NCAA Tourney predictions - Th' Big Dance is a-comin' [Vanity]

CBS Sportsline ^ | 03-07-04 | Tony Mejia

[Teacher317]

This is who CBS Sportsline.com has in the Tourney, assuming the favorites win all the tourneys:

America East (1) Vermont

ACC (6) Duke, N.C. State, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Maryland.
Bubble burst: Florida State, Virginia.

Atlantic Sun (1) Central Florida.

A-10 (3) St Joseph's, Dayton, Richmond.
Bubble burst: Xavier, George Washington.

Big East (6) Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Providence, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Boston College.
Bubble burst: Rutgers, Notre Dame.

Big Sky (1) Eastern Washington.

Big South (1) Liberty.

Big Ten (3) Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State.
Bubble burst: Purdue, Iowa, Michigan.

Big 12 (5) Oklahoma State, Texas, Kansas, Texas Tech, Colorado.
Bubble burst: Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa State, Nebraska.

Big West (1) Utah State.
Bubble burst: Pacific.

Colonial (1) VCU.

Conference USA (6) Memphis, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Louisville, UAB, DePaul.
Bubble burst: Saint Louis, Marquette.

Horizon League (1) Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Ivy League (1) Princeton.

MAAC (1) Manhattan.

MAC (1) Western Michigan.
Bubble burst: Kent State.

MEAC (1) South Carolina State.

Mid-Con (1) Valparaiso.

Missouri Valley (2) Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois.
Bubble burst: Creighton, Northern Iowa.

Mountain West (2) Air Force, BYU.
Bubble burst: Utah, UNLV.

Northeast (1) Monmouth.

Ohio Valley (1) Murray State.
Bubble burst: Austin Peay.

Pac-10 (3) Conference champ: Stanford, Washington, Arizona.
Bubble burst: California.

Patriot League (1) Lehigh.

SEC (7) Mississippi State, Kentucky, South Carolina, LSU, Florida, Vanderbilt, Alabama.
Bubble burst: Georgia.

Southern (1) East Tennessee State.

Bubble burst: Georgia Southern, College of Charleston.

Southland (1) Southeastern Louisiana.

Sun Belt (1) Louisiana-Lafayette.

SWAC (1) Mississippi Valley State.

WAC (2) Nevada, UTEP.
Bubble burst: Hawaii, Rice, Boise State.

West Coast (1) Gonzaga.

Last four in: Maryland, Washington, UTEP, Richmond
Last four out: Utah, Missouri, Oklahoma, Florida State

[Teacher317]

The Big Ten gets only 3 spots this year... and may not deserve THAT many! IU, ND, and Purdue are all out. Possibly an Indiana shut-out, if Valpo or IUPUI don't take the Mid-American conference?!? Yikes!

Alabama and Maryland (both 16-11, neither with a winning conference record) get in while Troy St (18-2, 24-6... this year's Butler) gets left out.

The fun part: pure speculation! My guess: After several surprise conference tournaments, 'Bama, and the Terps will be left out... along with some huge surprises, like Richmond (who beat Kansas and Colorado), Texas Tech (21-9), Louisville (ranked #6 a month ago), and sadly Washington, who deserve a spot for beating 26-0, err, 26-1 Stanford.

Or will the committee actually take those 16-11 teams and bounce Utah State (17-1, 25-2), Western MI (23-4, 15-3), Miss Valley St (22-6, 16-2), and/or Boston (23-5, 17-1) if they don't win their automatic bid?

[Teacher317]

20 conferences with 1 spot each, three with 2 spots, three with 3, one (Big12) with 5, three with 6 (ACC, Big East, and Conference USA!), and one (SEC) with 7 spots.

Are there just too many conferences, or not enough spots for the Tournament? A 19-win season just isn't enough anymore, LOL!

[dfwgator]

Sadly, looking like another "one and done" for my Gators this year.

[dfwgator]

The Washington Huskies are a team to watch. Started out 0-5 in the conference, won 12 out of their last 13 including the win over Stanford. They could end up being the story of the year.

[kevkrom]

The Big Ten gets only 3 spots this year... and may not deserve THAT many!

