We are only 1 day away from Selection Sunday as we continue to make our NCAA tourney predictions. Last March HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel correctly picked 65 of the 68 teams that made the tourney, each of which was within 1 spot of their actual seed, including 37 right on the money. He will send out a final update tomorrow predicting which 68 teams will hear their names called on Selection Sunday. See below for his list of who would make the cut if they picked the field today and let us know if you agree or disagree in the comments section. To see how we stack up with other websites (ranked 3rd out of 88 entries over the past 3 years), check out: www.bracketmatrix.com
SEED: TEAM (CONFERENCE)
1: Villanova (Big East)
1: Kansas (Big 12)
1: North Carolina (ACC)
1: Gonzaga (WCC): AUTO-BID
16: North Dakota (Big Sky)
16: South Dakota State (Summit): AUTO-BID
16: Jacksonville State (OVC): AUTO-BID
16: NC Central (MEAC)
16: New Orleans (Southland)
16: Mount St. Mary’s (NEC): AUTO-BID
It was another very busy and exciting day as we saw two great games in the Big East, a quadruple overtime game in the WAC, a big win by Vanderbilt over Florida, a comeback win by Duke as they knocked off rival North Carolina, a big upset in the Atlantic Ten as Davidson knocked off Dayton, and much much more. We review all of the action, as well as preview all of tomorrow’s games, which include 14 conference championships.
SATURDAY’S CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK ACTION
ACC Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals) Location: Brooklyn, NY
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
9:00 PM – (3) Notre Dame vs (5) Duke, ESPN
PAC-12 Format: Standard Location: Las Vegas, NV
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
11:00 PM – (1) Oregon vs (2) Arizona, ESPN
BIG 12 Format: Standard Location: Kansas City, MO
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
6:00 PM – (2) West Virginia vs (4) Iowa State, ESPN
BIG EAST Format: Standard Location: New York City
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
5:30 PM – (1) Villanova vs (6) Creighton, FOX
MID-AMERICAN Format: Standard Location: Campus sites (first round); Cleveland, OH (second round through championship)
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
7:30 PM – (1) Akron vs (6) Kent State, ESPN2
MOUNTAIN WEST Format: Standard Location: Las Vegas, NV
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
6:00 PM – (1) Nevada vs (2) Colorado State, CBS
CONFERENCE USA Format: Standard Location: Birmingham, AL
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
8:30 PM – (1) Middle Tennessee vs (6) Marshall, CBS Sports Network
AMERICA EAST Format: Standard with Re-Seed for semifinals Location: Campus site of higher seeded team
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
11:00 AM – (3) Albany at (1) Vermont, ESPN2
BIG WEST Format: Standard with Re-seed for Semifinals Location: Anaheim, CA
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
11:30 PM – (1) UC-Irvine vs (2) UC-Davis, ESPN2
WAC Format: Standard Location: Las Vegas, NV
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
11:00 PM – (1) Cal State-Bakersfield vs (2) New Mexico State, ESPNU
BIG SKY Format: Standard Location: Reno, NV
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
8:30 PM – (1) North Dakota vs (3) Weber State, ESPNU
SOUTHLAND Format: Ladder (top two seeds bye into semifinals) Location: Katy, TX
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
9:30 PM – (1) New Orleans vs (2) Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, ESPN2
MEAC Format: Standard Location: Norfolk, VA
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
1:00 PM – (1) North Carolina Central vs (2) Norfolk State, ESPN2
SWAC Format: Standard Location: Campus Sites (Quarterfinals); Houston, TX (Semifinals and Championship) Note: Alcorn State is ineligible for the automatic bid due to an APR postseason ban but will be allowed to participate in the SWAC tournament. If Alcorn State wins the tournament, the team they defeat in the championship game will receive the automatic bid. Only the top 8 of the 10 SWAC teams qualify for the conference tournament.
