2016 BRACKETOLOGY

MIDWEST (Cleveland)

DES MOINES
1)Kansas (Big 12)
16)Play In: Fairleigh Dickinson-205 (NEC) vs. (SWAC Champ): Southern-196/Jackson St-220

8)St. Joe's (Bubble #2) (25-7)-27
9)Cincinnati (Bubble #2) (22-10)-47

SPOKANE
5)Arizona
12)South Dakota St.-31 (Summit)

4)Texas A&M
13)(Big West Champ) Long Beach St.77 vs. Hawaii-87


PROVIDENCE
6)Texas
11)Wichita St. (Bubble #8) (23-8)-46

3)Miami
14)Stonybrook-64 (AEC)

ST. LOUIS
7)Iowa
10)USC (Bubble #7) (21-12)-51

2)Xavier
15)Wisconsin-Green Bay-112 (Horizon)

SOUTH (Houston) 

RALEIGH
1)Virginia (ACC)
16)Austin Peay-187 (OVC)

8)Oregon St.
9)UConn (projected American Champ) 

DENVER
5)Iowa St.
12)(MAC Champ) Akron-29 vs. Buffalo-97

4)Purdue
13)Northern Iowa (MVC)


DENVER
6)Notre Dame
11)Gonzaga-43 (WCC)

3)Utah
14)(Southland Champ) Stephen F Austin-71 vs. TAMU-Chorpus Christi-82


OKLAHOMA CITY
7)Providence
10)Michigan (Bubble #6) (21-11)-56

2)Oklahoma
15)(WAC Champ)New Mexico St.-106 vs. Cal-Bakersfield-185

EAST (Philadelphia)

BROOKLYN
1)Villanova (Big East)
16)Play In: Florida Gulf Coast-214 (Atlantic Sun) vs. Holy Cross-248 (Patriot)

8)Texas Tech
9)VCU (Bubble #3) (23-9)-41

BROOKLYN
5)Maryland
12)Yale-42 (Ivy League)

4)UK (SEC)
13) (Sun Belt Champ) Projected-Arkansas-Little Rock-50

IOWA CITY
6)California
11)PLAY IN: St.Mary's (Bubble #9) (23-9)-37 vs. Temple (Bubble #12) (21-10)-59

3)Indiana
14)Iona-78 (MAAC)


RALEIGH
7)Seton Hall
10)St. Bonaventure (Bubble #5) (22-8)-30

2)UNC
15)UNC-Ashville-137 (Big South)

WEST (LA) 

ST. LOUIS
1)Michigan St. (Big Ten)
16)(MEAC Champ) Hampton-164 vs. South Carolina St.-202

8)Colorado
9)Butler (Bubble #4) (21-10)-58

PROVIDENCE
5)Baylor
12) UNC-Wilmington (CAA)-65

4)Duke
13)UT-Chattanooga (SoCon)-62

OKLAHOMA CITY
6)Dayton (Atlantic 10)
11)PLAY IN: South Carolina (Bubble #4) (23-8)-62 vs. Pittsburgh (Bubble #11) (20-11)-51

3)West Virginia
14) (USA Champ)-Middle Tennessee-89 vs. Old Dominion-138

SPOKANE
7)Wisconsin
10)San Diego St-32 (projected MWC Champ)

2)Oregon (PAC 12)
15)(Big Sky Champ)-Weber St.-116 vs. Montana-142

RPI Rankings are the numbers by the teams
I have bubble teams that are still alive in their conference tournaments in italics


LAST 4 BYE: 
St. Bonaventure
Michigan
USC
Wichita St.

LAST 4 IN: 
St. Mary's
South Carolina
Pittsburgh
Temple

FIRST 4 OUT: 
Vanderbilt (19-13)-63
Florida (19-14)-54
Syracuse (19-13)-71

George Washington (23-10)-67

NEXT 4 OUT: 
Monmouth (27-7)-53
Georgia (19-12)-60
Davidson (19-11)-57
Tulsa (20-11)-61

Should of scheduled better
Princeton (21-6)-39
Valpariso (24-6)-49
Hofstra (23-9)-55
Any top 40 RPI team from a small conference that loses today.




CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN:
Big 12-7
Big Ten-7
PAC 12-7
ACC-6
Big East-5
Atlantic 10-4
SEC-3
American-3
WCC-2
MVC-2

22 Projected One Bid Leagues

NOTE:
Dayton is my projected Atlantic 10 Champ, however St. Joe's, VCU and Davidson (Next 4 Out) are all still alive in the conference tournament.

CONTINGENCY PLANS:
If San Diego St. loses to Fresno St., Gonzaga will replace them as the 10 seed in the West Regional.
San Diego St. would then be one of the First Four Out. San Diego St.has a high RPI but a bad resume with only one Top 50 win (that came back in November), plus a neutral site loss to a team with a RPI of 302! The Aztecs pretty much need a win tonight>

Temple and UConn play in the American semifinals today and the winner SHOULD be able to beat the winner of the other semifinal game which pits Memphis vs, Tulane. If the Memphis were to win the American they would become the 11 seed in the Midwest. That would drop Wichita St, down to the play in game and drop Temple to the First Four Out. If Tulane were to win all hell could break loose. Tulane entered the American tournament with only 10 wins and a sub 250 RPI. If they were to win it, one would have to think that they could be no higher than a 15 seed.

If a team other than Arkansas-Little Rock wins the Sun Belt, that team would drop to the 14 seed in the East and Iona would move up to a 13 seed.

Great possible match-ups if this bracket were to come to fruition:

FIRST ROUND

SOUTH: 6)Notre Dame vs. 11)Gonzaga
No 5 through 7 seed will want to see Gonzaga in round one. The Zags have two first round NBA prospects in Domantas Sabonis and Kyle Wiltjer. Notre Dame has proven they can hand with a team with two top prospects as they were able to defeat Duke's great duo of Brandon Ingram and Gryason Allen on Thursday.


SECOND ROUND:

EAST: 4)UK vs. 5)Maryland
A matchup between possibly the best two point guards in the nation in UK's Tyler Ulis (16.6 ppg and 7.3 apg) and Maryland's Melo Trimble (14.5 ppg and 5,2 apg). Great guard play and coaching matter the most in the tournament.

SOUTH: 2)Oklahoma vs. 7)Providence
Oklahoma's Buddy Hield (25.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg and 49%) is the favorite to win the Naismith and Wooden Awards. However Providence's Kris Dunn (16.0 ppg, 6.4 apg, 5.5 rpg and 2.5 spg) is right behind him. I really hope the selection committee pits these two against each other.

SWEET 16

WEST:  1) Michigan St. vs. 4) Duke
Coach K vs, Coach Izzo, need I say more? Actually I will say more. This game would also have great deal of star power with MSU's Denzel Valentine going up against Ingram and Allen.


MIDWEST:  1) Kansas vs. 5) Arizona
Arizona has mostly underachieved this year, but they are one of the few teams in the country that has the size, experience and coaching to hang with the top team in the country, Many brackets will have Kansas as their pick to win it all. The Arizona Wildcats could end up destroying a lot of brackets this March.

SOUTH:  1) Virginia vs. 5) Iowa St.
A game between arguably the best defense in the country in Virginia and the best offense in the country in Iowa St. Virginia is second in the nation in points allowed and also second in the nation in defensive efficiency. Iowa St. averages 81.8 ppg which is 15th in the country and is second in the nation in offensive efficiency. Iowa St, has struggled against great defensive teams as they lost twice to both Oklahoma and West Virginia.

ELITE 8

EAST: 1) Villanova vs. 2) UNC
Two very experienced and athletic teams meet in Philly for a trip to the Final Four.