Bracketology sponsored by MSUCostanza & as requested by PineGroveBully

[Maroon Eagle]

I normally post my first prediction sometime in February but things have been hectic. Here's what I think at the moment.

x - conference leader

1-seed
x1 Kansas
x3 Syracuse
x4 Kentucky
x2 Duke

2-seed
5 Kansas State
6 West Virginia
8 Villanova
9 Pittsburgh

3-seed
x7 New Mexico
12 Xavier
15 Tennessee
16 Vanderbilt

4-seed
x19 Temple
10 Purdue
18 Wisconsin
11 Baylor

5-seed
x21 California
23 BYU
22 Michigan State
x17 Butler

6-seed
14 Texas A&M
x30 Gonzaga
25 Maryland
13 Georgetown

7-seed
24 Texas
x20 Northern Iowa
26 Oklahoma State
27 Clemson

8-seed
28 Richmond
x31 Ohio State
29 Wake Forest
32 Louisville

9-seed
x34 Utah State
33 Georgia Tech
36 Missouri
x50 UTEP

10-seed
x38 Old Dominion
x40 Siena
35 UAB
49 Marquette

11-seed
42 Florida State
46 Florida
44 Connecticut
43 UNLV

12-seed
x47 Cornell
x48 Kent State
39 San Diego State
54 Arizona State

13-seed
52 Virginia Tech
56 Mississippi State
37 Rhode Island
x61 Oakland

14-seed
x69 Murray State
x74 Sam Houston State
x78 Wofford
x79 Weber State

15-seed
x105 UC Santa Barbara
x107 Morgan State
x120 Troy
x121 Coastal Carolina

16-seed
x131 Stony Brook
x143 Quinnipiac
x169 Lehigh
Play-in
x196 Lipscomb
x216 Jackson State

Last Five In: San Diego State, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, Mississippi State, and Rhode Island.
Since there are five at-large teams in seeds 12 & 13, I went with Last Five In. San Diego State is fourth in a strong MWC. Arizona State is second place in the Pac-10, Virginia Tech is tied for 3rd in the ACC, MSU is tied for 3rd conference record wise in the SEC, and Rhode Island is mid-pack in the A-10 but have a top 40 RPI.

Last Five Out: St. Mary's, Dayton, Wichita State, Washington, and Mississippi.
St. Mary's is second in the West Coast. Dayton is tied with Rhode Island in the A-10. Wichita State is second in the MVC. Washington is 3rd in the Pac-10. Mississippi is playing .500 ball in the SEC and has beaten good nonconference competition.

 

[bill brasky.sixpack]

Tenn and Vandy 3 seeds, but Purdue a 4 seed, I dont think so.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

...I think Tennessee's wins over Kansas and Kentucky will get the Volunteers a lot of consideration, and Vanderbilt is second place in the SEC. Purdue's got an injured player (Hummel), and I downgraded them a seed because of that. If the Boilermakers make a good run at the end of the regular season they could move up.

 

[615dawg]

Purdue's seed will be the most criticized no matter what.

If they are a 1 or 2 seed, some will say that they aren't deserving without their injured star.
If they are a 3 or 4 seed, others will say that the committee made a big deal out of taking the season as a whole in account, then punished Purdue for an injury.

My guess is they end up as a 2 seed bracketed against the overall 1.

 

[OMlawdog]

They had a 1 seed resume, but since Martin got hurt I think in the Big East Tourney, the committee bumped them down to a 2 seed. I know Huggy Bear was not pleased.<div>
</div><div>If Purdue wins the big ten tourney, they could very easily get a 1 seed, depending on what other teams do.</div><div>
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[Maroon Eagle]

Purdue has two winnable games-- playing the two worst Big 10 conference teams and will likely finish with a 14-4 conference record.Part of the problem also is that I'm not that impressed with the Buckeyes (yes, they're in the Top 10 but they've lost to a poor UNC team, at Butler (actuallya good loss), at Minnesota, and at Michigan) who look to finish 14-4 as well and have the #1 seed tiebreak it appears. Granted though, I tend to pay attention to the RPI a little bit more than conference records.
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