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
6:15 PM – (1) Texas Southern vs (2) Alcorn State, ESPNU
BIG TEN Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals) Location: Washington, DC
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
1:00 PM – (4) Minnesota vs (8) Michigan, CBS
3:30 PM – (2) Wisconsin vs (6) Northwestern, CBS
SEC Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals) Location: Nashville, TN
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
1:00 PM – (1) Kentucky vs (5) Alabama, ESPN
3:30 PM – (3) Arkansas vs (7) Vanderbilt, ESPN
AMERICAN Format: Standard Location: Hartford, CT
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
3:00 PM – (1) SMU vs (4) UCF, ESPN2
5:30 PM – (2) Cincinnati vs (6) Connecticut, ESPN2
ATLANTIC TEN Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals) Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
1:00 PM – (4) Rhode Island vs (9) Davidson, CBS Sports Network
3:30 PM – (2) VCU vs (3) Richmond, CBS Sports Network
SUN BELT Format: Standard Location: New Orleans, LA
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
12:30 PM – (1) Texas-Arlington vs (4) Texas State, espn3
3:00 PM – (2) Georgia State vs (6) Troy, espn3
IVY LEAGUE Format: Standard Location: Philadelphia, PA Note: Only the top 4 of the Ivy League’s 8 teams qualify for the conference tournament.
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
1:30 PM – (1) Princeton vs (4) Pennsylvania, ESPNU
4:00 PM- (2) Harvard vs (3) Yale, ESPNU
And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show…
For Jon Teitel’s recap of Day 2 of the Big Ten Tournament – CLICK HERE
For Jon Teitel’s latest Bracket Projection – CLICK HERE
For Warren Nolan’s RPI and Statistical Analysis – CLICK HERE
For Andy Bottoms’ award-winning Bracketology – CLICK HERE
For Galen Clavio – CLICK HERE for his Bracket Projection with CrimsonCast and CLICK HERE for his SportPolitik podcasts
For the latest Buffet from Scott Schwartz – CLICK HERE
Friday marked the 2nd night of the Hoops HD Selection Committee meetings – tonight was largely devoted to two major tasks: building the top 8 seed lines and also adding 4 more at-large teams to the field. 3 more spots opened up tonight thanks to results in the Big 10, Big 12 and Pac 12 conferences.
However, since those results came in later in the night, our first order of business was to discuss the teams that would be on the top seed lines. While the NCAA Selection Committee usually goes one seed line at a time (requiring votes to add 8 teams at a time and rank them 1 through 8), our committee went 2 seed lines at a time which required votes to add 12 teams and rank them 1 through 12. After the first 2 lines were seeded and ranked, there would be 4 carryover teams and individual members would then add 8 further teams to discuss and rank. We repeated the process 2 more times until we had the top 6 seed lines established.
It was at this point that we discussed which teams should be selected for the next 4 at-large spots that were guaranteed to open up. Those four teams were Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Providence and VCU. Middle Tennessee was considered as an at-large, but they did not make it in during this round of balloting. If they beat Marshall tomorrow, it will be a moot point since they will be an automatic-bid winner. If they lose to Marshall, then they are still under consideration (for now) along with 11 other teams on the board. It is possible for 3 more spots to open up from the SEC, American and Atlantic 10 conferences. However, since Dayton lost today, we will have a contingency A-10 team (either Rhode Island or Davidson) on our Master Seed List tomorrow night along with teams from the Ivy and Sun Belt conferences that play their championships on Sunday. If Kentucky loses to Alabama and either SMU or Cincinnati lose tomorrow, we will also consider contingency teams like Alabama, UConn and Central Florida as well. If VCU loses tomorrow and both SMU and Cincy lose in the American, we will have bid thieves out of those 2 conferences.
Our last order of business tonight was building the 7th and 8th seed lines in the Master Seed List. You can see the complete board below:
Tomorrow night, we will add the remaining at-large sports that open up (if any), plan for any contingencies and seed the remaining teams into the Master Seed List. We will also do an initial scrub of the seed list based on results from tomorrow’s conference championship games.
HoopsHD is always hovering around the edge of legitimacy (see Puppet, The), but thanks to the good folks at the Big 10 we are kicking it up a notch this week with a media credential to the Big 10 Tourney in DC. From his prime perch in the 2nd row Jon Teitel will be bringing you daily updates of all the action from the Verizon Center via a series of photo essays. Day 2 saw a quartet of games without any of the top-4 seeds, plus a scheduling conflict with the all-important Arizona-Colorado Pac-12 quarterfinal on TV, so the only report from Thursday is #7-seed Iowa vs. #10-seed Indiana.
