JeffDBracket's Bracketology - Version 11.0 - 3/10/11

Threes and controversy were popular yesterday, but the number 11, as in 11 Big East bids, was the talk of the day

Bubble teams started falling to the curbside on the road to the Final Four yesterday as Nebraska and Baylor (un)officially ended their campaigns to reach the NCAA Tournament. Speaking of things that are (un)official, with Marquette's win over West Virginia, the Golden Eagles sealed up a record 11-bids from the Big East this March. The Big East Tournament is always something to watch, just asked Rutgers, but with 11-bids all wrapped up focus can shift on to the other conference tournaments. Before the bracket, let's take a look at some games today with huge bubble implications. If these teams lose they will immediately fall down a level, whether it is onto the bubble, or off the bubble. If they win? That means they move one level closer to locking up their status.

Penn State vs. Indiana - 7:30PM - Big Ten Network

- Big Ten Tournament

 - Penn State continues to be that pesky team that won't go away from the bubble picture this. Their record is absolutely atrocious and does them no favors, but their small handful of good wins, and solid RPI is what keeps them alive. A win won't do much for Penn State's resume, but they must win at least two games, and most likely three to get into the NCAA Tournament. Tonight is when Penn State needs to start their run if they want to get in.

Colorado vs. Kansas State - 3:00PM - ESPN3

- Big XII Tournament 

 - If Colorado can pull off their second win in the Big XII Tournament they should be in. A loss might knock them out for good.

Auburn vs. Georgia - 1:00PM - ESPN3

- SEC Tournament

 - Georgia is considered in by many and there is a chance a loss would keep them in, but it certainly will negatively effect them. A win for Georgia would set them for a "lock status" game in round two.

East Carolina vs. Alabama-Birmingham - 1:00PM

- Conference USA Tournament

 - Alabama-Birmingham might not need to win the tournament in order to get into the NCAA Tournament. With that being said, they will not be in with a first round knockout at the hands of the East Carolina Pirates.

Northwestern vs. Minnesota - 2:30PM - ESPN2

- Big Ten Tournament

 - Both of these teams are pretty far off the bubble picture, but a loss would eliminate one team for good. The winner still could make a magical 2010-Minnesota-esque run this season and make their way into the NCAA Tournament.

Wake Forest vs. Boston College - 2:30PM - ESPN3

- ACC Tournament

 - Wake Forest is an awful team this season so this game can only hurt Boston College. All a win does is set Boston College up for more opportunities, while a loss might be such a dagger that it knocks them out of the NCAA Tournament.

California vs. Southern Cal - 3:00PM

- Pac-10 Tournament

 - This is a pure elimination game out in Los Angeles this afternoon. Both teams have slowly crept onto the bubble watches across the country and the loser will be out, while the winner will live to see another day.

Iowa vs. Michigan State - 4:30PM - ESPN2

- Big Ten Tournament

 - Michigan State has already lost to Iowa once this season, and a second loss would make the Spartans sweat it out until Selection Sunday. Iowa is a on a little hot streak after upsetting Purdue, so Tom Izzo's squad must be aware of a dangerous potential bubble popping game.

Southern Miss vs. Memphis - 3:30PM

- Conference USA

 - Both teams have the exact same records, but really only Memphis has potential at-large hopes. At times Memphis can be dominant, but at other times they lose to teams like SMU and Rice. So this game could be a wild ride as Memphis tries to get back into the NCAA Tournament.

New Mexico vs. Colorado State - 5:30

- Mountain West Tournament

 - The Lobos and Rams are both fighting for their bubble lives in this game in an exciting elimination game. They split their season series, but New Mexico is on a roll and riding high off their blowout victory over Brigham Young, while Colorado State is still stumbling down the stretch. New Mexico may have the upper hand, but this game will be a fierce battle.

Arkansas vs. Tennessee - 7:30PM - ESPN3

- SEC Tournament

 - The media is trying their best to make the SEC Tournament dramatic, and saying Tennessee is on the bubble is a prime example. If the media wants to market Tennessee as a bubble team then they will need the Volunteers to drop to Arkansas in round one of the conference tournament.

Marshall vs. Texas-El Paso - 7:30PM

- Conference USA

 - Playing at home in the conference tournament, Texas-El Paso is the sexy pick to potentially gain bid thief status by winning it all. In order to do that there would need to be a Conference USA at-large bid, but if Texas-El Paso can snag the automatic bid then that scenario is very possible.

Georgia Tech vs. Virginia Tech - 9:30PM - ESPN3

- ACC Tournament

- The Hokies went from riding the highest of highs, to riding the lowest of lows in the last two weeks. The win over #1 ranked Duke has now become an after though as Virginia Tech has played themselves back onto the bubble. A loss to Georgia Tech would almost certainly knock the Hokies out of the NCAA Tournament, but a win would keep their "what else is knew" bubble status alive.

