My Bracket

I've been asked when I would put up my bracket projections, so I decided that with just about three weeks to go until Selection Sunday, today would be the day.  Tomorrow we'll do the women's bracket.  Now, this season has been so unpredictable I admittedly have no idea who's going to get into the field or where they'll be seeded.  And this whole 68-team thing is throwing me off a bit, too!  So, the Joe Brackets projections look nothing like those of Bracketology (I think that was trademarked by another Joe, otherwise I'd stake a claim at "Joe Bracektology").  The only things that I can tell you is that I think the top four teams are pretty clear, which made determining the #1 seeds pretty easy, and that some of the unusual seedings and selections reflect some of my projections for the craziness that usually ensues during the conference tournaments.  So, here we go:

EAST
(Charlotte) 1-Duke (1) vs. 16-Furman/Jackson State, 8-Kansas State vs. 9-George Mason
(Tucson) 4-UCLA vs. 13-Kent State, 5-Villanova vs. 12-Butler
(Cleveland) 3-Purdue vs. 14-Fairfield, 6-Kentucky vs. 11-Baylor
(Washington) 2-Pittsburgh vs. 15-Vermont, 7-Xavier vs. 10-St. Mary's

WEST
(Tulsa) 1-Texas (4) vs. 16-Hampton/Cal Poly, 8-Florida State vs. 9-Cincinnati
(Washington) 4-St. John's vs. 13-Belmont, 5-Temple vs. 12-Georgia
(Denver) 3-Arizona vs. 14-Oakland, 6-Louisville vs. 11-Michigan State
(Denver) 2-BYU vs. 15-Northern Colorado, 7-Alabama vs. 10-Virginia Tech

MIDWEST
(Tulsa) 1-Kansas (2) vs. 16-Northwestern State, 8-UTEP vs. 9-Illinois
(Tampa) 4-Florida vs. 13-Wichita State, 5-Connecticut vs. 12-Clemson/Southern Miss
(Tampa) 3-Georgetown vs. 14-Harvard, 6-Minnesota vs. 11-Utah State
(Chicago) 2-Wisconsin vs. 15-Murray State, 7-Syracuse vs. 10-Tennessee

SOUTH
(Cleveland) 1-Ohio State (3) vs. 16-Long Island, 8-West Virginia vs. 9-Washington
(Charlotte) 4-North Carolina vs. 13-Coastal Carolina, 5-Missouri vs. 12-UNLV/Richmond
(Tucson) 3-San Diego State vs. 14-Bucknell, 6-Texas A&M vs. 11-Gonzaga
(Chicago) 2-Notre Dame vs. 15-Florida Atlantic, 7-Vanderbilt vs. 10-Old Dominion

Final Four: East vs. West, Midwest vs. South

Of course, I'm a college basketball fan, not expert, which could be another reason why my bracket might seem a bit weird to some of you.  I will explain some of my thought process, though.  I don't see the Big East getting 11 teams in, and since Cincinnati is a better team than Marquette, I put the Bearcats in and the Golden Eagles out.  And that #4 seed for St. John's might seem a bit high, but St. John's doesn't lose at the Garden, so I have them winning the Big East Tournament, and the conference champion in the best league in the country gets a top-four seed. 

Southern Miss gets the last at-large over Dayton.  The Atlantic 10 is slightly better than Conference USA, but I also think it's highly unlikely Conference USA only gets one bid.  Thus, Southern Miss gets in if they win the regular season.  Tough keeping Nebraska out, but same philosophy with putting UNLV in.  The Mountain West is too good to get only BYU and San Diego State.  That meant I could only pick one of the Big 12 teams (Baylor or Nebraska), and Baylor's the better team right now. 

Feel free to disagree.  That's kind of the point.  My bracket probably won't even look remotely like this on Selection Sunday.