tomorrow night, so we should start to see more clarity.
– LSU missed an opportunity to move up to a protected seed with a surprising home loss to an Arkansas team that is not a road warrior, but they are still playing well above their initial expectations this season. Their next three games: at Mississippi State, Auburn and at Kentucky. Time to see if the carriage turns into a pumpkin going into the heart of SEC play.
– I know it’s fun to razz on the Pac-12 this season, but not only is Washington actually looking like a noisemaker in the conference, they can shut the door on the conference race if they’re able to sweep the Arizona trip this week. Arizona State got a much-needed win against in-state rival Arizona, and quite frankly I like their profile more than the bubble muck that hasn’t really had much in the way of signature wins (or ANY wins) yet.
– For UTR conferences, note that the MAC and the Ohio Valley both have two bids this week. Bowling Green gets the MAC auto-bid by virtue of their win against Buffalo and Belmont edged out teams in the First Four out for the final bid. I still think there’s at least a 50/50 chance that the SoCon gets multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament this year.
COMMENTS FROM THE HOOPS HD STAFF
FROM DAVID
-I really hate agreeing with Stalica, but for the most part I think he did a pretty good job. I do like Lipscomb a lot more than the #12 line. When you put them next to Auburn (who I know finally picked up a nice win, but even with that win I think Lipscomb is better, and VCU, and Saint John’s, and Temple, and certainly NC State and TCU, I just think they’re better on paper. But, it goes beyond that. I think Lipscomb is better on the court. If anything, I think their resume understates how good they are, not overstates it. Same with Belmont and Wofford. Those are three really good teams. Buffalo has gotten quite a bit of love, and they remain in the rankings and in the top half of this particular bracket. I’ve got no problem with that. But, if Buffalo is a top 25 team, then Lipscomb, Belmont, and Wofford have to at least be top 40 teams when you look at their paper and look at them on the court. I think the wins at Liberty and at TCU for Lipscomb, and at UNCG for Wofford, come close to matching (and perhaps even surpassing) what Buffalo has done. Wofford is at East Tennessee State tomorrow night. ETSU is 8-1 at home. If they win that one, then they will have beaten ETSU and UNCG in true road games, who would be a combined 17-3 at home. Two of the three losses would have been to Wofford. That’s pretty damn good! I realize that hasn’t happened yet, but just saying…
-Stalica has seen the light!! Gonzaga is on the top line!! Well done!!
-Another UTR comment, I don’t like Murray State nearly as much as I did a week ago. They are just 2-4 against teams with winning div1 records, and those wins came against Southern Illinois and Eastern Illinois. Just this past week they were blown off the floor by Jax State, and barely beat an absolutely pitiful Tennessee Tech team. Someone else said it, but in the OVC Murray State and Belmont are getting all the pub. It’s quite possible that neither gets the auto bid.