I know it's been an off-year for the Big 10, but I can't see getting as few as 3 spots. Purdue and Indiana both had decent non-conference records, and a strong showing in the Big 10 tourney by either should still get them in.

[rintense]

If Michigan State gets hot in the tourny, look out.

[ken5050]

Concur..it'd be almost better if they didn't make it..Billy's tooooo good a recruiter...if he'd been able to keep a few players for one more season, IMHO there'd be TWO NCAA banners hanging from the rafters now...he's getting really torqued by all the kids jumping early, and the best HS prospects going directly to the NBA...you might see him jump to the pros himself next season..

[baseballmom]

I'm going with St. Joes. 27-0

Hope they didn't peak too soon.

Class of 2000, St. Joe's Mom

[connectthedots]

St. Joes may not make it past the first weekend. Lack of a front court may be their demise. I think they have virtually no chance of getting to the Final Four.

[PMCarey]

The Big Ten gets only 3 spots this year... and may not deserve THAT many!

Don't be an idiot. MSU, Illinois, and Wisconsin certainly deserve to go to the Tournament.

[38special]

Big 12 Baby! The Okie Pokes from Oklahoma State, The Texas Longhorns and Kansas Jayhawks can't be overlooked.

[Therapist]

The Big Ten will have Four teams. Remember, the NCAA tourney is about $$$$$$$. The Big Ten has the biggest universities and has the the most eyeballs for TV.

[bcbuster]

Maryland beat Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and NC State. They also play in what is clearly the best conference. If they didn't get in that would be the biggest travesty in the history of the NCAA. It's bad enough that they have to give at Southern Ill. an at-large bid. Look at who they played. They played one good team all year, Charlotte, and they lost. Maryland has 11 losses but 10 are to top 50 RPI teams. Alabama played the toughest schedule in the nation, played in the 2nd best conference, and still finished 16-11. Putting them and Maryland in shouldn't even be an issue. Southern Ill lost to Northern Iowa, Murray St, and SMS. They should be out, I don't care if they are 25-4. If Western Mich and Utah St don't win their tournaments they should be out too.

[bcbuster]

It's really hard to justify a fourth Big 10 team unless one comes up and wins their tournament. Purdue beat Duke but they have been horrible lately. Indiana, Michigan, Iowa didn't do enough to get in. I prefer to see the big conference teams get in over the mid-majors unless those teams have some quality wins, but it's hard to see any scenario where the Big 10 carries 4 this year. SEC gets 7, Big 12 gets 5, Big East gets 6, ACC probably gets 6 right now, but an upset or two in the tournament could bump that to 7 or even 8, Conf USA gets 6, Pac 10 probably gets 3 and the A-10 will get 2.

[byteback]

Wanna see something funny? Go to Atlantic 10 and read "player to watch"

Another Tourney article

[Therapist]

CBS wants eyeballs for their advertisers. Not to mention selling tickets at the arenas. Have any idea, for example, what Hail to the Victors! brings to the table?

[dfwgator]

Well at least for the SEC, I think Mississippi State is my favorite to win it all.

[Bambino]

"St. Joe's may not make it past the first weekend."

I'd guess they'll make it to the sweet sixteen based on their probable #1 seed. After that, they're in trouble against any big team that will pound it down inside. The Hawks can not rebound. Unless they shoot in the 50+% range from 3-point land, the run will end there.

That being said, GO HAWKS!!

[DeaconBenjamin]

Breakfast?

[Chief Inspector Clouseau]

After several surprise conference tournaments, 'Bama, and the Terps will be left out...

No amount of conference tourney upsets can keep the Terps out at this point, by virtue of their road win over N.C. State last week.

The majority of teams in the 64-team field could not have won 5 games in the ACC this year, let alone the 7 the Terps won. I've been watching ACC ball for many, many years and (top to bottom) I can't remember the league being this good. No other conference has the same level of play this year (this includes the SEC, so I will grant that Bama could get bounced...it's hard to justify 7 bids from the SEC but 6 from the ACC).

Depending how the brackets play out, we could see 4 or 5 ACC teams in the final 8. So should the Terps make it over mid-majors with better (paper) records? Absolutely, and they will...