The knee jerk to the field of 68(or The Screwing of Seth Greenberg, take four)

Well the field is out, and all I can say at this point is this: What was Gene Smith and the NCAA Division I Baskeball Committee smoking(if they indeed do smoke)?

The top of the field

Ohio State and Kansas were the easiest one seeds to find, both having swept their respective conferences' regular season and tournament championships. Placing them in was also tre facile. The Buckeyes were slotted in Newark, the Jayhawks in San Antonio. There were some doubts about the identity of the other two ones, in the end, Pittsburgh(Southeast) and Duke(West) were granted top spots, leaving Notre Dame, North Carolina, and San Diego State somewhat dissapointed. All three leftovers, plus Florida make up the second line.

The last spots
At the start of the day, St. Mary's, Georgia, and Clemson were the only three teams left that I had some doubts about including. The Bulldogs(10 in the East) and Tigers(First four in the East) did make the field, but the Gaels did not. You'd think that the Gaels would be the lone miss, right? WRONG. The most shocking exlcusion wasn't St. Mary's at all, it was Virginia Tech, who inspite of a regular season shocker over Duke, got excluded from the 68 due to a late season slump that included getting swept by Boston College and losing to fellow bubbler Clemson. Colorado also missed out because of a poor OOC SOS, Alabama got turned down with a poor OOC performance, and Missouri State's first Missouri Valley regular season crown could not prop up the fact they were beaten by Indiana State in the final. Of those who did get in, Virginia Commonwealth was the biggest surprise, a fourth place Colonial finish was counterbalanced by road wins in the NIT Season Tip-Off and at Wichita State. Southern California finished fourth in the Pacific-10, but had marquee wins galore. And UAB conveyed an outright Conference USA title into a bid.

Surprise seeds
Butler was seeded by most as a 10 or 11, but the NCAA gave them an 8. Utah State's 12 meant that the Aggies would have missed the field if they lost WAC final. Michigan was a bubble team by most accounts, but an 8 was given. At the top, Texas had dreams of being a 2 or 3, but wound up a 4. I could go on and on about the seeding, but I won't, not with issues of...

Pod placement
Pittsburgh was sent to Washington, D.C. instead of Cleveland(presumably to allow the UNC Asheville-UALR winner to have a quick turnaround.

My personal performance
If my performance is indicative of what the rest of the bracketologists did, we(collectively) did a horrendous job this year in selecting and seeding. All I know at this point is that I did better at selecting at-larges than Bracketology 101 did(that statement says a lot:

Missed teams: 3(UAB, Southern California, Virginia Commonwealth; chose instead Colorado, St. Mary's, Virginia Tech)
Teams seeded within one seed line: 52
Teams at exact seed: 25

*The Buckeyes only need to be seeded 1st in the West sometime in the future to complete the Grand Slam of Seeding, while the Big Ten +2, with it's first East #1 completes the conference version of the slam.

Bracket Watch '11 - The FINAL projection

Well, it's here. The last projection of the season since the bracketing process starts at 3:30 EDT. This is the bracket that I'm standing on for all bracket aggregators like Bracket Matrix. This is based on my initial Sunday bracket, but there are a few changes as a result of the early games; Duke and North Carolina swap seeds as a result of the ACC final; Florida swaps seeds with Connecticut, and Kentucky with BYU as a result of the SEC; also, due to the changes above, Penn State and Villanova, and Arizona and West Virginia swap seeds to avoid conflicts.

Final four pairings
East(1) vs. West(4)
Southwest(2) vs. Southeast(3)

The first four
Tuesday: UNC ASHEVILLE vs. UALR; Michigan State vs. Clemson
Wednesday: UC SANTA BARBARA vs. ALABAMA STATE; St. Mary's vs. Georgia

East region

@ Cleveland
1-Ohio State vs. 16-UC SANTA BARBARA/ALABAMA STATE
8-George Mason vs. 9-GONZAGA
@ Washington, D.C.
4-Syracuse vs. 13-PRINCETON
5-Vanderbilt vs. 12-BELMONT
@ Tucson
2-SAN DIEGO STATE vs. 15-NORTHERN COLORADO
7-Cincinnati vs. 10-Florida State
@ Tulsa
3-Texas vs. 14-LONG ISLAND
6-Temple vs. 11-MEMPHIS

West region

@ Chicago
1-Notre Dame vs. 16-UT SAN ANTONIO
8-UTAH STATE vs. 9-Missouri
@ Denver
4-Brigham Young vs. 13-WOFFORD
5-West Virginia vs. 12-Michigan State/Clemson
@ Charlotte
2-North Carolina vs. 15-BOSTON UNIVERSITY
7-Texas A&M vs. 10-RICHMOND
@ Denver
3-KENTUCKY vs. 14-MOREHEAD STATE
6-Arizona vs. 11-Michigan

