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For our Selection Committee Guessing Expert Jon Teitel’s current bracket prediction, CLICK HERE.

Below is Chad’s Bracket Prediction through games of Sunday, January 5.  Unlike Mr. Teitel’s expert predictions of the actual committee, this is what we feel the bracket should be based on all results to date.  It is followed by Chad’s notes on the bracket and potential responses from the rest of the staff here at HoopsHD.

CHAD’S NOTES

– I believe this is the earliest I have done a non-preseason bracket in ages, and I really felt that the lack of volume of information on some teams made it very difficult to pick a field.  I will not be publishing a personal bracket for three more weeks, and know I will feel a lot better about my prediction then than I do today.

– I did enjoy seeing teams from the west coast generally filling out the West Region and taking the spots in Spokane and Sacramento.  It seems to have been years since we had this volume of quality teams out west, with 5 Pac-12 teams, 3 WCC teams, and a very strong San Diego State team all in the field, and three of them on the top three seed lines.

– Speaking of 5 Pac-12 teams, that is the same number of teams I had in from the ACC, SEC and Big 12.  I really think the Pac-12 did enough non-conference that they should be on par in number of bids as the other power conferences.  In fact, they could beat a few of them out as my top two teams out were Utah and Washington.  The ACC on the other hand is starting to look like it may have one of its smallest group of tournament entrants in a long time, especially with the train wreck that has been going on in Chapel Hill.

– The two most dominant conferences were the Big 10 with 10 teams (that’s the entire conference right?) and the Big East with 8.  An 11th Big Ten team (Illinois) and a 9th Big East team (Georgetown) also got serious looks.

– My top 4 teams out, in order, were Utah, Washington, Oklahoma State, and LSU.  My next 4 out were Houston, Georgetown, Illinois and Miami.  I also considered Pittsburgh, East Tennessee State, Richmond and UNC-Greensboro.

– Sunday’s results were factored in here.  I know USC lost bad at Washington, but I don’t knock them too bad for that loss, and still like their overall profile.  Washington, on the other hand, still has huge holes on the quality win side of their resume and just missed making my field.  I also that know Purdue got destroyed at Illinois, and with an overall record of only 9-6 now, I dinged the Boilermakers hard, having them barely in the field on the 11 line.

– Finally, I did something in this bracket that I have never done in my life before.  Rutgers has not seriously been in bracket talk since before I attended school there — so for the first time in my recollection, I have placed by alma mater in a bracket projection.  Unfortunately, given the gauntlet that the Big 10 will be this season, I am only writing their name in pencil.

STAFF COMMENTS

COMMENTS FROM JOHN

-There can be no doubt that San Diego State has had their best season since Steve Fisher retired as head coach. They have yet to lose a game all season, and already got their hardest conference win out of the way with a decisive win at Utah State. That said, it’s going to be difficult for them to remain higher at least relative to Auburn – the Tigers will have more opportunities and a little more room for error if and when they are knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten.

-Memphis had been a team that the Puppet and I had been high on earlier this year, but losing at home to Georgia was bound to penalize the Tigers at some point. I didn’t think it would be this steep of a drop, although it hasn’t helped that their biggest win so far this year (at Tennessee) is fading more and more by the day. Likewise, I do think Wichita State has been the most consistent team in the American, although I wouldn’t think of them as a protected seed just yet.

-Wisconsin is another team that’s risen sharply the past couple of weeks – they went from a homecourt hero that hadn’t done jack away from home to a team that won at Tennessee (who hasn’t?) and a team that won at Ohio State against a team that had been ranked as high as #2 overall. Also keep in mind that this was a conference where the home team won the first thirteen OVERALL games in conference play.

-Normally I would ask why teams like Liberty and Stephen F. Austin are above the First Four right now, but I suppose it’s not completely unfair when those teams are VCU, DePaul, Oklahoma and NC State. I would ask what VCU has done to even get in this field at all when Utah and Washington aren’t in the field, period.

COMMENTS FROM DAVID

-Chad has Stephen F Austin on the #11 line.  I think that’s about where the committee will have them because the committee just has a hard time valuing a team like them.  SFA has just two losses, one is to Rutgers who is unbeaten at home, another is to Alabama who has just one loss at home AND who has been playing really well in the last few weeks.  Oh yeah, they also have a win at Duke, who is his overall #1 team.  This SFA team is a team that, quite frankly, should be valued more not just by Chad, but by everyone.  I don’t know how you win at Duke, and then are suddenly forgotten about after losing just one game to a team that is playing like a solid tournament team right now (Alabama), but that’s kind of what’s happened.

-Saint John’s on the #12 line seems a little low.  I’m mean, they did beat West Virginia and Arizona.

-And lastly, Chad is just wrong a lot.  I mean…I really don’t have time to get to everything!