| | It's hard to believe, but Selection Sunday is a mere 50 days away. Thus, there is no time like the present to take our first look at a possible NCAA Tournament field. Much will change between now and the actual bracket on
March 12, but it won't take long to see which teams are in great shape, as well as a few familiar names that are already in "bubble trouble."
Check back here every Monday until Championship Week for updated projections. Last season's final projection, released the morning of Selection Sunday, missed just two of 64 teams and placed 54
teams on or within one line of their actual seed (this was actually a
weaker performance than 1998, but we're shooting for a "perfect score" this
season).
Happy hoops!
West Region
March 16, 2000/Salt Lake City, Utah
(1) Arizona vs. (16) SWAC/Southern
(8) St. Bonaventure vs. (9) Marquette
(5) Purdue vs. (12) CAA/Richmond
(4) Tulsa vs. (13) MAAC/Siena
March 16, 2000/Tucson, Ariz.
(3) Kansas vs. (14) SOUTHERN/Davidson
(6) Utah vs. (11) Seton Hall
(7) Maryland vs. (10) Gonzaga
(2) Auburn vs. (15) BIG SKY/Eastern Washington
Midwest Region
March 16, 2000/Cleveland
(1) Cincinnati vs. (16) IVY/Yale
(8) Southern California vs. (9) Brigham Young
(5) Vanderbilt vs. (12) Akron
(4) Texas vs. (13) MCC/Detroit
March 16, 2000/Minneapolis
(3) Tennessee vs. (14) OVC/Southeast Missouri State
(6) St. John's vs. (11) New Mexico State
(7) Oregon vs. (10) Missouri
(2) Michigan State vs. (15) TAAC/Troy State
East Region
March 17, 2000/Winston-Salem, N.C.
(1) Duke vs. (16) MEAC/Coppin State
(8) UCLA vs. (9) Michigan
(5) Temple vs. (12) Pepperdine
(4) Kentucky vs. (13) A-EAST/Hofstra
March 17, 2000/Buffalo, N.Y.
(3) Indiana vs. (14) NEC/Central Connecticut State
(6) Oklahoma State vs. (11) Tulane
(7) Kent vs. (10) Southern Methodist
(2) Connecticut vs. (15) PATRIOT/Lafayette
South Region
March 17, 2000/Nashville, Tenn.
(1) Stanford vs. (16) MID-CONT/Chicago State
(8) Dayton vs. (9) North Carolina
(5) Oklahoma vs. (12) MVC/Indiana State
(4) Ohio State vs. (13) SUN BELT/Louisiana-Lafayette
March 17, 2000/Birmingham, Ala.
(3) Florida vs. (14) SOUTHLAND/Lamar
(6) North Carolina State vs. (11) Louisville
(7) Iowa State vs. (10) Illinois
(2) Syracuse vs. (15) BIG SOUTH/Radford
Blue Ribbon bits
A few reminders: Teams preceded by their conference name in all caps are
the current league (or RPI) leaders. Teams from multiple-bid conferences,
or who would earn an at-large bid regardless of their league position, are
listed without such a prefix.
The Mountain West and WAC are without an automatic bid this season.
Thus, there are only 29 conferences (instead of the maximum 30) which will
place an automatic qualifier into the NCAA field this year.
Please note that Syracuse (East) and Texas (South) cannot be placed in
their respective regions, as each host a regional final this year. One
other bracketing note: BYU must be slotted in either the West or Midwest,
as school rules prohibit the Cougars from playing on a Sunday.
Our vote for the best team no one knows about? Check out Oregon. The
Ducks are making an excellent case for themselves in what has become a
terrific Pac-10 race.
And wouldn't it be quite a sight to see North
Carolina wear its dark uniforms in the first round? We don't expect it to
last, but the Tar Heels are currently projected as a No. 9 seed.
Who's hot? The following projected tourney teams are 10-0 in their last
10 games: Duke, Syracuse and Tulsa.
Moving up (alphabetical order): Akron, Brigham Young, Dayton, Iowa State,
Maryland, Missouri, Ohio State, Pepperdine, Purdue, Seton Hall, Southern
California and Southern Methodist.
Going down (alphabetical order): Michigan State, Michigan, New Mexico State,
North Carolina and Oklahoma State.
Multiple-conference breakdown: Big Ten (6 teams), Big 12 (6), Pac-10 (5), SEC
(5), ACC (4), Big East (4), Conference USA (4), Atlantic 10 (3), MAC (2), WAC (2), WCC (2).
Last four in: Seton Hall, Tulane, Akron, Pepperdine.
Last four out: Notre Dame, DePaul, LSU, Rutgers.
Joe Lunardi may be contacted at "jlunardi@sju.edu". He will also appear Monday nights on ESPN Radio (10:20 p.m. ET) and chat every Friday at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.com.
To order the adidas Blue Ribbon Tournament Preview, call 1-800-828-HOOP
(4667). This 80-page volume is prepared on Selection Sunday and rushed to
you in time for first-round games. BLUE RIBBON postseason reports -- including new online editions -- are also available at www.collegebaskets.com.
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