COMMENTS FROM DAVID DORMAN
-The calendar has turned to February and the bracket is starting to take shape. Most teams are in their final quarter of chances to improve their resume.
-Last week I had Gonzaga in the last spot on the 3 line, the loss to Portland made them my top team on the five line this week. The Zags still have opportunities to move back up a seed line or two with road games at Santa Clara, St. Mary’s and San Francisco. A 3 seed is definitely still in play for the Zags if they can win those 3 road games and win the WCC Tourney, which will be their final time playing in the West Coast Conference Tournament. I believe Gonzaga will want to leave the conference on a high note and win the tournament one last time.
-Santa Clara snuck in as my last team in which I believe my colleagues might have a problem with but I love the way Coach Sendek has this team playing this year. The Broncos could really help their cause with a home win against Gonzaga or a road win at St. Mary’s.
-Teams that just missed my bracket this week:
Texas
Ohio State
Virginia Tech
San Diego State
-Fortunately for this group of 4, they will have plenty of opportunities this month to get themselves back into my bracket.
-The Billikens almost landed on my 4 seed line but ended up as my top 5 seed. If this St. Louis team keeps playing this well a top 4 protected seed is attainable. The computers love this team and so do i. Coach Josh Schertz has his team playing at an extremely high level in the A-10.
-Teams in under the radar conferences that I believe we will hear from before the year is over:
UNC-Wilmington
Hawaii
Belmont
Tulsa
Liberty
-We have a fantastic slate of games this weekend that will keep my bracket moving around daily.
COMMENTS FROM THE STAFF …
From Chad:
- We have been doing this format where one staff members posts their bracket and the rest of us try to tip it apart for years now. I have to honestly say that Dorman’s bracket this week is as close to where I would have the field as I have ever seen in all that time. I beleive that he is withing 2 seed lines of being correct on pretty much every single team he selected.
- I would not have had Miami(FL) in as of today, but it is a close call. I personally would give the edge to one of two SEC teams: Texas or Missouri. I do not want Texas in the field because their volume of losses is so high, but it is hard to overlook the Quad 1 wins on their profile. The Miami Hurricanes have not beaten a single team that is at-large worthy, and that is a huge stroke atgainst them. The good news is that they certainly have chances ahead to makeup for that hole in their resume.
- I wish I had more I could tear into here, and I guess I could argue that Saint Louis and Michigan State may be slightly overseeded, but it is splittnig hairs at this point in the season. In all, I give Dorman a solid A+ for this bracket! Great work!
From David Griggs:
-I think Dorman, and the rest of the planet, is undervaluing Texas A&M by about three lines. I know their schedule is backloaded, but they are still atop the SEC standings and barely lost at Alabama in their last game, which is one of the toughest remaining games on their schedule. I believe in Bucky Ball!!
-I still think Belmont belongs inside the bubble!!
From Stalica:
-I’m starting to believe that Michigan State may also start to be fading a bit from protected seed status. While they still have neutral court wins against North Carolina and Kentucky to prop up their profile, they were getting the benefit of the doubt for high quality losses to teams like Duke, Nebraska and Michigan. Losing at Minnesota suddenly adds a hole to their profile that probably screams 4 seed right about now.
-Gonzaga had a similar profile going into Thursday night with neutral court wins against Alabama and Kentucky; even the blowout loss against Michigan could be countered by their blowout win against UK down in Nashville. While the loss at Portland is even uglier than the one against Minnesota by Sparty, I wouldn’t have supported knocking them down below a protected seed.
-As for SLU being a five, I think the question there is whether or not that’s the Billikens’ ceiling or where that’s where they should be seeded right now. If you were to ask me right now, a 6 or 7 is more appropriate, but if they were to win out then you could make the case they’d be a 5 or even a 4.
-We also touched on this during last week’s Bracket Rundown; Saint Mary’s isn’t as safe as we thought they were a couple of weeks ago. I’d also agree that Santa Clara can crack the field as long as they don’t do anything stupid in the WCC play, but they really need to pick up at least one more win against either Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s.
-I’d give Dorman a B+ for the bracket; there were a few outliers compared to where our aggregate committee has been seeding teams of late. I give Griggs an F for throwing spitballs at the whole class while giving us slop on Texas A&M and Belmont.
