Bracket Update 2/28

Here lies the bracket and I will aim to update weekly if not more often from here on in.

The bottom is always tough, but I find it unusually difficult to sort out the 1-2-3 seeds this time around. There are reasons to downgrade nearly anyone from the 1-2's to a 3. And, any of the 3's are still alive for a 1 seed, I believe.

At any rate, the end of the season will be incredibly meaningful for even the very top of the bracket (as well as the bottom) this year.

Last Four In: Villanova, Kentucky, Boise State, Tennessee

First Four Out: Ole Miss, Virginia, Maryland, Baylor

Lockbox Update 2/27

The Lockbox has been updated. I believe my first late-to-the-party bracket will go up tomorrow at some point.

What does the Lockbox do? It lists all teams under consideration organized by conference and color-coded by level of security in the bracket (this is the subjective part). Mainly, it gives a picture of how big the Bubble is at any given time.

The Bubble by the Numbers
--31 Automatic Bids. That number will not change this season. Black italics means a team is the projected auto-bid for that conference.
--37 At-Large Bids (AL). That is also a static number.
--Currently, 20 AL teams are listed in black (or are LOCKS). LOCKS cannot miss, even if they lost out. The black teams could be left out in March, but it would take a monumental meltdown for them to miss.
--I have six other AL teams listed in blue, which means they are on their way, but an unexpected loss or two could put them on the Bubble.
--That means 26 AL slots are taken, leaving the Bubble at 11 at the moment. Generally, this number will shrink as we head toward Selection Sunday. Bubble-IN teams are in green, Bubble-OUT teams are in red.

Official Conference Tourney Brackets

Conference websites have vastly improved their bracketing skills over the years. I think we have reached a point where building 30 brackets in an Excel workbook for easy clicking may be unnecessary. So, I think this actually is the One Stop Shop this year. Here is a list of links to the official brackets for each conference tourney. Some have yet to be posted and I have indicated as such. But, they are mostly there, mostly nice PDFs, and will be "conference official" brackets.

There still might be some gains from building the OSS, but probably not worth all the tiny timing/date errors and occasional adjustments I will miss putting all of it in. Conference tourneys begin in nine days. Enjoy.



OFFICIAL CONFERENCE TOURNEY BRACKETS


AmericaEast                     March 8-10                  SEFCU Arena                                      Albany, NY

ACC                                 March 14-17                Greensboro Coliseum                      Greensboro, NC

Atlantic Sun                       March 6-9                    Hawkins Arena                                       Macon, GA

Atlantic 10  (no bracket)    March 14-17                Barclays Center                                   Brooklyn, NY

Big East                             March 12-16                Madison Square Garden                    New York, NY

Big Sky   (no bracket)        March 14-16                At Regular Season Champ                                 TBA

Big South                           March 5,7,9-10           The HTC Center                                      Conway, SC

Big Ten                              March 14-17                United Center                                          Chicago, IL

Big 12                                March 13-16                Sprint Center                                          Kansas City

Big West                            March 14-16                Honda Center                                      Anaheim, CA

Colonial                             March 9-11                  Richmond Coliseum                            Richmond, VA

CUSA (no bracket)           March 13-16                BOK Center                                             Tulsa, OK

Horizon League                 March 5,8,12               Campus Sites                                           TBA               

Ivy                              REGULAR SEASON CHAMPION RECEIVES AUTOMATIC NCAA BID

MAC                                March 11, 13-16         Quicken Loans Arena                         Cleveland, OH

MAAC                             March 7-11                  MassMutual Center                           Springfield, MA

MEAC (no bracket)          March 11-16                Norfolk Scope Arena                             Norfolk, VA

Missouri Valley                  March 7-10                  Scottrade Center                                 St. Louis, MO

Mountain West                  March 12-16                Thomas and Mack Center                  Las Vegas, NV

Northeast                          March 6, 9, 12             Campus Sites                                                    TBA

OhioValley                        March 6-9                    Municipal Auditorium                           Nashville, TN

Pac-12                              March 13-16                MGM Grand Garden                         Las Vegas, NV

Patriot League                    March 6, 9, 13             Campus Sites                                                   TBA

Southern Conference          March 8-11                  US Cellular Center                               Asheville, NC

Southeastern                      March 13-17                Bridgestone Arena                               Nashville, TN

Southland                           March 13-16                Merrell Center                                            Katy, TX

Summit League                   March 9-12                  Sioux Falls Arena                                Sioux Falls, SD

Sun Belt                             March 8-11                  Summit Arena                                    Hot Springs, AR

SWAC                               March 13, 15-16         Curtis Culwell Center                               Garland, TX

WAC                                 March 12, 14-16         Orleans Arena                                      Las Vegas, NV

West Coast                        March 6-11                  Orleans Arena                                      Las Vegas, NV

Lockbox 2/16

It has been a light season over here at the Bracketboard. This stems from my "basketball time budget" being spent on coaching Kindergarteners the basics of the game. It has been a total joy. That said, the weekend bracket building has hit a wall. There will be more time in March, but for now, I will simply do the things that I think add to the giant bracket conversation.

There are loads of good bracket projections out there, so I'll work on more TBB-specific projects. So, here is the first Lockbox of the year. I am basing who is IN/OUT on the Bracket Project's Matrix, which is a consensus of dozens of bracket projections from across  the Web. Time permitting, I will build the One Stop Shop again as well (all 30 conference tourney brackets in one Excel workbook, updated multiple times daily during conference tourney season).

What does the Lockbox do? It lists all teams under consideration organized by conference and color-coded by level of security in the bracket (this is the subjective part). Mainly, it gives a picture of how big the Bubble is at any given time.

The Bubble by the Numbers
--31 Automatic Bids. That number will not change this season. Black italics means a team is the projected auto-bid for that conference.
--37 At-Large Bids (AL). That is also a static number.
--Currently, 16 AL teams are listed in black (or are LOCKS). LOCKS cannot miss, even if they lost out. There are none of those as of today, but there likely will be after this weekend. The black teams could miss in March, but it would take a monumental meltdown for them to miss.
--I have nine other AL teams listed in blue, which means they are on their way, but an unexpected loss could put them on the Bubble.
--That means 25 AL slots are taken, leaving the Bubble at 12 at the moment. Generally, this number will shrink as we head toward Selection Sunday. Bubble-IN teams are in green, Bubble-OUT teams are in red.