We thought that this would be the Puppet’s week to prepare the staff bracket this week, but due to incarceration instead our colleague John Stalica will do the bracket this week. This is not an attempt to guess the Selection Committee (as Jon Teitel does every Sunday), but rather what John feels the bracket should look like after today. Here goes:
First Four Out: Ohio State, Arkansas, TCU, Boise State
Worth a look: Xavier, SMU, North Carolina, VCU. UC-Irvine, San Francisco, Indiana, George Mason
COMMENTS FROM JOHN:
– One of the better memes during the past month is that the SEC is only .500 since conference play began in January. The ACC actually has a chance to finish over .500 in the same stretch since Duke will play a late non-conference game at Madison Square Garden against Illinois. It’s actually a pivotal matchup for both teams; Duke needs a win like this to stay on the 1-line and Illinois really needs a stabilizing win to stay in the top half of the bracket.
– The B1G has a vise grip on the 3-line since they don’t really have a clear cut favorite to win the league at this point. Michigan/Michigan State may offer a clue as to who will be at the top of the 3-line at the end of tonight.
– Kansas should be very thankful that they got neutral-court wins against Duke and Michigan State in the first month of the season; it’s the only thing (besides their name) keeping them in the top half of the bracket right now. In true road games, the Jayhawks are a very meh 3-7. By comparison, Xavier is also 3-7 in true road games (including a win at Marquette) and not in this bracket.
– Ohio State is officially in deep doo-doo after getting blown out at home by Northwestern. Now they have to go to the West Coast and get a sweep of both UCLA and USC to get back into the field. I don’t think a split would be enough even if the win comes at UCLA. Maybe they’ll enjoy the initial Crown Invitational in Vegas with a couple other friends from the B1G, Big East and Big 12.
– Boise State and TCU are both creeping closer to the cut line. TCU put themselves in position with a win at home against Texas Tech; getting a win at Cincinnati this weekend would also be a step in the right direction. Boise State now has 3 wins against the field (Clemson, Saint Mary’s and New Mexico) and will have one more opportunity with Utah State visiting the Broncos. Still, they’ll need a win or two in the Mountain West Tournament to demonstrate that they can win away from home.
– For a few weeks, we’ve had Cleveland State as the Horizon League champion, but now I feel that Morris Robert, ERRRR, Robert Morris may now be the team to beat in the league. RMU only trails CSU by a half-game and is on a roll since their wardrobe malfunction earlier this season.
STAFF COMMENTS:
From Chad:
– Kentucky is such a hard team to place right now. Their five wins (3 away from home) against top 10 NET teams could make the a 3 seed, but their 7-6 conference record and 8 overall losses also gives them a case for the 5 or 6 line where John has them. I would personally have them higher, but I see the argument for a 5 seed as well.
– Vanderbilt and West Virginia on the 9 line both seem a bit high to me. I would have them a lot closer to the First Four. Vandy does not have a win away from home against the field and played an AWFUL non-conference schedule. West Virginia has the high quality wins, but 10 overall losses is a lot right now, and they are only 7-8 in Big 12 play.
– Baylor I feel is under-seeded on the 10 line. The Bears are healthy again and, while they have a lot of losses, all but one of them are Tier 1A.
– I would not have Oklahoma in right now. The Sooners have lost 5 in a row and are below .500 against the top three tiers. They now also have a BAD loss, the home home game they completely blew against LSU last weekend. They may need to be booking their tickets to the Crown, but do have time to right the ship as they were my top team out.
– Georgia also does not belong in. They are 8-10 against the top three tiers and have only one true road win — at Georgia Tech.
– Pitt does not even belong in the NIT or the CBI. I can name a dozen teams not in John’s field that I like better than them. Not only do I not have the Panthers in my field, I don’t even have them on my Board for teams Under Consideration. Did you typo and mean someone else here John? That Panthers are not good.
– Drake should be a few seed lines higher. The metrics are solid for this team, and I really think the Committee will give them a 9 or 10 seed if they keep winning. If they can at least win out the regular season (including a huge game at Northern Iowa on Sunday), I don’t even think they will need the automatic bid.
– I would have two A-10 teams in right now. I would also still have two Big West teams in DESPITE UC-Irvine’s loss last night. The Anteaters would be my very last team in, but as long as they do not lose again until the Big West Tournament final (which they are very capable of doing), I still believe in the two bid Big West, especially given that the rest of the Bubble teams are almost guaranteed to keep losing games.
– All in all, John did a great job in my opinion, and most of my arguments are with him are around the bubble.
From David Griggs:
-Vanderbilt on the 9 line is higher than I would have them. I just don’t think they’ve done enough away from home to be seeded as good as that. Having said that, if I were guessing the actual committee and not doing my own bracket, my guess is that’s where the real committee would have them.
-Kansas on the 6 line may seem low, but I’d actually have them lower. I’d probably place them behind Louisville and Clemson right now. Perhaps even Memphis. Kansas has not won a true road game against anyone that’s in this field.
-BYU is getting a lot of love. Not just from Stalica, but from most people who follow and do bracketology. I think they have some nice wins at home and…well…I think they have some nice wins at home. A weak OOC schedule and a shoddy road record would have me leaving the Cougars out.
