For today’s News, Notes, and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE
It is Chad’s turn to post this week’s HoopsHD Staff Bracket. Below are his picks for how he sees teams through games of Sunday, February 7. Please note that this is not an attempt to guess what the Selection Committee will do on Selection Sunday, but rather his personal picks on where the bracket stands as of right now. Below the picks are Chad’s Notes and reactions to the bracket from other staff members.
CHAD’S NOTES
– The 1 seeds were fairly easy this week as Ohio State has moved solidly into the #4 (and maybe even #3) overall spot. It is the 2 line where I may get the most disagreement by placing Missouri there over Alabama — but the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide this weekend and have a very impressive overall resume. I also may get called out by some here for placing Illinois on the 3 line, but I can no longer overlook *7* Tier 1 wins, with three of them being in true road games. Besides, when you look at the potential second and third round matchups I set up for Missouri (and Illinois) in the South Region, David at least will need to be singing my praises as a Bracketing Deity instead of criticizing me.
– I have Tennessee on the 5 line, and that may have been generous to the Vols. Their profile is solid without any really bad losses, but the team has simply not passed the “eye test” for me for several weeks now. They at least got a win against Kentucky to bounce back from the Ole Miss loss, but I would like to see them dominate inferior competition and win games against tournament caliber teams if they want back onto the top 4 seed lines.
– Iowa is falling fast as more and more teams seem to be taking advantage of their defensive issues. I have dropped the Hawkeyes all the way down to the 6 line, which is very far removed from their flirtation with a 1 seed less than a month ago.
– Creighton, despite being a Top 25 team heading into this week, has dropped all the way to the 8 line. 9 wins against the top two tiers is solid, but none of those wins are “Tier 1A” and I simply cannot excuse three home losses to Tier 3 teams. I am sure most people have this team rated a lot higher than I do, but they don’t pass either my resume test or, quite frankly, my eye test in recent weeks.
– Maryland was my very last team in, and I actually ranked them below a pair of auto-bid 12 seeds in Western Kentucky and Belmont. Their wins at Illinois, Purdue and Minnesota just pop off the page to me, but the team is only 9-9 against D1 competition, which may be a disqualifier in and of itself. I compromised and gave them the very last spot in my field, a spot that would probably be stolen by a “bid thief” if this was the real committee’s rankings.
– My top four teams out, in order, were Oregon, Richmond, LSU and Saint Louis. Oregon has played so few games compared to others that it is tough to evaluate the Ducks, but they picked up another bad loss this week (to Washington State at home) and need to find a way to pick up a few more quality wins if they really want to make the field. Saint Louis had almost dropped off my board entirely until this weekend’s home win over the Bonnies, but the Billikens have a lot of work to do as well.
– Other teams I considered were: Penn State, St Mary’s, Georgia Tech, TCU, Wichita State, Georgia, Ole Miss, Utah State, Syracuse and Memphis. TCU now owns a sweep of Oklahoma State and quite a few close losses to good teams. A few more upset wins are all the Horned Frogs need, with the strength of the Big 12 conference behind them, to move up into serious at-large bid contention.
– Finally, I feel that every single team on my 13 and 14 lines is capable of winning a game in the Round of 64. At the end of the day, a few of them will get upset in conference tournaments and not even make the field, but there are some very good teams here that very few people (other than us) are talking about.
Staff Comments
FROM DAVID. This is easily the best bracket I have ever seen Chad put together!! HE’S GOT KANSAS V MISSOURI IN THE SECOND ROUND!!! The only complaint is that it may be necessary to give Kansas a more beatable opponent than Saint Bonaventure. We want to do everything we can to assure that second round matchup happens!
-I also like that, at long last, he has moved Iowa down to where they belong, and that’s on the #6 line. Their resume is a #6 seed resume. Not a protected seed, and certainly not a #1 or #2 seed like where everyone else seems to think they belong.
-He likes Illinois a little more than I do, but the Illini had a hell of a week and their resume is starting to look a lot better, so I can live with them where he has them.
-The top of Tennessee’s resume has me liking them more than Chad does, but then when I watch them actually play I like them a little less than what Chad does. So, with that in mind, I think the #5 line is okay.
-I still don’t get Arkansas. I know they are his last team in, but why are they even that close??
