Thursday, December 15, 2005

First Field of 65 of the Season

I decided not to get concerned with potential tournament matchups this early in the season. Don't expect those until about mid-January, once everyone has gotten a few conference games under their belt.

No. 1s: UConn, Duke, Villanova, Washington
2s: Florida, Memphis, Gonzaga, Illinois
3s: Texas, Michigan St., Louisville, Oklahoma
4s: UCLA, Indiana, North Carolina, Maryland
5s: Houston, Iowa, Boston College, Iowa St.
6s: NC State, Wisconsin, Ohio St., Vanderbilt
7s: Wake Forest, Michigan, Bucknell, LSU
8s: Kentucky, George Washington, Arizona, Syracuse
9s: Nevada, Arkansas, Northern Iowa, Notre Dame
10s: DePaul, Kansas, Xavier, Cincinnati
11s: St. Joe's, West Virginia, Alabama, Georgetown
12s: Oklahoma St., Iona, Indiana St., Utah, Temple
13s: Ohio, Western Kentucky, Old Dominion, Wis.-Milwaukee
14s: Davidson, Winthrop, Pacific, Oral Roberts
15s: Murray St., Gardner-Webb, Penn, Montana
16s: Northwestern St., Fairleigh Dickinson, Vermont, (Southern, South Carolina St.)

Yes, it was a pretty big crap shoot but I awarded teams that have shown something so far (Washington, North Carolina), and put underachieving teams in lower spots than what most expected (Kansas, West Virginia, Wake Forest).

Odd anomalies from this first field: nine from the Big East (!), seven from the Big Ten, just three from the Pac-10, and four from the A-10.

Also, the mid-majors were basically picked according to a variety of factors including RPI, record (conference for some), and most importantly, just who I think is the best of the conference, even if you lose an early conference game (Old Dominion).

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