Bracketology: 3/15

Hours away from the Selection Show, we still have major questions about several conferences and teams. I'll predict the tournament field and results, give reasons why, and update it each week. Here are my calls as of this morning. Seeds are listed L-R. Left most seed is top team for that group. (Louisville will get #1 overall seed, Connecticut is top #2 seed...) Teams in italics have already earned automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments.


# 1 SEEDS: Louisville (Big East), Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Memphis (C-USA)
Skinny: When you win the best conference's regular season and tournament titles, its gotta be a lock for the #1 overall seed. Pitt losing to WVU isn't a big deal, same with UNC falling to FSU. Memphis only has three losses. That one fact gets them a top bid over UConn.

#2 SEEDS: Connecticut, Duke (ACC), Oklahoma, Michigan State
Skinny: Duke helped themselves with that 79-69 ACC Championship win over Florida State. The Dukies still don't have enough to make a claim for a #1, however. Michigan State lucks out with most of the teams below them losing as well. I called the OU loss, remember?

#3 SEEDS: Villanova, Kansas, Missouri (Big 12), Wake Forest
Skinny: Nothing changes other than Mizzou hopping two seeds with a solid Big 12 Championship run. I'm staying with Jay Wright's Villanova Wildcats to cut down the nets.

#4 SEEDS: LSU, Purdue (Big Ten), Syracuse, Florida State
Skinny: Syracuse's run was cute. I don't think they'll be tired, but I do think they'll be cold. The Orange are gonna take nearly a week off to relax, and the adrenaline will be gone by then. Expect Boehiem's Bums to collapse in March. Purdue and FSU find themselves #4 seeds with magical conference tourney runs.

#5 SEEDS: Gonzaga (WCC), Washington, Xavier, Clemson

#6 SEEDS: UCLA, West Virginia, Illinois, Marquette

#7 SEEDS: Arizona State, California, Tennessee, Ohio State

#8 SEEDS: Dayton, Butler, Texas, Utah (Mountain West)

#9 SEEDS: Southern California (Pac-10), Siena (MAAC), Utah State, Oklahoma State

#10 SEEDS: Mississippi State (SEC), Boston College, Texas A&M, Maryland

#11 SEEDS: Arizona, Creighton, Temple (A-10), Auburn

#12 SEEDS: Michigan, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Cleveland State (Horizon)

#13 SEEDS: Chattanooga (SoCon), VCU (CAA), Northern Iowa (MVC), Akron (MAC)

#14 SEEDS: Binghamton (America East), WKU (Sun Belt), American (Patriot), Portland St. (Big Sky)

#15 SEEDS: North Dakota St. (Summit), Robert Morris (Northeast), Morehead St. (OVC), Cornell (Ivy)

#16 SEEDS: Radford (Big South), Morgan State (MEAC), Stephen F. Austin (Southland), East Tennessee St. (A-Sun)

Play-In Game: Cal State-Northridge (Big West) vs. Alabama State (SWAC)

Last Six In: Virginia Tech, Penn State, Michigan, Auburn, Creighton, Arizona

Last Six Out: Minnesota, St. Mary's, San Diego State, UNLV, Wisconsin, Providence
Skinny: There's just no way that the Big Ten's bottom feeders will overtake teams like Auburn, Arizona, Va Tech, and Creighton. Joe Lunardi...are you high?!?! Wisconsin?!? Who in God's name have they beat?

NATIONAL CHAMPION PICK: Villanova Wildcats