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Okay, it is VERY important you read this before scrolling down because I want to make sure everyone knows what they’re looking at.
These are strictly MERIT RANKINGS. This is NOT an attempt to rank how good I think teams actually are, or how good they will be on Selection Sunday. If a top 5 team has done nothing so far other than play and win a couple of buy games, they’ll be ranked behind a UTR team that went out and won a road game even if I think the top 5 team would absolutely dump truck the UTR team that I have ranked ahead of them.
Because of that, you get what amounts to insane looking rankings, and therefore an insane looking bracket. I know it’s insane. In fact, that’s actually part of what makes doing one this early kind of fun. So, if you’re looking at it and you think “WTF is this??” what I mentioned above is what it is.
I do this for two reasons. 1) it gets me in the habit of evaluating teams the way a committee member would as early as possible, and 2) I like doing it this way. I know it’s impractical, but it’s still fun.
I do not think you’ll see Villanova and Memphis as #15 seeds in March.
I do not think Michigan State will end up being just outside the bubble.
I do not think you will see teams like Vermont, Nicholls, Northeaster, South Dakota, and Dartmouth in the top half of the bracket in March.
This is strictly CURRENT MERIT, and it’s more about the exercise of evaluating teams than it is ranking them. At this point, ranking teams based on merit isn’t just like splitting hairs, it’s like splitting BALD hairs.
- KENTUCKY – 2-0, neutral win vs Michigan State
- DUKE – 2-0, neutral floor win vs Kansas
- TEXAS – 2-0, win @ Purdue
- WASHINGTON – 1-0, neutral floor win vs Baylor
- Virginia – 2-0, win @ Syracuse
- Florida State – 1-1, win @ Florida, loss at Pittsburgh
- Colorado – 1-0, neutral floor win vs Arizona State
- North Carolina – 2-0, wins vs Notre Dame and @ UNCW
- Louisville – 2-0, win @ Miami FL
- SAN DIEGO STATE – 2-0, road win @ BYU
- Auburn – 2-0, neutral floor win vs Davidson
- SAINT MARY’S – 1-0, neutral win vs Wisconsin
- Arizona – 2-0, home win vs Illinois
- ILLINOIS – 2-1, home win vs Nicholls, road win @ Grand Canyon, loss @ Arizona
- Oklahoma – 2-0, neutral win vs Minnesota
- Ohio State – 2-0, home win vs Cincinnati
- Utah – 2-0, road win @ Nevada
- VERMONT – 2-0 on the road (@ St. Bona and @ Bucknell)
- Kansas State – 2-0, won @ UNLV
- Kansas – 1-1, neutral loss vs Duke, home win vs UNC Greensboro
- NORTHEASTERN – 2-0, road win @ Boston U, home win vs Harvard
- Maryland – 2-0, home win vs Rhode Island
- NICHOLLS – 1-1, loss @ Illinois, win @ Pittsburgh
- Virginia Tech – 2-0, wins @ Clemson
- SOUTH DAKOTA – 2-0, road win @ Hawaii
- Boston College – 2-0, wins at home vs Wake Forest, @ South Florida
- Pittsburgh – 1-1, home win vs Florida State, loss vs Nicholls
- DARTMOUTH – 1-0, road win @ Buffalo
- Oregon State – 2-0, home win vs Iowa State
- MIDDLE TENNESSEE – 2-0, road win @ Lipscomb
- WRIGHT STATE – 2-0, road win @ Miami OH
- OHIO U – 2-0, win @ Saint Bonaventure
- FURMAN – 2-0, road win @ Gardner Webb
- EASTERN WASHINGTON – 2-0, win @ Seattle
- William & Mary – 2-0, road wins @ High Point, @ American
- NORTHERN IOWA – 2-0, road win @ Northern Illinois
- Southern Utah – 2-0, road win @ Nebraska
- UC RIVERSIDE – 2-0, road win @ Nebraska
- Oregon – 2-0, home wins vs Fresno State and Boise State
- LITTLE ROCK – 1-1, road win @ Missouri State, loss @ Illinois State
- BUCKNELL – 1-1, win @ Fairfield, home loss to Vermont
- Penn – 1-1, road win @ Alabama, loss @ Rice
