Bracketology
My field prognostication as of today is as follows:
- #1 seeds: Gonzaga, Villanova, Kansas, N. Carolina
- #2 seeds: Baylor, Oregon, Louisville, Duke
- #3 seeds: Florida St., Butler, Florida, Kentucky
- #4 seeds: Arizona, Purdue, Virginia, Notre Dame
- #5 seeds: West Virginia, Cincinnati, UCLA, Minnesota
- #6 seeds: SMU, Maryland, Creighton, St. Mary's
- #7 seeds: Xavier, Wisconsin, VCU, Dayton
- #8 seeds: Oklahoma St., South Carolina, Arkansas, Iowa St.
- #9 seeds: Miami (FL), Virginia Tech, USC, Northwestern
- #10 seeds: Michigan St., Seton Hall, Wichita St., Michigan
- #11 seeds: Providence, Vanderbilt, Marquette, Syracuse, Kansas St., TCU
- #12 seeds: Middle Tenn. St.*, TX Arlington*, Nevada*, N.C. Wilmington*
- #13 seeds: Monmouth*, Vermont*, Princeton*, Akron*
- #14 seeds: Belmont*, N.C. Asheville*, E. Tennessee St.*, Valparaiso*
- #15 seeds: CSU Bakersfield*, Bucknell*, Fla Gulf Coast*, N. Dak. St.*,
- #16 seeds: North Dakota*, UC Irvine*, North Carolina Central*, Mount St Mary's*, New Orleans*, Texas Southern*
- First four out: Cal, Rhode Island, Illinois, Georgia Tech
* presumed automatic qualifiers
Even with Syracuse's woeful RPI (78), they seem pretty safely in the field after last night's upset win over Duke. The committee has made it very clear in the past that they put a lot of weight on wins vs. RPI top 50 and Syracuse owns six of those wins vs. six losses in that category. Kansas St. is trying hard to play itself out of the field with a home loss to Oklahoma St. last night. Hanging on by a thread with a 62 RPI and three wins vs. RPI top 50. On the other hand, Cal has currently played itself out of the field by losing a huge lead at home to Oregon and dropping yet another RPI top 50 game. Their record against the RPI top 50 is now just 1-7.
