Due to some techinical difficulties, it's a little late today. Let's cut to the chase. View the bracket here.
Syracuse, Arizona, Cincinnati, and Maryland continue their spirals into the abyss, with Syracuse (just a hair from "Last Four In") and Arizona (still 18 RPI, but next-to-last team IN) barely remaining IN this week. They have to right the ship quickly or they will be out very soon. Cincy and Maryland are not only tailspinning, but are doing so after losing key players. That is not going to set well with the committee. Both now have to reprove themselves without Kirkland (UC) and McCray (Maryland). They are out.
1. Last week, some people hated the inclusion of Temple and the Owls went out and lost to LaSalle on Saturday, so I don't have to defend them this week. They fell out.
2. I'm sure many will lament Missouri State's inclusion. But, selecting teams for those last few slots proves quite difficult. MO State has no bad losses, a good RPI, a winning conference record, one top 50 win, and winning record in their last ten, and a winning road record. They also beat Bradley to put the Braves behind them in the conference standings. Their big, gaping hole is a mere TWO top 100 wins. That is a hard pill to swallow, but all of the other candidates have major problems as well.
3. Stanford is creeping onto the fringe of the Bubble, but don't let anyone tell you that they are bracket worthy just yet. They have a multitude of early-season sins to overcome. They need to post some BIG wins, and the Pac-10 does not have a lot to offer at this point.
4. Iowa jumped up a couple of rungs to a 2-seed this week by virtue of their pasting of Michigan, their host of quality wins, and gaining the outright lead in the Big 10.
Multi-bid Conference Breakdown
Big East (8): UConn, Villanova, Pitt, West Virginia, Georgetown, Marquette, Seton Hall, Syracuse
Big Ten (7): Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan
SEC (6): Tennessee, Florida, LSU, Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas
ACC (5): Duke, NC State, Boston College, North Carolina, Miami-FL
MVC (5): Northern Iowa, Creighton, Wichita State, Southern Illinois, Missouri State
Big 12 (5): Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa State
Pac-10 (4): UCLA, Arizona, Washington, California
CUSA (2): Memphis, UAB
Last Four Teams In: Colorado, Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri State
We are less than five weeks away from SelSun. I will start doing brackets on Monday's and Friday's beginning next week (2/13 and 2/17).
II. Tonight's GOI
--Louisville at Cincinnati. GIANT bubble match up in the Big East.
--Coll of Charleston at Elon. Phoenix are trying to hold on the the best overall conference record.
--Southern at Jackson State. Jags can take ouright lead in SWAC with a win.