Bad news: twice as many games today = twice as many reporters = I got pushed all the way down past the baseline:
Good news: MUCH better view of Molly McGrath:
The Hawkeyes were out in full force with their mascot/band:
With both teams squarely on the bubble it certainly had the feel of a play-in game, and the intensity both on the court and in the stands was noticeably greater than the previous day. Iowa was able to keep it close for the 1st 20 minutes and only trailed by 3 at the half despite leading scorer Peter Jok not even scoring a single point for the 1st 15 minutes of the game. FR PG Jordan Bohannon was the hero for Iowa with his 1st career double-double: 24 PTS, 10 AST, and 6-11 from behind the arc. However, Indiana’s offense was outstanding in the 2nd half, scoring 52 PTS in the 2nd stanza en route to a 95-73 win that was not as close as the score indicated. The Hoosiers shot almost 68% from the field in the 2nd half and shot 60.3 FG% for the entire game, so even a double-double off the bench from Iowa FR PF Cordell Pemsl was not enough to stem the tide.
At the postgame press conference I asked Iowa coach (and Penn alum!) Fran McCaffery if he thought that Bohannon was going to end up rewriting the school record book after such a fantastic rookie season, and he said that his PG has already begun to do so:
When you see Coach standing in the hallway you can see that he is even taller in person:
I also asked Indiana coach Tom Crean about his feisty fist-pump with 5 minutes left as he watched his players diving for loose balls even while they had a 25-PT lead, and he said that toughness is a skill just like everything else a basketball player can do:
I did not stick around for Rutgers-Northwestern, which turned out to be a wise move as the Wildcats did their best Indiana impression by winning a Big 10 game by 22. The highlight of the night was watching my own Wildcats beat Colorado, but the over-under on how late I can stay up to watch their Pac-12 semifinal contest with UCLA on Friday is midnight. Check back tomorrow for my Day 3 photo essay about all 4 quarterfinal games!
We are only 2 days away from Selection Sunday as we continue to make our NCAA tourney predictions. Last March HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel correctly picked 65 of the 68 teams that made the tourney, each of which was within 1 spot of their actual seed, including 37 right on the money. He will spend the upcoming days predicting which 68 teams will hear their names called on Selection Sunday. See below for his list of who would make the cut if they picked the field today and let us know if you agree or disagree in the comments section. To see how we stack up with other websites (ranked 3rd out of 88 entries over the past 3 years), check out: www.bracketmatrix.com
SEED: TEAM (CONFERENCE)
1: Villanova (Big East)
1: Kansas (Big 12)
1: North Carolina (ACC)
1: Gonzaga (WCC): AUTO-BID
16: North Dakota (Big Sky)
16: Jacksonville State (OVC): AUTO-BID
16: South Dakota State (Summit): AUTO-BID
16: NC Central (MEAC)
16: New Orleans (Southland)
16: Mount St. Mary’s (NEC): AUTO-BID
Posted inBracketology|Comments Off on Bracketology 2017: March Madness Predictions (Version 10.5)
Thursday of Championship Week. It’s the busiest day in all of March. We review all of the action as 50 teams were eliminated from our Survival Board. Highlights include Xavier’s big win against Butler which should put them safely inside the bubble, TCU’s surprising upset over Kansas, a huge quarterfinal day in the ACC, and much much much more.
Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals) Location: Brooklyn, NY
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
7:00 PM – (1) North Carolina vs (5) Duke, ESPN
9:30 PM – (2) Florida State vs (3) Notre Dame, ESPN
BIG 12 Format: Standard Location: Kansas City, MO
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
7:00 PM – (4) Iowa State vs (8) TCU, ESPN2
9:30 PM – (2) West Virginia vs (6) Kansas State, ESPN2
BIG EAST Format: Standard Location: New York City
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
6:30 PM – (1) Villanova vs (5) Seton Hall, FS1
9:00 PM – (6) Creighton vs (7) Xavier, FS1
PAC-12 Format: Standard Location: Las Vegas, NV
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
9:00 PM – (1) Oregon vs (5) California, Pac-12 Network
11:30 PM – (2) Arizona vs (3) UCLA, ESPN
MOUNTAIN WEST Format: Standard Location: Las Vegas, NV
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
10:00 PM – (1) Nevada vs (4) Fresno State, CBS Sports Network
12:30 AM – (2) Colorado State vs (6) San Diego State, CBS Sports Network
CONFERENCE USA Format: Standard Location: Birmingham, AL
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
12:30 PM – (1) Middle Tennessee vs (4) UTEP, CBS Sports Network
3:00 PM – (2) Louisiana Tech vs (6) Marshall, CBS Sports Network
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
MID-AMERICAN Format: Standard Location: Campus sites (first round); Cleveland, OH (second round through championship)
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
5:30 PM – (1) Akron vs (4) Ball State, CBS Sports Network
8:00 PM – (2) Ohio University vs (6) Kent State, CBS Sports Network
WAC Format: Standard Location: Las Vegas, NV
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
9:00 PM – (1) Cal State-Bakersfield vs (4) Utah Valley, espn3
11:30 PM – (2) New Mexico State vs (3) UMKC, espn3
BIG SKY Format: Standard Location: Reno, NV
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
8:30 PM – (1) North Dakota vs (4) Idaho, watchbigsky.com
11:00 PM – (2) Eastern Washington vs (3) Weber State, watchbigsky.com
SOUTHLAND Format: Ladder (top two seeds bye into semifinals) Location: Katy, TX
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
6:00 PM – (1) New Orleans vs (5) Sam Houston State, espn3
8:30 PM – (2) Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs (3) Stephen F. Austin, espn3
BIG WEST Format: Standard with Re-seed for Semifinals Location: Anaheim, CA
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
9:30 PM – (1) UC-Irvine vs (4) Long Beach State, espn3
12:00 AM – (2) UC-Davis vs (3) Cal State-Fullerton, ESPNU
MEAC Format: Standard Location: Norfolk, VA
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
6:00 PM – (1) North Carolina Central vs (5) Maryland-Eastern Shore, espn3
8:30 PM – (2) Norfolk State vs (11) Howard, espn3
SWAC Format: Standard Location: Campus Sites (Quarterfinals); Houston, TX (Semifinals and Championship)
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
3:30 PM – (1) Texas Southern vs (5) Grambling State, TBA
9:30 PM – (2) Alcorn State vs (3) Southern, TBA
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
BIG TEN Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals) Location: Washington, DC
Friday, March 10 – Quarterfinals
12:00 PM – (1) Purdue vs (8) Michigan, ESPN
2:30 PM – (4) Minnesota vs (5) Michigan State, ESPN
6:30 PM – (2) Wisconsin vs (10) Indiana, BTN
9:00 PM – (3) Maryland vs (6) Northwestern, BTN
SEC Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals) Location: Nashville, TN
Friday, March 10 – Quarterfinals
1:00 PM – (1) Kentucky vs (8) Georgia, SEC Network
3:30 PM – (4) South Carolina vs (5) Alabama, SEC Network
7:00 PM – (2) Florida vs (7) Vanderbilt, SEC Network
9:30 PM – (3) Arkansas vs (6) Ole Miss, SEC Network
ATLANTIC TEN Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals) Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Friday, March 10 – Quarterfinals
12:00 PM – (1) Dayton vs (9) Davidson, NBC Sports Network
2:30 PM – (4) Rhode Island vs (5) St. Bonaventure, NBC Sports Network
6:30 PM – (2) VCU vs (7) George Mason, NBC Sports Network
9:00 PM – (3) Richmond vs (6) George Washington, NBC Sports Network
AMERICAN Format: Standard Location: Hartford, CT
Friday, March 10 – Quarterfinals
12:00 PM – (1) SMU vs (9) East Carolina, ESPN2
2:30 PM – (4) UCF vs (5) Memphis, ESPN2
7:00 PM – (2) Cincinnati vs (7) Tulsa, ESPNU
9:30 PM – (3) Houston vs (6) Connecticut, ESPNU
SUN BELT Format: Standard Location: New Orleans, LA
Friday, March 10 – Quarterfinals
12:30 PM – (1) Texas-Arlington vs (8) Coastal Carolina, espn3
3:00 PM – (4) Texas State vs (12) Louisiana-Monroe, espn3
6:00 PM – (2) Georgia State vs (7) Louisiana-Lafayette, espn3
8:30 PM – (3) Georgia Southern vs (6) Troy, espn3
And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show…
Championship Week Video Notebook: Day 12
WELCOME SELECTION COMMITTEE MEMBERS!! It’s the day before Selection Sunday!! We are here to tell you what to do so you don’t get it wrong!! CLICK HERE to view our Survival Board
For John Stalica’s Hoops HD Committee Report – CLICK HERE
It was another very busy and exciting day as we saw two great games in the Big East, a quadruple overtime game in the WAC, a big win by Vanderbilt over Florida, a comeback win by Duke as they knocked off rival North Carolina, a big upset in the Atlantic Ten as Davidson knocked off Dayton, and much much more. We review all of the action, as well as preview all of tomorrow’s games, which include 14 conference championships.