Hoops HD Staff Bracket – Friday, February 21st
We thought that this would be the Puppet’s week to prepare the staff bracket this week, but
due to incarcerationinstead our colleague John Stalica will do the bracket this week. This is not an attempt to guess the Selection Committee (as Jon Teitel does every Sunday), but rather what John feels the bracket should look like after today. Here goes:First Four Out: Ohio State, Arkansas, TCU, Boise State
Worth a look: Xavier, SMU, North Carolina, VCU. UC-Irvine, San Francisco, Indiana, George Mason
COMMENTS FROM JOHN:
– One of the better memes during the past month is that the SEC is only .500 since conference play began in January. The ACC actually has a chance to finish over .500 in the same stretch since Duke will play a late non-conference game at Madison Square Garden against Illinois. It’s actually a pivotal matchup for both teams; Duke needs a win like this to stay on the 1-line and Illinois really needs a stabilizing win to stay in the top half of the bracket.
– The B1G has a vise grip on the 3-line since they don’t really have a clear cut favorite to win the league at this point. Michigan/Michigan State may offer a clue as to who will be at the top of the 3-line at the end of tonight.
– Kansas should be very thankful that they got neutral-court wins against Duke and Michigan State in the first month of the season; it’s the only thing (besides their name) keeping them in the top half of the bracket right now. In true road games, the Jayhawks are a very meh 3-7. By comparison, Xavier is also 3-7 in true road games (including a win at Marquette) and not in this bracket.
– Ohio State is officially in deep doo-doo after getting blown out at home by Northwestern. Now they have to go to the West Coast and get a sweep of both UCLA and USC to get back into the field. I don’t think a split would be enough even if the win comes at UCLA. Maybe they’ll enjoy the initial Crown Invitational in Vegas with a couple other friends from the B1G, Big East and Big 12.
– Boise State and TCU are both creeping closer to the cut line. TCU put themselves in position with a win at home against Texas Tech; getting a win at Cincinnati this weekend would also be a step in the right direction. Boise State now has 3 wins against the field (Clemson, Saint Mary’s and New Mexico) and will have one more opportunity with Utah State visiting the Broncos. Still, they’ll need a win or two in the Mountain West Tournament to demonstrate that they can win away from home.
– For a few weeks, we’ve had Cleveland State as the Horizon League champion, but now I feel that Morris Robert, ERRRR, Robert Morris may now be the team to beat in the league. RMU only trails CSU by a half-game and is on a roll since their wardrobe malfunction earlier this season.
STAFF COMMENTS:
From Chad:
– Kentucky is such a hard team to place right now. Their five wins (3 away from home) against top 10 NET teams could make the a 3 seed, but their 7-6 conference record and 8 overall losses also gives them a case for the 5 or 6 line where John has them. I would personally have them higher, but I see the argument for a 5 seed as well.
– Vanderbilt and West Virginia on the 9 line both seem a bit high to me. I would have them a lot closer to the First Four. Vandy does not have a win away from home against the field and played an AWFUL non-conference schedule. West Virginia has the high quality wins, but 10 overall losses is a lot right now, and they are only 7-8 in Big 12 play.
– Baylor I feel is under-seeded on the 10 line. The Bears are healthy again and, while they have a lot of losses, all but one of them are Tier 1A.
– I would not have Oklahoma in right now. The Sooners have lost 5 in a row and are below .500 against the top three tiers. They now also have a BAD loss, the home home game they completely blew against LSU last weekend. They may need to be booking their tickets to the Crown, but do have time to right the ship as they were my top team out.
– Georgia also does not belong in. They are 8-10 against the top three tiers and have only one true road win — at Georgia Tech.
– Pitt does not even belong in the NIT or the CBI. I can name a dozen teams not in John’s field that I like better than them. Not only do I not have the Panthers in my field, I don’t even have them on my Board for teams Under Consideration. Did you typo and mean someone else here John? That Panthers are not good.
– Drake should be a few seed lines higher. The metrics are solid for this team, and I really think the Committee will give them a 9 or 10 seed if they keep winning. If they can at least win out the regular season (including a huge game at Northern Iowa on Sunday), I don’t even think they will need the automatic bid.
– I would have two A-10 teams in right now. I would also still have two Big West teams in DESPITE UC-Irvine’s loss last night. The Anteaters would be my very last team in, but as long as they do not lose again until the Big West Tournament final (which they are very capable of doing), I still believe in the two bid Big West, especially given that the rest of the Bubble teams are almost guaranteed to keep losing games.
– All in all, John did a great job in my opinion, and most of my arguments are with him are around the bubble.
From David Griggs:
-Vanderbilt on the 9 line is higher than I would have them. I just don’t think they’ve done enough away from home to be seeded as good as that. Having said that, if I were guessing the actual committee and not doing my own bracket, my guess is that’s where the real committee would have them.
-Kansas on the 6 line may seem low, but I’d actually have them lower. I’d probably place them behind Louisville and Clemson right now. Perhaps even Memphis. Kansas has not won a true road game against anyone that’s in this field.
-BYU is getting a lot of love. Not just from Stalica, but from most people who follow and do bracketology. I think they have some nice wins at home and…well…I think they have some nice wins at home. A weak OOC schedule and a shoddy road record would have me leaving the Cougars out.