NCAA Tournament Bracket: Feb. 12 Projections

Building a bracket for the 2010 NCAA tournament meets two major challenges. One, does the NCAA committee attempt to pick the best teams or pick the best teams for ratings? Two, are there 34 at-large teams even good enough to be in the tournament? While watching Miss America a few weekends ago I thought to myself, maybe Miss America should have 100 contestants.

I watch for the Miss Teen South Carolina screw-up moments, okay. Why not expand the field to 100 women, it would be more inclusive, and give more people a shot to win. Of course Miss Virginia was one of the few women who stood out immediately from the crowd and she won.

The NCAA tournament expanding would be the same scenario, where it would still have only a few special teams and way more mediocrity being rewarded. Just for fun, I listed below a guess at some of the additional 32 teams that would make the tournament in a 96-team field.

Charlotte, Mississippi St., Minnesota, Northwestern, Marquette, South Florida, Virginia, UConn, Cincinnati, Louisville, Louisiana Tech, VCU, Tulsa, Seton Hall, Arizona State, San Diego State, South Carolina, Memphis, Wichita State, Washington, Notre Dame.

I could try to finish the list but I can’t even fathom the other 11 teams that would be in the field. An expanded field would be mostly for big conferences, as the big six would get an additional 14 out of 21 bids. My favorite on the list is Washington, a team that was actually on some bubble watches this week. Washington hasn’t won a road game all year, not just in the Pac-10, any road game.

Stats like that are why the two questions I initially asked are so important. The Pac-10 aside this year, will the committee reward major conferences like the Big East for playing a major conference schedule, even if the middle is a mess and no one stands out.

For now I am leaving them out, but guess that in the next few weeks that a few of the middle Big East teams will get in the mix mostly because they have more opportunities for a marquee win.

Mock Bracket for Friday, Feb. 12:

(I mocked myself out last time by having Mississippi State as a No. 6 seed, for some reason screwing them up with Ole Miss. Of course, last night, Ole Miss played like Mississippi State against Mississippi State and are hanging on thinly to their bracket spot. Ole Miss didn't deserve the No. 6 seed either. Bracket rust.)

South Region (Houston)

Oklahoma City (Thursday)

1          Kansas

16        Middle Tennessee

8          Illinois

9          Richmond

New Orleans (Thursday)

4          Vanderbilt

13        Northeastern

5          Pittsburgh

12        Florida St

New Orleans (Thursday)

6          Texas

11        UTEP

3          Michigan St

14        Oakland

Buffalo (Friday)

7          Maryland

10        Ole Miss

2          West Virginia

15        Morgan St

(This is the make CBS happy bracket, with some really strong potential second round matchups. I wanted to put Texas in Milwaukee so they could get used to being near Big Ten territory but sadly that didn’t work out.)

Midwest Region (St Louis)

Milwaukee (Friday)

1          Kentucky

16        Jackson St/Navy

8          Texas Tech

9          Dayton

Jacksonville (Friday)

4          Wake Forest

13        Murray St

5          Ohio St

12        UAB

Oklahoma City (Thursday)

6          Butler

11        UNLV

3          Kansas St

14        Sam Houston St

Providence (Thursday)

7          Xavier

10        Siena

2          Georgetown

15        Charleston

(Ohio State and Wake Forest could easily interchange as No. 4 and No. 5 seeds. Dayton and Texas Tech had fantastic weeks to stand out and make it into the bracket.)

East Region (Syracuse)

Providence (Thursday)

1          Villanova

16        Belmont

8          Clemson

9          Missouri

Spokane (Friday)

4          Wisconsin

13        Utah St

5          Tennessee

12        St Mary’s

San Jose (Thursday)

6          Baylor

11        California

3          New Mexico

14        Coastal Carolina

Jacksonville (Friday)

7          Rhode Island

10        Florida

2          Duke

15        Stony Brook

(Some interesting higher seed home court advantages here. Florida and California would love to be 10 and 11 seeds if they get to play really close to home. Maybe Wisconsin can join the Pac-10 since they often have to play their tournament games in the Northwest.)

West Region (Salt Lake City)

Buffalo (Friday)

1          Syracuse

16        Robert Morris

8          Georgia Tech

9          Cornell

San Jose (Thursday)

4          BYU

13        Kent St

5          Texas A&M

12        Old Dominion

Spokane (Friday)

6          Temple

11        Virginia Tech

3          Gonzaga

14        Weber St

Milwaukee (Friday)

7          Northern Iowa

10        Oklahoma St

2          Purdue

15        UC Santa Barbara

(Old Dominion was the last team I added, and about 10 teams on the list from earlier could make an argument they should be in instead. Just for fun, I had to put BYU and Texas A&M in the same group since the committee has a thing for them.

Remember, as bad as this mock bracket is, I didn’t schedule an exact rematch in the same region with the same seeds at the same session with the same announcers last year. BYU-Texas A&M three! Jay Bilas is shivering at the thought.)