SATURDAY’S CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK ACTION
ACC
Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals)
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
9:00 PM – (3) Notre Dame vs (5) Duke, ESPN
PAC-12
Format: Standard
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
11:00 PM – (1) Oregon vs (2) Arizona, ESPN
BIG 12
Format: Standard
Location: Kansas City, MO
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
6:00 PM – (2) West Virginia vs (4) Iowa State, ESPN
BIG EAST
Format: Standard
Location: New York City
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
5:30 PM – (1) Villanova vs (6) Creighton, FOX
MID-AMERICAN
Format: Standard
Location: Campus sites (first round); Cleveland, OH (second round through championship)
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
7:30 PM – (1) Akron vs (6) Kent State, ESPN2
MOUNTAIN WEST
Format: Standard
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
6:00 PM – (1) Nevada vs (2) Colorado State, CBS
CONFERENCE USA
Format: Standard
Location: Birmingham, AL
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
8:30 PM – (1) Middle Tennessee vs (6) Marshall, CBS Sports Network
AMERICA EAST
Format: Standard with Re-Seed for semifinals
Location: Campus site of higher seeded team
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
11:00 AM – (3) Albany at (1) Vermont, ESPN2
BIG WEST
Format: Standard with Re-seed for Semifinals
Location: Anaheim, CA
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
11:30 PM – (1) UC-Irvine vs (2) UC-Davis, ESPN2
WAC
Format: Standard
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
11:00 PM – (1) Cal State-Bakersfield vs (2) New Mexico State, ESPNU
BIG SKY
Format: Standard
Location: Reno, NV
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
8:30 PM – (1) North Dakota vs (3) Weber State, ESPNU
SOUTHLAND
Format: Ladder (top two seeds bye into semifinals)
Location: Katy, TX
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
9:30 PM – (1) New Orleans vs (2) Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, ESPN2
MEAC
Format: Standard
Location: Norfolk, VA
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
1:00 PM – (1) North Carolina Central vs (2) Norfolk State, ESPN2
SWAC
Format: Standard
Location: Campus Sites (Quarterfinals); Houston, TX (Semifinals and Championship)
Note: Alcorn State is ineligible for the automatic bid due to an APR postseason ban but will be allowed to participate in the SWAC tournament. If Alcorn State wins the tournament, the team they defeat in the championship game will receive the automatic bid. Only the top 8 of the 10 SWAC teams qualify for the conference tournament.
Saturday, March 11 – Championship
6:15 PM – (1) Texas Southern vs (2) Alcorn State, ESPNU
BIG TEN
Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals)
Location: Washington, DC
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
1:00 PM – (4) Minnesota vs (8) Michigan, CBS
3:30 PM – (2) Wisconsin vs (6) Northwestern, CBS
SEC
Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals)
Location: Nashville, TN
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
1:00 PM – (1) Kentucky vs (5) Alabama, ESPN
3:30 PM – (3) Arkansas vs (7) Vanderbilt, ESPN
AMERICAN
Format: Standard
Location: Hartford, CT
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
3:00 PM – (1) SMU vs (4) UCF, ESPN2
5:30 PM – (2) Cincinnati vs (6) Connecticut, ESPN2
ATLANTIC TEN
Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals)
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
1:00 PM – (4) Rhode Island vs (9) Davidson, CBS Sports Network
3:30 PM – (2) VCU vs (3) Richmond, CBS Sports Network
SUN BELT
Format: Standard
Location: New Orleans, LA
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
12:30 PM – (1) Texas-Arlington vs (4) Texas State, espn3
3:00 PM – (2) Georgia State vs (6) Troy, espn3
IVY LEAGUE
Format: Standard
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Note: Only the top 4 of the Ivy League’s 8 teams qualify for the conference tournament.
Saturday, March 11 – Semifinals
1:30 PM – (1) Princeton vs (4) Pennsylvania, ESPNU
4:00 PM- (2) Harvard vs (3) Yale, ESPNU
And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show…