Bracket Watch - Friday freak-out

Can anyone figure out the Pacific-10 conference? Or for that matter, the Sun Belt? There's a five-way orgy for the lead, and I have no interest in sorting it out. So I went for North Texas as the leader, as they have the highest RPI rank of the five. As for the Pac-10, anyone who still clings to the belief that it deserves at least two teams in the dance should give up such notions after Washington lost at home to Southern California and California fell to sad-sack Oregon State.

As always, these projections are done as if the season ended the night before.

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

Midwest region

@ Oklahoma City
1-Kansas(Big 12) vs. 16-Stony Brook(America East)
8-Xavier vs. 9-Louisville
@ New Orleans
4-Vanderbilt vs. 13-San Diego State
5-Wake Forest vs. 12-Uab
@ Milwaukee
2-Michigan State(Big Ten) vs. 15- UC Santa Barbara(Big West)
7-Northern Iowa(Missouri Valley) vs. 10-Utah State(Western Athletic)
@ Buffalo
3-Pittsburgh vs. 14-Northeastern(Colonial)
6-Missouri vs. 11-Dayton

West region

@ Milwaukee
1-Purdue vs. 16-Opening Round winner
Opening Round: Lehigh(Patriot) vs. Jackson State(Southwestern Athletic)
8-Old Dominion vs. 9-Clemson
@ San Jose
4- Georgetown vs. 13-Weber State(Big Sky)
5-Brigham Young vs. 12-Rhode Island
@ Jacksonville
2-Duke(Atlantic Coast) vs. 15-Morgan State(Mid-Eastern)
7-Richmond(Atlantic 10) vs. 10-St. Mary's
@ Providence
3-West Virginia vs. 14-Oakland(Summit)
6-Texas vs. 11-Cornell(Ivy)

East region

@ New Orleans
1-Kentucky(Southeastern) vs. 16-Belmont(Atlantic Sun)
8-Georgia Tech vs. 9-Illinois
@ Spokane
4-Temple vs. 13-Kent State(Mid-American)
5-Texas A&M vs. 12-Murray State(Ohio Valley)
@ Providence
2-Villanova vs. 15-Coastal Carolina(Big South)
7-Maryland vs. 10-Siena(Metro Atlantic)
@ San Jose
3-New Mexico(Mountain West) vs. 14-Sam Houston State(Southland)
6-Baylor vs. 11-Texas-El Paso(Conference USA)

South region

@ Buffalo
1-Syracuse(Big East) vs. 16-Robert Morris(Northeast)
8-Virginia Tech vs. 9-Oklahoma State
@ Spokane
4-Wisconsin vs. 13-Florida
5-Butler(Horizon) vs. 12-Nevada-Las Vegas
@ Oklahoma City
2-Kansas State vs. 15-North Texas(Sun Belt)
7-Gonzaga(West Coast) vs. 10-Florida State
@ Jacksonville
3-Tennessee vs. 14-College of Charleston(Southern)
6-Ohio State vs. California(Pacific-10)

Procedural moves up: Old Dominion(up 1), St. Mary's(up 1), Murray State(up 1), Butler(up 1)
Procedural moves down: Dayton(down 1), Illinois(down 1), Florida(down 1), Ohio State(down 1)

Last four in the field: Uab, Rhode Island, Florida, San Diego State
First four left out: Mississippi, William & Mary, South Florida, Charlotte
Next four left out: Seton Hall, Marquette, Mississippi State, Cincinnati
Also under consideration: Virginia, Saint Louis, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Texas Tech, Memphis, Tulsa, Arizona State, Washington, South Carolina

New to the field: San Diego State, Florida, North Texas, St. Mary's
Out of the field: Charlotte, Marquette, Mississippi, Middle Tennessee

Week 2 of the Woody Woodpecker Game

Time to play another game of picking out blind resumes of NCAA tournament hopefuls. Information comes from rivals.yahoo.com and is through Tuesday night's games.