Washington vs. Washington State - 11:30PM

- Pac-10 Tournament

 - Washington would like nothing more than to pop the bubble of their instate rivals Washington State. That is the exact chance they have tonight in Los Angeles when they take on the Cougars. The resume Washington State has is very meek and unimpressive, a loss tonight would put an end to their NCAA Tournament hopes.

Read more after the jump

JeffDBracket's Bracketology - Version 10.0 - 3/9/11

Brad Stevens and Butler ended all bubble talk by winning the Horizon League

With a lot of automatic bids starting to pour in, the NCAA Tournament picture is becoming more clear each night. While the smaller conferences are starting to, for the most part, wrap up, the power conferences like the Big East and Big XII have their tournaments starting to get underway. Villanova lost to South Florida in a shocker yesterday, and much more craziness is on the horizon. Read the last blog post for a break down and preview of conference tournaments, and keep an eye out for more bracketologies as the teams begin to shift around the brackets more and more.

Who made the bracket:

American East - Boston

Atlantic Coast - Boston College, Duke*, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech

Atlantic Sun - Belmont

Atlantic 10 - Temple, Richmond, Xavier*

Big East - Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh*, St. John's, Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova

Big Sky - Northern Colorado

Big South - UNC-Asheville

Big Ten - Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State*, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big XII - Colorado, Kansas*, Kansas State, Missouri, Texas*, Texas A&M

Big West - Long Beach State

Colonial - George Mason, Old Dominion

Conference USA - Alabama-Birmingham

Horizon - Butler

Ivy - Harvard

Metro Atlantic - Saint Peter's

Mid-American - Kent State

Mid-Eastern - Bethune-Cookman

Missouri Valley - Indiana State

Mountain West - Brigham Young, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State* 

Northeast - Long Island

Ohio Valley - Morehead State

Pacific-10 - Arizona*, Washington, UCLA

Patriot - Bucknell

Southeastern - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky*, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Southern - Wofford

Southland - McNeese State

Summit - Oakland

Sun Belt - Arkansas-Little Rock

Souhtwestern - Texas Southern

Western (WAC) - Utah State

West Coast - Gonzaga, St. Mary's

* - Automatic Bid

Italic - New Addition

Read more after the jump

NCAA Basketball Conference Tournaments Previews

Travis Leslie may need high flying theatrics to lift Georgia into the Big Dance

NCAA Conference Tournaments have not only started, but some have finished already. That being said, most of the big ones will be kicking off Wednesday. The most notable will be the Big East Tournament starting its 5-day extravaganza tomorrow afternoon. Let's take a look at the conference tournaments, and break down a few key elements in each one. Each conference title is a link that directs to the tournament bracket.

Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
March 10-13, 2011
Greensboro, NC
  Locks: Duke, North Carolina and Florida State
  Bubble Teams: Clemson, Virginia Tech and Boston College

• The ACC has had a bit of a down year this season, but at the same time saw a refreshing revitalization of the Duke-North Carolina rivalry after a late season run by the Tar Heels. Out of the 12 ACC teams, only 6 of them have NCAA Tournament aspirations, and only 3 of those teams are current locks for the NCAA Tournament. North Carolina is one of the teams considered locks, and while being the 1-seed for the conference tournament, is still flying a bit under the radar as of late. The Tar Heels are young and inexperienced, so if they can show people that they can win consistently - they may sniff the 2-seed or 1-seed line this season's NCAA Tournament. Duke is the 2-seed after their late season loss to the Heels, but still should be considered favorites to win the tournament in Greensboro after dominance over competition most of the season. With that being said, Duke has stumbled a bit as of late and needs to make sure they don't fall backwards into the NCAA Tournament. Florida State could benefit from a good ACC Tournament run, but their week is not nearly as important as the week is to Boston College, Clemson and Virginia Tech. A potential second round match up between Boston College and Clemson could potentially  be an elimination game. Clemson does get a bye, so Boston College must first beat lowly Wake Forest to even reach the second round. The Eagles  have a top 50 RPI and strength of schedule, but don't have many good victories to pad their resume. Boston College hasn't faltered down the stretch, in fact they've won three in a row, but they have certainly not done anything to improve their resume enough to feel safe about Selection Sunday. A good run in Greensboro won't be very impressive, but it should be enough to put Boston College back into the NCAA Tournament. Clemson on the other hand has used a late season surge to put themselves into serious NCAA Tournament discussion. Much like Boston College, the Tigers don't have a very impressive resume, but have a few more quality wins which puts them in better shape. Even with three losses to teams ranked worse than 100 in the RPI, Clemson should find themselves in the NCAA Tournament if they can grab one or two wins in the ACC Tournament. Virginia Tech, only weeks after their upset win over then #1 Duke, has found themselves back on the NCAA Tournament bubble again. One win should be enough for the Hokies, but a second round match up with Florida State would provide more than enough cushion to make the field of 68 if they could pull out the victory.