- Idaho State – 1-1, win @ Air Force
- East Tennessee State – 2-0, road win @ UT Martin
- Delaware – 4-0, 3 neutral floor wins (Oakland, Southern Illinois, UTSA)
- Oakland – 3-1, neutral loss to Delaware, neutral wins vs UTSA and Southern Illinois
- CAMPBELL – 2-0, win @ Coastal Carolina
- MONMOUTH – 1-1, road win @ Lehigh, loss @ Hofstra
- South Dakota State – 2-0, road win @ Cal State Bakersfield
- Yale – 2-0, road win @ Stony Brook
- Lehigh – 1-1 home loss to Monmouth, road win @ Albany
- Winthrop – 1-1, win @ Hartford, loss @ Fresno State
- uab – 1-0, win @ Troy
- UNC Asheville – 1-1, loss @ Tennessee, win @ Citadel
- Western Michigan – 2-0, road win @ McNeese
- Rider – 2-0, road wins @ Coppin State and @ Delaware State
- Marist – 1-0, road win @ VMI
- Brown – 2-0, road win @ Bryant
- Illinois State – 2-0, home win vs Belmont
- Loyola MD – 1-1, road loss @ Marquette, road win @ Chicago State
- Michigan State – 0-1, neutral loss to Kentucky
- Gonzaga – 2-0 in buy games
- Florida – 1-1, won a buy game, home loss to Florida State
- Texas Tech – 2-0 in buy games
- VILLANOVA – 1-0 in buy games
- Seton Hall – 2-0 in buy games
- MEMPHIS – 2-0 in buy games
- Xavier – 2-0 in buy games
- Utah State – 2-0 in buy games
- Lsu – 1-0 in buy games
- VCU – 2-0 in buy games
- Tennessee – 1-0 in buy games
- San Jose State – 1-1, road win @ Hofstra, home loss to Portland
- Baylor – 1-1, won a buy game, neutral loss vs Washington
- Purdue – 1-1, won a buy game, home loss to Texas
- Mississippi State – 2-0 in buy games
- Houston – has not yet played
- South Carolina – 2-0, buy game win, home win vs Wyoming
- Cincinnati – 0-1. Lost @ Ohio State
- Davidson – 0-1, lost @ Auburn
- LIBERTY – 1-0 in buy games
- Wichita State – 2-0 in buy games
- Michigan – 1-0 in buy games
- Georgetown – 2-0 in buy games
- West Virginia – 1-0 in buy games
- Wisconsin – 1-1, won a buy game, lost to Saint Mary’s
- NEW MEXICO STATE – no div1 wins
- Usc – 2-0 in buy games
- Iowa – 1-0 in buy games
- Dayton – 1-0 in buy games
- Temple – 2-0 in buy games
- Oklahoma State – 1-0 in buy games
- Marquette – 1-0 in buy games
- Byu – 1-1, won buy game, home loss vs San Diego State
- UNC Greensboro – 1-1, loss @ Kansas, won a buy game
- UConn – 1-0 in buy games
- Iowa State – 1-1, won a buy game, lost @ Oregon State
- Creighton – 1-0 in buy games
- Indiana – 2-0 in buy games
- Missouri – 2-0 in buy games
- Minnesota – 1-1, won a buy game, home loss to Oklahoma
- Penn State – 2-0 in buy games
- Duquesne – 1-0 in buy games
- Western Kentucky – 2-0 in buy games
- Butler – 2-0 in buy games
- Providence – 2-0 in buy games
- Arkansas – 1-0 in buy games
- New Mexico – 2-0 in buy games
- Saint Joseph’s – 1-1, won at home vs Bradley, lost @ Old Dominion
- ucf – 1-0 in buy games
- George Mason – 2-0 in buy games
- Rutgers – 2-0 in buy games
- Saint John’s – 2-0 in buy games
- La Salle – 1-0 in buy games
- smu – 1-0 in buy games
- Georgia – 1-0 in buy games
- ucla – 2-0 in buy games
- Stanford – 2-0 in buy games
- Ole Miss – 1-0 in buy games
- South Florida – 1-1 (won buy game, lost at home to BC)
- Saint Louis – 2-0 in buy games
- DePaul – 2-0 in div1 buy games
- Texas A&M – 1-0 in buy games
- Richmond – 1-0 in buy games
- UMass – 2-0 in buy games
- Colorado State – 1-1, road loss @ Duke, won buy game
- Washington State – 1-0 in buy games
- California – 1-0 in buy games
- MOREHEAD STATE – 2-0, home win vs Samford
- Vanderbilt – 1-0 in buy games
- SAINT FRANCIS BROOKLYN – 1-1, home win vs Lafayette
- NORTH CAROLINA A&T – 1-1, home win vs Charleston Southern
- GRAMBLING – 2-0, both wins nondiv1
