First Bracket Update

Here is the first of many bracket updates. I will update the bracket every Monday and Friday from now until Selection Sunday.


SEEDS

1.) Kentucky, Texas, Kansas, Villanova
2.) Duke, Syracuse, Purdue, Michigan St.
3.) West Virginia, Purdue, Wisconsin, Gonzaga
4.) Butler, Kansas St., Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt
5.) UCONN, Clemson, Temple, Tennessee
6.) BYU, Ohio St., North Carolina, Missouri
7.) Georgia Tech, Xavier, Ole Miss, Baylor
8.) Northern Iowa, Wake Forest, California, Oklahoma St.
9.) Florida St., Mississippi St., New Mexico, Memphis
10.) Texas A&M, UNLV, Illinois, St. Mary's
11.) William & Mary, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Dayton
12.) Arizona St., Wichita St., Old Dominion, Western Kentucky
13.) Louisiana Tech, Cornell, Siena, Kent St.
14.) Northern Colorado, Radford, Murray St., College of Charleston
15.) Oakland, UT-San Antonio, Pacific, Vermont
16.) Morgan St., Lafayette, Campbell, Prairie View A&M, Long Island

(Opening Round Game: Prairie View A&M vs. Long Island)

Last Four In: Dayton, Arizona St., Wichita St., Old Dominion
First Four Out: Rhode Island, Louisville, Florida, Minnesota


Bids by Conference

America East - Vermont
Atlantic 10 (3) - Temple, Xavier, Dayton
ACC (7) - Duke, North Carolina, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Florida St., Virginia Tech
Atlantic Sun - Campbell
Big 12 (7) - Texas, Kansas, Kansas St., Oklahoma St., Missouri, Baylor, Texas A&M
Big East (7) - Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia, UCONN, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame
Big Sky- Northern Colorado
Big South - Radford
Big Ten (5) - Michigan St., Purdue, Wisconsin, Ohio St., Illinois
Big West - Pacific
Colonial (2) - William & Mary, Old Dominion
Conference- USA - Memphis
Horizon - Butler
Ivy - Cornell
MAAC -Siena
MAC - Kent St.
MEAC - Morgan St.
MVC (2) - Northern Iowa, Wichita St.
Mountain West (3) - BYU, New Mexico, UNLV
Northeast - Long Island
OVC - Murray St.
Pac 10 (2) - California, Arizona St.
Patriot - Lafayette
SEC (5) - Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Mississippi St.
SoCon - College of Charleston
Southland - UT- San Antonio
SWAC - Prairie View A&M
Summit - Oakland
Sun Belt - Western Kentucky
WCC (2) - Gonzaga, St. Mary's
WAC - Louisiana Tech

Here are also ten games this weekend that feature teams fighting to get into the bracket and teams fighting for better seeding:

1.) Louisville at Pittsburgh: The Cardinals are 3-1 in the Big East, but could really use a quality road win to improve their tournament resume as their best win has been a home win over Western Kentucky. Pittsburgh will try to continue thier hot start to conference play and gain another top-50 RPI win.

2.) Virginia Tech at Florida St: Virginia Tech's best win happened this past week as the knocked off Miami. Like Louisville, they could use a good road win. Florida State started strong but has struggled the last few games and doesn't want to fall to 1-3 in the ACC.

3.) Georgia Tech at North Carolina: Two teams coming off of road losses in the ACC this week. Like Florida State, Georgia Tech doesn't want to fall to 1-3 in the ACC. Carolina needs a quality win as it has been a while since they defeated Ohio State and Michigan State earlier in the year.

4.) Wisconsin at Ohio St: These teams have already played once this year (a Wisconsin win), but Ohio State was without Evan Turner. As he showed against Purdue this week, he's back (no pun intended) and Ohio State is a better team. Wisconsin is trying to improve its seeding with a win here while Ohio State would strengthen its case for an at-large bid.

5.) Dayton at Xavier: Big game for the Flyers early on in Atlantic-10 conference season play. Dayton's best win to date is against Georgia Tech in San Juan so if they want to make a case for an at-large bid, a road win here would go a long way. Xavier could also use a win against an top-50 RPI team as it currently has none.

6.) California at Washington: If the Pac-10 season ended today, the conference would most likely only get two bids. California leads the way in the Pac-10 and with an RPI of 23 and the second toughest schedule in the country, looks like they could be in. Washington has struggled since being ranked in the top 10 early in the year. A win would get them in the bubble discussion.

7.) Wake Forest at Duke: Wake Forest already has wins over Gonzaga and Xavier on their resume and a win at Duke would solidify them as a strong at-large team. Duke rebounded from a loss at Georgia Tech last weekend by blowing out Boston College on Wednesday. A win over Wake Forest would keep them in the 1-2 seeding range.

8.) UCONN at Michigan: UCONN gets out of Big East play which is good considering their 2-3 conference record. They really need a win and to get one on the road at Michigan would help them out. Michigan has fallen since an early top-20 ranking and a win over UCONN, a top-20 RPI team, would push them back into the bubble mix.

9.) Georgetown at Villanova: This game features two teams who figure to be in the tournament at this moment. This game could solidify one team as the Big East favorite and would be big for either team as they try to gain a good seed in the bracket.

10.) Syracuse at West Virginia: Another game between two Big East heavyweights will give one team a leg up in the conference standings and in overall seeding. Syracuse has been solid all year long with its one loss coming against Pittsburgh. West Virginia, while highly ranked and with an RPI of 2, doesn;t have a signature win yet this seasonas its best win was against Ole Miss. This would be a good one to get.