This bracket was a challenge at the bottom. It always gets crazy this time of year, doesn't it? Louisville, who has been perfectly average all season long, finds magic and wins two road games over lofty RPI teams. If a team has not done permanent damage to their resume, sometimes that is all it takes: get hot at the end. The Cards are doing that. When Bubbleworld is losing, teams on long win streaks start to look really bracket-friendly (Old Dominion, anyone?).
The last seven slots seemed quite iffy today. I took Notre Dame, Missouri State, Clemson, Purdue, Kansas State, Georgia Tech, and Old Dominion over teams like Illinois, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Florida State, Georgia, Bradley, Appalachian State, Drexel, Michigan, Gonzaga, Syracuse, DePaul and Arkansas. There were good reasons to leave out the teams that I chose. Hopefully, some of these teams in freefall can get hot and resurrect their seasons (Clemson? OK State? FSU?).
Multi-Bid Conference Breakdown
ACC (8): North Carolina, Boston College, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Duke, Maryland, Clemson, Georgia Tech
Big East (7): Pitt, Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova, West Virginia, Louisville, Notre Dame
Pac-10 (6): UCLA, Washington State, Southern Cal, Oregon, Arizona, Stanford
SEC (5): Florida, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama
Big XII (5): Texas A&M, Kansas, Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas State
Big Ten (4): Wisconsin, Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue
Missouri Valley (3): Southern Illinois, Creighton, Missouri State
Mountain West (3): Air Force, UNLV, BYU
Colonial (2): VCU, Old Dominion
Tonight's GOI
--Kansas at Kansas State. Wildcats could land the big fish for their resume.
--Villanova at Marquette. Golden Eagles try to bounce back from heartbreaking loss to Louisville on Sat. Cats try to get above .500 in Big East.
