Monday, January 28, 2008

Bracketology?

Ok, ok, new BB rankings are up, but I decided to add something to it. Long before "bracketology" was a part of our cultural lexicon, I used to gather with my boys around this time of year, and try and put together our version of the NCAA tournament. We used to love doing it so much, that we would expand the tournament and include all Division I teams in a giant, 5-week extravaganza. Of course after we made the bracket, we had to fill it out. So, I decided to present a prospective NCAA field, based on the Golden Rankings. Some of the seedings are a little out there (Drake as a 2 seed?), but rather than make subjective adjustments, I decided to let the rankings stand on their own. I'll leave the filling out to the rest of you.
Some guidelines:
-31 automatic qualifiers, 34 at-large teams
-Teams are seeded in a "snake-like" manner, whereby the lowest one seed gets the highest two seed, and the lowest two seed gets the highest three seed, etc.
-Teams were moved up or down the snake to avoid inter-conference match-ups as much as possible. Non-conference rematches (such as Georgetown-Memphis) were not avoided.
-For the one bid conferences, I took the team with the highest current ranking
-South Region plays the West, East plays the Midwest in the Final Four
-Last Four In: Illinois State, Cleveland State, UConn, UMass
-First Four Out: Purdue, Duquesne, Syracuse, Creighton

South Region
Little Rock
1) Memphis
16) Alabama State (SWAC) or Md-Baltimore Cty (America East)
8) Kansas State
9) Ohio State

Birmingham
4) Wisconsin
13) UConn
5) Mississippi
12) Illinois State

Birmingham
3) Washington State
14) Wagner (Northeast)
6) South Alabama
11) Mississippi State

Washington DC (I'm not sure if the Hoyas will be allowed to play here, so it might have to be switched)
2) Georgetown
15) UNC-Ashville (Big South)
7) UNLV
10) USC

East Region
Raleigh
1)North Carolina
16)Belmont (Atlantic Sun)
8) Pittsburgh
9) Arkansas

Denver
4) Texas
13) Northridge (Big West)
5) Florida
12) Seton Hall

Anaheim
3) UCLA
14) Davidson (Southern)
6) Dayton
11) Houston

Omaha
2) Drake
15) Austin Peay (Ohio Valley)
7) Gonzaga
10) Texas A&M

Midwest Region
Omaha
1)Kansas
16)Cornell (Ivy)
8)Miami
9)Virginia Commonwealth

Little Rock
4) Vanderbilt
13) Sam Houston State (Southland)
5) Xavier
12) Cleveland State

Anaheim
3) St. Mary's
14) Boise State (WAC)
6) Arizona
11) West Virginia

Tampa
2) Michigan State
15) Lafayette (Patriot)
7) Oklahoma
10) Clemson

West Region
Raleigh
1) Duke
16) Northern Arizona (Big Sky)
8) Kent State
9) Marquette

Denver
4) Indiana
13) Oral Roberts (Summit)
5) Stanford
12)UMass

Washington DC
3)Butler
14) Marist (MAAC)
6) Rhode Island
11) BYU

Tampa
2) Tennessee
15) Hampton (MEAC)
7) Baylor
10) Notre Dame