The Atlantic 10 Conference had a great week highlighted by Temple's blowout of No. 8 Tennessee.  But the Owls weren't the only ones taking down BCS conference teams.  UMass stunned Kansas and Xavier won at Cincinnati.  So how will all this affect the early bracket picture?

Once again, I like to break teams down into three categories.  "Wallflowers" are bubble teams.  Everyone wants to get into the Big Dance, but not all have the guts to ask a girl out onto the dance floor.  Elite teams safely in the field are "Dancing with a hottie" and in the middle are the schools, which are "Dancing with a butterface."


ACC
Dancing with a hottie: North Carolina (1 seed), Duke (2), Wake Forest (3)
Dancing with a butterface: Maryland (4), Clemson (7), Florida St (9), Miami (9)
Wallflowers: Boston College (out)

Not a lot of movement in the ACC this week.  Surprising Maryland moves up to a four seed thanks to its 27 RPI and 29 SOS.  The Terps have wins over Michigan State and Michigan, and their only two losses are to top 15 teams, Gonzaga and Georgetown.  Boston College is my first team out and will remain that way until the Eagles start playing teams ranked inside the top 240 again.


Big East
Dancing with a hottie: Pitt (1), UConn (1), Georgetown (3), Notre Dame (3)
Dancing with a butterface: Villanova (4), Syracuse (5), Louisville (6), Marquette (7)
Wallflowers: Seton Hall (10), West Virginia (12), Cincinnati (12)

That's right, 11 Big East teams in the Big Dance right now.  That certainly won't be the case once they start beating up on each other during conference play, but with seven of the top 15 teams in the country coming from this league, 11 in the tournament isn't as far fetched as you may think.

It was a bad week for Syracuse, which first got word that star guard Eric Devendorf might be suspended for the rest of the year for allegedly hitting a female student, and then, with him playing under appeal, still lost to Cleveland State on a 60-foot buzzer beater.

The Pirates are in due to their 49 RPI and a 7-1 record that includes wins over USC and Va Tech and only one loss to Memphis.  West Virginia has two losses (to Kentucky and Davidson), but the 'Eers RPI is even better at 29 and their win over Cleveland St. is looking better now.  The Bearcats are my last team in because they've only lost to current NCAA teams Florida State and Xavier, and they do have a solid road win at UNLV.


Big 10
Dancing with a hottie: Ohio State (3)
Dancing with a butterface: Michigan (4), Purdue (5), Michigan State (5)
Wallflowers: Northwestern (8), Illinois (9), Wisconsin (10), Minnesota (11), Iowa (out)

With wins over Miami, Notre Dame and now Butler, there's no reason why Ohio State (RPI 7) should be anything lower than a three seed at this point.  Michigan vaults up the board as well thanks to its computer numbers (RPI 20, SOS 19) and victories over UCLA and Duke.  Iowa, on the other hand, remains on the outside because the Hawkeyes' best win is over Texas-San Antonio and they've lost to fellow bubblers, West Virginia and Boston College.


Big XII
Dancing with a hottie: Oklahoma (1), Texas (2)
Dancing with a butterface: Baylor (6)
Wallflowers: Missouri (8), Oklahoma State (out), Texas A&M (out), Kansas (out)

The Cuse got some more bad news when Kansas lost a virtual home game to UMass, thus weakening the Orange's win over the Jayhawks.  But that game was even worse for KU who drops out of the field with an RPI of 140.


Pac 10
Dancing with a butterface: UCLA (5), Arizona State (6)
Wallflowers: California (9), Arizona (11), USC (11), Stanford (out), Washington State (out)

Arizona jumps into the field with a huge win over Gonzaga in Phoenix.  For the time being, that cancels out the Wildcats’ tough one-point losses to UAB and Texas A&M.


SEC
Dancing with a hottie: Tennessee (4)
Wallflowers: Florida (10), Kentucky (11), LSU (out), Ole Miss (out), Vanderbilt (out)

Tennessee’s victory over Marquette gets the Vols back on solid ground after being walloped by Temple.  Ole Miss’ 33-point drubbing at the hands of New Mexico removes the school from any consideration, and despite its 7-0 record, LSU has yet to play a team in the top 150 and therefore remains among the teams left out.


Mid Majors
Dancing with a hottie: Gonzaga (2), Xavier (2)
Dancing with a butterface: Davidson (6), Memphis (7), Dayton (7), Butler (8)
Wallflowers: Temple (8), BYU (10), UAB (out), Utah (out), Saint Mary’s (out), Rhode Island (out)

Memphis drops a few lines after losing in overtime at Georgetown.  The Tigers have another opportunity against the Big East as Syracuse comes to town this Saturday.  Temple shocked the country with its huge win over Tennessee, but the Owls still have some work to do thanks to losses to Buffalo and Miami-Ohio.  Temple could pick up another solid non-conference victory Saturday at Kansas.

 

Automatic Bids: Evansville, Miami-Ohio, Hofstra, Niagara, Binghamton, Utah State, UC Riverside, Eastern Washington, Western Kentucky, Lamar, Jacksonville St, VMI, Navy, East Tennessee State, Quinnipiac, North Dakota State, Harvard, Hampton, Alabama A&M

 

These are only the second-best bracket projections on the internet.  The best can be found at Facts & Bracks.

 

Jordan Schwartz is Bleacher Report's New York Yankees Community Leader. His book "Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man" is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and authorhouse.com.

Jordan can be reached at jordanschwartz2003@yahoo.com