As most of the country gets ready for Winter Storm Rocco (click here for updates to time changes for affected games), it is our colleague John Stalica’s turn to prepare the staff bracket for Hoops HD this week. This is NOT like Jon Teitel or Rocco Miller’s bracket where they attempt to guess the Selection Committee; rather this is what Stalica feels the bracket should look like through games played last night.
– There is no question on the first four teams at the top of the bracket. I would give a slight edge to Duke over Michigan when you look at the quality of the Blue Devils’ wins. Nebraska is on the cusp of making the #1 line and probably vaults UConn if they are able to win their upcoming game at Michigan.
– The way the protected seeds played out, I did not have to do any reshuffling on account of BYU this week. Hence the regions being more balanced than what I would have expected.
– I thought I might have to justify Florida being a protected seed, but upon further review I would have the Gators as my top team in the SEC over Vandy. In this instance, Florida really asserted themselves with a road win at Vandy last week.
– Alabama is going to bear watching because of the return of Charles Bediako to the lineup. Despite being selected in the 2023 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs, he has somehow managed to get a temporary restraining order to be allowed to play again for the Crimson Tide. (We’ll just conveniently overlook the fact that the judge in question has Alabama program ties) Personally, I would think that Alabama is at risk of having any contest he plays in ultimately being ruled a forfeit. And who’s to say that another judge with opposing school ties (i.e. Auburn or Tennessee) wouldn’t overrule the TRO? What a mess for the NCAA to deal with.
– The Miami Redhawks have clearly not been negatively impacted by the loss of Evan Ipsaro back in December. I say this because the Stanford Cardinal (currently on the 10-line as of today) are now going to have to deal with a season-ending injury to their leading scorer Chisom Okpara. They are now going to have to prove that they can still play at an NCAA Tournament level without Okpara. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt for now, but I doubt my colleagues will feel the same way initially.
– I nearly put the Akron Zips in my field. I gave George Mason the edge for now because of more Tier 2/Tier 3 wins, but teams like Akron and Belmont have shots at at-large bids for now since teams like Baylor, Indiana and LSU have too many fatal flaws at the moment to be included in this bracket.
STAFF COMMENTS:
COMMENTS FROM DAVID GRIGGS: Out of the 68 selections and seedings I think I can agree (or at least live with) about 64 of them, which means I like this bracket a lot more than I’ll like the committee’s actual bracket. I’m not big at all on Virginia Tech. I think they are certainly within reach of the bubble, but a team I like more than them is a team that Stalica has two lines out and that’s Belmont.
-I’m also not a fan of NC State’s profile. I know they had a nice win this week against Clemson, so but they still just don’t look that good overall and have missed chance after chance after chance.
-I think Duke on the #1 line makes sense. They’ve been on my #1 line for a while now.
-I think Akron may win the auto-bid out of the MAC. They are good. Miami is unbeaten and in the rankings and therefore in the spotlight, but they didn’t beat Akron by much. It was a close win at home and it’s Akron’s only MAC loss. Akron also blew out Buffalo at Buffalo, whereas Miami OH faced them at home and needed a miracle at the end of regulation just to get the game to overtime. The profile, and the ranking, and the unbeaten part of it makes sense. You have to select Miami ahead of Akron…but Akron is good! I think they’re better on the court than Stalica’s entire First Four (minus maybe UCLA who seems to be kicking it into gear). I think Belmont is as well!!
PUPPET’S AWARDED GRADE: B+. Not bad!!
COMMENTS FROM CHAD:
I cannot justify leaving an undefeated power conference team off the top line — the Huskers would be a 1 seed for me and Michigan would be on the 2 line. The Wolverines have the worst loss of any team in contention for a 1 seed and, while they have crushed a ton of very good teams, do not have the volume of Tier 1A wins that the rest of the contenders have.
I do not understand Georgia as a 5 seed. I would have this team about 3 seed lines lower after their recent bad loss at home to Ole Miss. And there is a lot of “eye test” in there for me too, I just don’t think this team is as good as their record may indicate.
John also has Seton Hall overseeded. I would have them in the First Four or very close to it. They had some amazing comeback wins — but those came against non-tournament teams. Their only win against anyone even seriously on my board was NC State in Maui. And three straight losses shows me a team that is on its way to the CBC, not the NCAA.
