Bracketology – Hoops HD Staff Bracket

This week, our colleague John Stalica will be filling out the weekly NCAA Tournament bracket on Hoops HD. This is not to be confused with the bracket that Jon Teitel does weekly where he attempts to forecast what the Selection Committee will do. This is rather more of a checkpoint bracket that John sees fit as of games played through Monday, January 1.

The bracket is as follows:

First Four Out: NC State, Boston College, Drake, Louisiana Tech

NOTES FROM JOHN:

• Purdue’s top of the profile gives them a slight edge over Kansas and Houston for the top overall seed. Arizona’s recent losses to Florida Atlantic (in Las Vegas) and at Stanford knock the Wildcats off the top seed line for now.

• What a difference a year makes for Clemson. They’ve cashed in on wins at Alabama and at Pittsburgh, and even home wins against South Carolina and Boise State are boosting the metrics for the Tigers. Contrast this to North Carolina who hasn’t even played a true road game yet.

• Dayton is in a protected seed spot that typically has feen filled by Gonzaga in recent years. Today I would have actually had Gonzaga as my first 11 seed, but I had to flip them up to the 10 line and Michigan State down to the 11 line.

• Other bracketing issues include juggling BYU in the East Region (however there’s a bug in the workbook that has the wrong dates for Spokane and Salt Lake City; I may redo the bracket once Chad fixes this). The play-in game on the 13 line had to be moved down to accomodate potential conference matchups in the 1st round. Also keep in mind that Weber State could have been placed in SLC, but Colorado State cannot be placed in a potential home court disadvantage; Weber State is about 30 miles north of Salt Lake and would effectively fill the place.

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