Southwest region
@ Tulsa
1-KANSAS vs. 16-HAMPTON
8-Ucla vs. 9-Marquette
@ Chicago
4-Purdue vs. 13-St. Mary's/Georgia
5-St. John's vs. 12-Virginia Tech
@ Cleveland
2-Pittsburgh vs. 15-BUCKNELL
7-Tennessee vs. 10-BUTLER
@ Tampa
3-Louisville vs. 14-INDIANA STATE
6-Xavier vs. 11-Illinois

Southeast region

@ Charlotte
1-DUKE vs. 16-UNC ASHEVILLE/UALR
8-WASHINGTON vs. 9-Unlv
@ Tucson
4-Wisconsin vs. 13-OAKLAND
5-Georgetown vs. 12-Colorado
@ Washington, D.C.
2-CONNECTICUT vs. 15-AKRON
7-OLD DOMINION vs. 10-Penn State
@ Tampa
3-Florida vs. 14-SAINT PETER'S
6-Kansas State vs. 11-Villanova

The last four in the field: Michigan State, St. Mary's, Georgia, Clemson
Note: Michigan State is safe, the others are not.
The first four left out: Alabama, Harvard, Boston College, Southern California
The next four left out: Uab, Utep, Missouri State, Virginia Commonwealth

To all bracketologists out there, good luck and good seeding.

Bracket Watch '11 - The early Sunday bracket

I had written earlier this morning that I would not have an early bracket. Oops! So here you go, the first preliminary bracket.

Final four pairings
East(1) vs. West(4)
Southwest(2) vs. Southeast(3)

The first four:
Tuesday: UNC ASHEVILLE vs. UALR; Michigan State vs. Clemson
Wednesday: UC SANTA BARBARA vs. ALABAMA STATE; St. Mary's vs. Georgia

East region

@ Cleveland
1-Ohio State(Big Ten) vs. 16-UC SANTA BARBARA/ALABAMA STATE
8-George Mason vs. 9-GONZAGA
@ Washington, D.C.
4-Syracuse vs. 13-PRINCETON
5-Vanderbilt vs. 12-BELMONT
@ Tucson
2-SAN DIEGO STATE vs. 15-NORTHERN COLORADO
7-Cincinnati vs. 10-Florida State
@ Tulsa
3-Texas vs. 14-LONG ISLAND
6-Temple vs. 11-MEMPHIS

West region

@ Chicago
1-Notre Dame vs. 16-UT SAN ANTONIO
8-UTAH STATE vs. 9-Missouri
@ Denver
4-Kentucky vs. 13-WOFFORD
5-Arizona vs. 12-Michigan State/Clemson
@ Charlotte
2-Duke vs. 15-BOSTON UNIVERSITY
7-Texas A&M vs. 10-Richmond(Atlantic 10)
@ Denver
3-Brigham Young vs. 14-MOREHEAD STATE
6-West Virginia vs. 11-Michigan

Southwest region

@ Tulsa
1-KANSAS vs. 16-HAMPTON
8-Ucla vs. 9-Marquette
@ Chicago
4-Purdue vs. 13-St. Mary's/Georgia
5-St. John's vs. 12-Virginia Tech
@ Cleveland
2-Pittsburgh vs. 15-BUCKNELL
7-Tennessee vs. 10-BUTLER
@ Tampa
3-Louisville vs. 14-INDIANA STATE
6-Xavier vs. 11-Illinois

Southeast region

@ Charlotte
1-North Carolina(Atlantic Coast) vs. 16-UNC ASHEVILLE/UALR
8-WASHINGTON vs. 9-Unlv
@ Tucson
4-Wisconsin vs. 13-OAKLAND
5-Georgetown vs. 12-Colorado
@ Tampa
2-Florida(Southeast) vs. 15-AKRON
7-OLD DOMINION vs. 10-Villanova
@ Washington, D.C.
3-CONNECTICUT vs. 14-SAINT PETER'S
6-Kansas State vs. 11-Penn State

The last four in the field: Michigan State, St. Mary's, Georgia, Clemson
Note: Michigan State is safe, the others are not.
The first four left out: Alabama, Harvard, Boston College, Southern California
The next four left out: Uab, Utep, Missouri State, Virginia Commonwealth

Note: If Dayton does win the Atlantic 10 final, Clemson is out, and Colorado bumps to the first four.

Well, I'll post again later on today for either an update, or putting up the final projection.

Quick update

I do have a seed list made up, but it will not be put in to bracket form until after the early games. Expect the final projection to be up around 3 to 4(depending on when I finish actually bracketing).