Pre-Season Bracket

OK, I've finally finished my projected bracket based on my Ultimate NCAA Rankings. Before I unveil that, let me also give you my conference rankings, based on the average rank of teams in each conference, which is provided in parenthesis:

1. Pac-10 (53)
2. SEC (71)
3. Big 12 (87)
4. Big East (88)
5. Big 10 (91)
6. ACC (107)
7. Mountain West (109
8. MVC (143)
9. WCC (151)
10. Big West (157)
11. Horizon (160)
12. A-10 (162)
13. SoCon (165)
14. Colonial (168)
15. MAC (174)
16. Patriot (175)
17. C-USA (177)
18. WAC (179)
19. Big South (194)
20. OVC (196)
21. MAAC (199)
22. Big Sky (205)
23. Ivy (212)
24. America East (218)
25. Atlantic Sun (219)
26. Southland (219)
27. Sun Belt (224)
28. MEAC (231)
29. NEC (236)
30. Summit (246)
31. SWAC (254)


Couple notes... while the Pac-10 has the highest average rank, I still think the Big East is the best conference. The top ten teams in the Big East have an average rank of 31! I do, however, think the ACC is down this year.

OK, onto the Bracket. I'm not going to muck about with all the technicalities, like avoiding conference match ups. I'm just going to slot everyone in through an S-curve based on my top 65, with every projected conference champ getting a bid. Conference champs are in bold.

EAST
1. Georgetown
16a. Sacred Heart
16b. IUPUI
8. Southern Illinois
9. Utah State
5. Kentucky
12. Wyoming
4. Ohio State
13. UW-Milwaukee
6. USC
11. Temple
3. Washington State
14. Tennessee Tech
7. Notre Dame
10. Texas A&M
2. Tennessee
15. ETSU

MIDWEST
1. UNC
16. Hampton
8. Davidson
9. Arkansas
5. Butler
12. Texas Tech
4. Syracuse
13. Miami (OH)
6. Duke
11. Saint Louis
3. Louisville
14. Lehigh
7. Mississippi State
10. Xavier
2. Michigan State
15. McNeese State

SOUTH
1. Memphis
16. Miss. Valley State
8. Oregon
9. Kansas State
5. Virginia
12. Dayton
4. Texas
13. Minnesota
6. Kent State
11. Arizona State
3. Vanderbilt
14. Montana
7. Connecticut
10. Wisconsin
2. UCLA
15. Winthrop

WEST
1. Kansas
16. Vermont
8. VCU
9. Marquette
5. Purdue
12. Providence
4. Pittsburgh
13. UC-Irvine
6. Missouri
11. Saint Mary's
3. Gonzaga
14. Siena
7. Califronia
10. Western Kentucky
2. Indiana
15. Penn

Remember, these are based on my pre-season rankings, so obviously I wouldn't give Syracuse a 4-seed right now. Of course, that's not to say they couldn't still finish hot and do it after all. The other thing is that I've got at-large teams getting 13-seeds, which almost never happens. Usually, the conference tourney upsets result in conference champs taking up all the seeds from the 16s into the 12s. Anyway, we'll take a look back at this at the end of the season. For now, I'll leave you, Lunardi-style, with the last 8 teams left out of my bracket, and the breakdown of the multi-bid conferences.

Last 8 Out
George Mason
Maryland
Missouri State
UC Irvine
UNLV
Georgia
Tulsa
UC Santa Barbara

Conference Bids
Big East - 8
Big 12 - 6
Big 10 - 6
Pac-10 - 6
SEC - 5
A-10 - 4
ACC - 3
WCC - 2
Horizon - 2
MAC - 2