Here is my final bracket.
1. I am in the tiny minority of folks who believe Michigan State will get that last one seed. Here's why. The Spartans won the #2 RPI league by FOUR full games. FOUR. Yes, they lost in their conference quarters. So did UConn. They are #5 RPI (UConn #8). They have 13 top 50 wins (UConn 8). OOC, they beat Kansas at home and Oklahoma State and Texas on neutral courts. UConn beat Gonzaga, Michigan and Wisconsin. Pretty similar there. UConn won neither their regular season or conference titles; Sparty won the Big Televen convincingly. It's very close in mind. I considered Memphis, but they just don't have the juice in their wins. Not enough good ones.
2. Mississippi State forced me to cut Creighton. SD State and Maryland have a much more positive aura from their conference tourneys. The Jays were blasted by 24 by Illinois State.
3. Last Four IN: Minnesota, Maryland, Dayton, San Diego State. First Four OUT: Creighton, St. Mary's, Penn State, Auburn
SCKySSiP Mock Selection Committee
Final Results
1. Three one seeds from the Big East. I obviously didn't vote that way, but that was the way the collective voting shook out.
2. Mississippi State's win cut Dayton here.
3. Last Four IN: San Diego State, Wisconsin, Maryland, Creighton. Next Two OUT: Dayton, St. Mary's. That's really as far as our voting got us. After that, it was a hodge-podge of the usual suspects with a smattering of votes (Auburn, Florida, Virginia Tech, Penn State...).
Once more, the SCKySSiP is a replication of the process, not a prediction of what the committee will do (what "bracketologists" do). We didn't give a flip about what the committee will do. This was DOING, not guessing. We simply followed their rules in an effort to understand how this bracket is created. Essay coming later this week on "bracketology."
40 mins away. This is my last update before it comes out.
