Year End Bracket Projections (from the Puppet) – Dec 31st

I want to make sure everyone knows what they are looking at.  Each week throughout November and December myself and David Doorman take turns doing a bracket.  This is my turn.  It is not a Hoops HD Staff Bracket.  It does not reflect what anyone else who contributes to the site thinks.  It is 100% mine.  So, if you notice drastic differences between the bracket you see below and the bracket you saw last week, that’s why.  I different person did it.  Beginning next week, Jon Teitel will do his weekly bracket, AND there will be a weekly podcast where we build a staff bracket, AND Doorman, myself, and Chad (and I suppose anyone else who wants to) will continue to take turns each week doing our own individual brackets.

What you see below IS NOT an attempt to guess what I think the committee will do in March.  It also isn’t even really an attempt by me to select and seed teams based on how good I think they actually are.  Some others here may do it that way.  I do not.  I’m strictly a CURRENT MERIT guy.  I’m really asking myself just one question.  “How hard  (or easy) was it for a team to win and lose the games that they have so far?”  That’s it.  That’s how I select and seed the teams.  If you want forecasts and predictions, then this isn’t for you…

OTHERS CONSIDERED: TCU, Vanderbilt, Utah State, Louisville, Saint Louis, Boise State, Clemson, UAB, DePaul, Texas, Virginia Tech, Kansas State, Wichita State, Wyoming, Mississippi State, Michigan, Indiana, Fresno State, Northwestern, Texas A&M, Washington State

NOTES ON THE BRACKET:

-Texas is perhaps the most glaring omission.  But the reason they aren’t in is because they haven’t won any games that are hard to win.  They’ve beaten a Stanford team on a neutral floor that probably wouldn’t be in the NIT right now, and a bunch of buy games.  That simply isn’t enough.

-Providence on the #1 line is bound to shock some people, but their resume tops out with wins at UConn and at Wisconsin who are both really good and a combined 12-2 at home.  Those two losses are to Providence.  That’s pretty damn good!  Home wins over Texas Tech and Seton Hall aren’t too shabby either.

I still like Iona.  Their win over Alabama has them not just in my bracket, but wearing the home uniforms in the Round of 64.  It’s really unfortunate that their game against Seton Hall was cancelled.  It’s really unfortunate that a lot of games have been cancelled.

-A team I feel like I should mention is Hofstra.  I love the top of their resume with wins at Monmouth and against Arkansas in what may as well have been a road game.  Road losses to teams like Houston and Iona, both of which were good games, are hardly alarming.  But what is utterly stupefying was their loss to William & Mary the other night.  Had it not been for that, I’d probably have the Pride inside my bubble.

-Kentucky doesn’t have a whole lot on their resume, but they do have a nice win against North Carolina (in a game that wasn’t even the originally scheduled game).  And, one decent win is infinitely better than zero.  If it weren’t for that, they wouldn’t be in my field at all.