HoopsHD Staff Bracket – February 8
For today’s News, Notes, and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE
It is Chad’s turn to post this week’s HoopsHD Staff Bracket. Below are his picks for how he sees teams through games of Sunday, February 7. Please note that this is not an attempt to guess what the Selection Committee will do on Selection Sunday, but rather his personal picks on where the bracket stands as of right now. Below the picks are Chad’s Notes and reactions to the bracket from other staff members.
CHAD’S NOTES
– The 1 seeds were fairly easy this week as Ohio State has moved solidly into the #4 (and maybe even #3) overall spot. It is the 2 line where I may get the most disagreement by placing Missouri there over Alabama — but the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide this weekend and have a very impressive overall resume. I also may get called out by some here for placing Illinois on the 3 line, but I can no longer overlook *7* Tier 1 wins, with three of them being in true road games. Besides, when you look at the potential second and third round matchups I set up for Missouri (and Illinois) in the South Region, David at least will need to be singing my praises as a Bracketing Deity instead of criticizing me.
– I have Tennessee on the 5 line, and that may have been generous to the Vols. Their profile is solid without any really bad losses, but the team has simply not passed the “eye test” for me for several weeks now. They at least got a win against Kentucky to bounce back from the Ole Miss loss, but I would like to see them dominate inferior competition and win games against tournament caliber teams if they want back onto the top 4 seed lines.
– Iowa is falling fast as more and more teams seem to be taking advantage of their defensive issues. I have dropped the Hawkeyes all the way down to the 6 line, which is very far removed from their flirtation with a 1 seed less than a month ago.
– Creighton, despite being a Top 25 team heading into this week, has dropped all the way to the 8 line. 9 wins against the top two tiers is solid, but none of those wins are “Tier 1A” and I simply cannot excuse three home losses to Tier 3 teams. I am sure most people have this team rated a lot higher than I do, but they don’t pass either my resume test or, quite frankly, my eye test in recent weeks.
– Maryland was my very last team in, and I actually ranked them below a pair of auto-bid 12 seeds in Western Kentucky and Belmont. Their wins at Illinois, Purdue and Minnesota just pop off the page to me, but the team is only 9-9 against D1 competition, which may be a disqualifier in and of itself. I compromised and gave them the very last spot in my field, a spot that would probably be stolen by a “bid thief” if this was the real committee’s rankings.
– My top four teams out, in order, were Oregon, Richmond, LSU and Saint Louis. Oregon has played so few games compared to others that it is tough to evaluate the Ducks, but they picked up another bad loss this week (to Washington State at home) and need to find a way to pick up a few more quality wins if they really want to make the field. Saint Louis had almost dropped off my board entirely until this weekend’s home win over the Bonnies, but the Billikens have a lot of work to do as well.
– Other teams I considered were: Penn State, St Mary’s, Georgia Tech, TCU, Wichita State, Georgia, Ole Miss, Utah State, Syracuse and Memphis. TCU now owns a sweep of Oklahoma State and quite a few close losses to good teams. A few more upset wins are all the Horned Frogs need, with the strength of the Big 12 conference behind them, to move up into serious at-large bid contention.
– Finally, I feel that every single team on my 13 and 14 lines is capable of winning a game in the Round of 64. At the end of the day, a few of them will get upset in conference tournaments and not even make the field, but there are some very good teams here that very few people (other than us) are talking about.
Staff Comments
FROM DAVID. This is easily the best bracket I have ever seen Chad put together!! HE’S GOT KANSAS V MISSOURI IN THE SECOND ROUND!!! The only complaint is that it may be necessary to give Kansas a more beatable opponent than Saint Bonaventure. We want to do everything we can to assure that second round matchup happens!
-I also like that, at long last, he has moved Iowa down to where they belong, and that’s on the #6 line. Their resume is a #6 seed resume. Not a protected seed, and certainly not a #1 or #2 seed like where everyone else seems to think they belong.
-He likes Illinois a little more than I do, but the Illini had a hell of a week and their resume is starting to look a lot better, so I can live with them where he has them.
-The top of Tennessee’s resume has me liking them more than Chad does, but then when I watch them actually play I like them a little less than what Chad does. So, with that in mind, I think the #5 line is okay.
-I still don’t get Arkansas. I know they are his last team in, but why are they even that close??