Team A
RPI Rank: 44
Division I Record: 21-5
Strength of Schedule rank: 106
Record vs. RPI top 50: 2-3
Record vs. 51-100 in RPI: 3-2
Record vs. 101-150 in RPI: 2-0
Record vs. 151-347 in RPI: 13-0
Conference Record: 8-3

Team B
RPI Rank: 52
Division I Record: 17-8
Strength of Schedule rank: 41
Record vs. RPI top 50: 2-3
Record vs. 51-100 in RPI: 4-3
Record vs. 101-150 in RPI: 4-1
Record vs. 151-347 in RPI: 7-1
Conference Record: 7-6

Hint: Both teams are in western conferences. I'll leave it at that.

Bracket Watch - Better late than never

My apologies for being a bit late today, but I'm currently posting from a rather old computer. The machine that I had been using, an MSNTV2, finally died after five and a half years of use. This forced me to post last Friday's projection somewhere else. Fortunately, I'm expecting a new one to arrive this Friday, but for now, I'm down in my basement posting this. Without more ado, here are the latest projections(through Sunday's games).

Final four pairings
Midwest(1) vs. West(4)
East(2) vs. South(3)

Midwest region

@ Oklahoma City
1-Kansas(Big 12) vs. 16-Middle Tennessee(Sun Belt)
8-California(Pacific-10) vs. 9-Nevada-Las Vegas
@ Spokane
4-Pittsburgh vs. 13-Mississippi
5-Butler(Horizon) vs. 12-Florida State
@ Buffalo
2-West Virginia vs. 15-Morgan State(Mid-Eastern)
7-Xavier vs. 10-Siena(Metro Atlantic)
@ Milwaukee
3-Wisconsin vs. 14-Kent State(Mid-American)
6-Maryland vs. 11-Texas-El Paso(Conference USA)

West region

@ Buffalo
1-Syracuse vs. 16-Opening Round winner
Opening Round: Lehigh(Patriot) vs. Jackson State(Southwestern)
8-Oklahoma State vs. 9-Clemson
@Spokane
4-Gonzaga(West Coast) vs. 13-Northeastern(Colonial)
5-Vanderbilt vs. 12-Murray State(Ohio Valley)
@ Jacksonville
2-Duke(Atlantic Coast) vs. 15-Stony Brook(America East)
7-Richmond(Atlantic 10) vs. 10-Missouri
3-Michigan State vs. 14-Sam Houston State(Southland)
6-Baylor vs. 11-UAB

East region

@ New Orleans
1-Kentucky(Southeastern) vs. 16-Belmont(Atlantic Sun)
8-Texas A&M vs. 9-Rhode Island
@ San Jose
4-Ohio State(Big Ten) vs. 13-Louisville
5-Wake Forest vs. 12-Utah State(Western Athletic)
@ Oklahoma City
2-Kansas State vs. 15-UC Santa Barbara(Big West)
7-Brigham Young vs. 10-Charlotte
@ Providence
3-Georgetown vs. 14-Oakland(Summit)
6-Illinois vs. 11-Cornell(Ivy)

South region

@ Providence
1-Villanova(Big East) vs. 16-Robert Morris(Northeast)
8-Georgia Tech vs. 9-Old Dominion
@ New Orleans
4-Texas vs. 13-College of Charleston(Southern)
5-Tennessee vs. 12-Dayton
@ Milwaukee
2-Purdue vs. 15-Coastal Carolina(Big South)
7-Northern Iowa(Missouri Valley) vs. 10-Virginia Tech
@ San Jose
3-New Mexico(Mountain West) vs. 14-Weber State(Big Sky)
6-Temple vs. 11-Marquette

Up a seed: Maryland(should be a 7), Richmond(should be an 8), Old Dominion(should be a 10), Murray State(should be a 13)
Down a seed: Brigham Young(should be a 6), Georgia Tech(should be a 7), Virginia Tech(should be a 9), Louisville(should be a 12)

Last four in the field: Florida State, Dayton, Louisville, Mississippi
First four left out: Cincinnati, San Diego State, Mississippi State, Washington
Next four left out: St. Mary's, Seton Hall, Arizona State, Florida
Also on the list: St. John's, Northwestern, Tulsa, Memphis, Virginia, Saint Louis, Texas Tech, Virginia Commonwealth, South Carolina, South Florida, Marshall, Wichita State

Moving in: Louisville, Oklahoma State, Lehigh, Mississippi
Moving out: South Florida, Navy, Florida, Mississippi State