Monday, January 5, 2009

Bracket Watch season premiere

Welcome to the 2nd season of Howard Salwasser's Bracket Watch. Hope you're ready for the exictement of Bracketology Season, because it should be fun. Before releasing the first projection(as of Sunday night's games), here is a reminder of how we roll at HSBW.
First, all teams that are deemed Automatic qualifiers-The Conference they represent are listed in parenthesis-are those teams that...
A: Have the best record in the conference either through head to head or games played or
B: If there teams tied at the top and they haven't met in the season, the best RPI rank after the most recent league game played. Starting this year, due to the fact Ken Pomeroy no longer does RPI info on his site anymore, I'll use the RPI data found at Rivals.com.
Second, the at-large teams are chosen as if it's a consensus of the committee on Selection Sunday.

Now that we have that out of the way, here's the first projection of the season:

Final Four Pairings:
East(1) vs. West(4)
Midwest(2) vs. South(3)

East Region(TD Banknorth Garden, Boston)

@UD Arena; Dayton, OH
1-Pittsburgh(Big East) vs. 16-Opening Round Winner
Opening Round: 64-Western Illinois(Summit) vs. 65-Arkansas-Pine Bluff(Southwestern)
8-Arkansas vs. 9-Maryland
@Rose Garden Arena; Portland
4-Wisconsin vs. 13-Boise State(Western Athletic)
5-Memphis(Conference USA) vs. 12-Western Kentucky(Sun Belt)
@American Airlines Arena; Miami
2-Wake Forest vs. 15-East Tennessee State(Atlantic Sun)
7-California(Pacific-10) vs. 10-Kansas
@Dayton
3-Xavier(Atlantic 10) vs. 14-American(Patriot League)
6-Notre Dame vs. 11-Ohio State

West Region(University of Phoenix Arena; Glendale, AZ)

@Wachovia Center; Philadelphia
1-Georgetown vs. 16-Morgan State(Mid-Eastern)
8-Brigham Young vs. 9-Davidson(Southern)
@Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome; Minneapolis
4-Illinois vs. 13-Stephen F. Austin(Southland)
5-Butler vs. 12-George Mason(Colonial)
@Sprint Center; Kansas City
2-Oklahoma(Big 12) vs. 15-Binghamton(America East)
7-Marquette vs. 10-St. Mary's(West Coast)
@Miami
3-Clemson vs. 14-Miami(OH)(Mid-American)
6-Illinois State(Missouri Valley) vs. 11-Stanford

Midwest Region(Lucas Oil Stadium; Indianapolis)

@Greensboro Coliseum; Greensboro, NC
1-North Carolina vs. 16-Robert Morris(Northeast)
8-Missouri vs. 9-Florida
@Taco Bell Arena; Boise, ID
4-West Virginia vs. 13-Milwaukee(Horizon)
5-Michigan vs. 12-Siena(Metro Atlantic)
@Minneapolis
2-Michigan State(Big Ten) vs. 15-Morehead State(Ohio Valley)
7-Texas A&M vs. 10-Nevada-Las Vegas
@Portland
3-Syracuse vs. 14-Virginia Military(Big South)
6-Arizona State vs. 11-Boston College

South Region(FedEx Forum; Memphis)

@Greensboro
1-Duke(Atlantic Coast) vs. 16-Long Beach State(Big West)
8-Minnesota vs. 9-Gonzaga
@Boise
4-Tennessee(Southeastern) vs. 13-Utah(Mountain West)
5-UCLA vs. 12-Louisville
@Philadelphia
2-Connecticut vs. 15-Cornell(Ivy League)
7-Purdue vs. 10-Miami(FL)
@Kansas City
3-Texas vs. 14-Portland State(Big Sky)
6-Dayton vs. 11-Villanova

Last four in the field: Villanova, Stanford, Louisville, Ohio State
First four left out: Baylor, St. John's, Washington, Utah State
Next four left out: Cleveland State, Arizona, Louisiana State, Southern California
Also on the board: Florida State, Virginia Tech, Rhode Island, Providence, Penn State, Northwestern, Texas Tech, Virginia Commonwealth, Northeastern, UAB, Houston, Wright State, Buffalo, Creighton, Evansville, Kentucky, Alabama, College of Charleston, Middle Tennessee State

The next projection is slated for next Monday.

No comments:

Post a Comment