  Prediction: #2 - Duke
  Dark Horse: #3 - Florida State
  Potential Spoiler: #8 - Virginia/#9 - Miami (FL)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Atlantic Ten Conference Tournament
March 8-13, 2011
Atlantic, NJ
  Locks: Xavier and Temple
  Bubble Teams: Richmond

• They're back yet again! The Xavier Musketeers always are around this time of year, and once again they enter the Atlantic Ten Tournament as the favorites to walk away champions once again. They have lost only twice in the year 2011, and tore through the Atlantic Ten conference schedule with a 15-1 record. Xavier is more than safe, but they can do a little seed-padding if they walk away winners. A 3-seed or 4-seed is in their sights if they can roll through Atlantic City this week. While Xavier might be the favorites, the Temple Owls are looking to win their fourth straight Atlantic Ten Tournament and avoid hovering into the 8-seed or 9-seed range. Right now Temple is about a 7-seed, and a few wins could help them avoid those two deadly seed lines. Head Coach Fran Dunphy would love to win the Atlantic Ten Tournament, but I am also sure he would like to finally break through and win his first NCAA Tournament game. Look for Temple, at the very least, try and carry some momentum into the big dance next week. This season has been an up and down one for the Richmond Spiders, one week they are upsetting Purdue, and the next week they are losing to bottom-feeders Georgia Tech. Justin Harper and Kevin Anderson is one of the best one-two punches in all of NCAA Basketball, but unfortunately Richmond has a few tough sore spots on their resume. With that being said, Richmond should be in as of right now and really only needs one win, or two wins at the most to feel good about themselves come Selection Sunday. That is easier said than done however with their second round match up being against pesky Rhode Island or St. Louis. Duquesne entered February undefeated in the Atlantic Ten, but finished the regular season on a 3-6 downward spiral. The Dukes are probably out of range for an at-large berth, but if they can make the Atlantic Ten Tournament finals, they might get a few looks from the selection committee. That being said, Duquesne is led by experienced senior Bill Clark and a plethora of 3-point specialists and might be able to make a surprise run through the tournament and potentially lock up an automatic-bid into the NCAA Tournament.

  Prediction: #1 - Xavier
  Dark Horse: #4 - Duequesne
  Potential Spoiler: #6 - Rhode Island

Read more after the jump

JeffDBracket's Bracketology - Version 9.0 - 03/07/11

Missouri St. will have a long week on the bubble after its MVC Title Game loss

Take a deep breathe folks - it is March! The madness is officially here, and will only get more ridiculous starting tomorrow in New York City for the Big East Tournament. So far Indiana State, Belmont, UNC-Asheville and Morehead State all clinched automatic bids into the NCAA Tournament. Only one of those teams, Belmont, was the 1-seed in their respective conference tournaments. What exactly does this mean? It means that after only four conference tournaments we already have witnessed some surprise outcomes. Missouri State thought it had a clear path to the NCAA Tournament, but their loss to the Sycamores of Indiana State has made them a lock for the bubble between now and Selection Sunday. 

With one of the "softest" bubbles in NCAA Tournament history, these next six days will be wild for teams that are hanging on for dear life in terms of their NCAA Tournament hopes. There will be no write-ups attached to these daily bracketologies, but expect numerous blog posts. There will be one tonight previewing all of the remaining conference tournaments.

Who made the bracket:

American East - Boston

Atlantic Coast - Boston College, Duke*, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech

Atlantic Sun - Belmont

Atlantic 10 - Temple*, Richmond, Xavier

Big East - Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh*, St. John's, Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova

Big Sky - Northern Colorado

Big South - UNC-Asheville

Big Ten - Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State*, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big XII - Colorado, Kansas*, Kansas State, Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M

Big West - Long Beach State

Colonial - George Mason*, Old Dominion

Conference USA - Alabama-Birmingham

Horizon - Butler

Ivy - Harvard

Metro Atlantic - Saint Peter's

Mid-American - Kent State

Mid-Eastern - Bethune-Cookman

Missouri Valley - Indiana State

Mountain West - Brigham Young, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State*

Northeast - Long Island

Ohio Valley - Morehead State

Pacific-10 - Arizona*, Washington, UCLA

Patriot - Bucknell

Southeastern - Alabama, Florida*, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Southern - Charleston

Southland - McNeese State

Summit - Oakland

Sun Belt - Middle Tennessee State

Southwestern - Texas Southern

Western (WAC) - Utah State

West Coast - Gonzaga, St. Mary's*

* - Automatic Bid

Italic - New Addition

Green and Bold - Conference Tournament Winners

Read more after the jump