I would have Iowa several seed lines higher. I admit that the resume is lacking in big time wins, but I cannot ignore top 20 Torvik and KenPom Ratings. This is the type of team that, once it gets into the field, the Committee tends to bump up several lines higher than their wins and losses may otherwise merit.
No consideration at all for Missouri or New Mexico? Both teams are right on the cut line in my opinion.
Finally, I have to call out John for his decision to put Merrimack in the field as the MAAC Champions. St. Peter’s is a game ahead of the Warriors in the standings and beat them in their only head-to-head contest so far. The two teams do play for the second time (at Merrimack) on Saturday.
Hoops HD Staff Bracket – Friday, January 23rd
As most of the country gets ready for Winter Storm Rocco (click here for updates to time changes for affected games), it is our colleague John Stalica’s turn to prepare the staff bracket for Hoops HD this week. This is NOT like Jon Teitel or Rocco Miller’s bracket where they attempt to guess the Selection Committee; rather this is what Stalica feels the bracket should look like through games played last night.
And this is the bracket below:
First Four Out: Akron, Baylor, Indiana, LSU
Others Considered: Ohio State, Belmont, Oklahoma State, TCU
COMMENTS FROM JOHN:
– There is no question on the first four teams at the top of the bracket. I would give a slight edge to Duke over Michigan when you look at the quality of the Blue Devils’ wins. Nebraska is on the cusp of making the #1 line and probably vaults UConn if they are able to win their upcoming game at Michigan.
– The way the protected seeds played out, I did not have to do any reshuffling on account of BYU this week. Hence the regions being more balanced than what I would have expected.
– I thought I might have to justify Florida being a protected seed, but upon further review I would have the Gators as my top team in the SEC over Vandy. In this instance, Florida really asserted themselves with a road win at Vandy last week.
– Alabama is going to bear watching because of the return of Charles Bediako to the lineup. Despite being selected in the 2023 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs, he has somehow managed to get a temporary restraining order to be allowed to play again for the Crimson Tide. (We’ll just conveniently overlook the fact that the judge in question has Alabama program ties) Personally, I would think that Alabama is at risk of having any contest he plays in ultimately being ruled a forfeit. And who’s to say that another judge with opposing school ties (i.e. Auburn or Tennessee) wouldn’t overrule the TRO? What a mess for the NCAA to deal with.
– The Miami Redhawks have clearly not been negatively impacted by the loss of Evan Ipsaro back in December. I say this because the Stanford Cardinal (currently on the 10-line as of today) are now going to have to deal with a season-ending injury to their leading scorer Chisom Okpara. They are now going to have to prove that they can still play at an NCAA Tournament level without Okpara. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt for now, but I doubt my colleagues will feel the same way initially.
– I nearly put the Akron Zips in my field. I gave George Mason the edge for now because of more Tier 2/Tier 3 wins, but teams like Akron and Belmont have shots at at-large bids for now since teams like Baylor, Indiana and LSU have too many fatal flaws at the moment to be included in this bracket.
STAFF COMMENTS:
COMMENTS FROM DAVID GRIGGS: Out of the 68 selections and seedings I think I can agree (or at least live with) about 64 of them, which means I like this bracket a lot more than I’ll like the committee’s actual bracket. I’m not big at all on Virginia Tech. I think they are certainly within reach of the bubble, but a team I like more than them is a team that Stalica has two lines out and that’s Belmont.
-I’m also not a fan of NC State’s profile. I know they had a nice win this week against Clemson, so but they still just don’t look that good overall and have missed chance after chance after chance.
-I think Duke on the #1 line makes sense. They’ve been on my #1 line for a while now.
-I think Akron may win the auto-bid out of the MAC. They are good. Miami is unbeaten and in the rankings and therefore in the spotlight, but they didn’t beat Akron by much. It was a close win at home and it’s Akron’s only MAC loss. Akron also blew out Buffalo at Buffalo, whereas Miami OH faced them at home and needed a miracle at the end of regulation just to get the game to overtime. The profile, and the ranking, and the unbeaten part of it makes sense. You have to select Miami ahead of Akron…but Akron is good! I think they’re better on the court than Stalica’s entire First Four (minus maybe UCLA who seems to be kicking it into gear). I think Belmont is as well!!
PUPPET’S AWARDED GRADE: B+. Not bad!!
COMMENTS FROM CHAD: